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Do you get good traffic but very few comments? Do you get very few submissions to social sites? If you are not converting your readers well, then this post is for you!
As a blogger, I have always been concerned about Exit Points. Exit points are the choices you give your readers to leave your blog. It can be a link, a widget or anything!
To understand this well, consider this scenario:
A new reader finds your blog and goes to a very popular post. He enjoys reading it and is interested in your blog. After reading the post, where will he go? Obviously, where you offer to take him! You can choose to earn some dollars by placing an ad exactly below the post or a submission to social bookmarking service with attractive social bookmarking icons or give him more related stuff with the help of a related post widget.
What would you offer him?
I have made the mistake of placing a big ad below posts and this lowered the comment rate. Why? Because many clicked the ad to visit another site and never returned! What would have been the effect if I had related posts exactly below the post or social icons? Obviously, I would have more views, more Stumbles and Diggs and more subscribers.
How to Optimize After-Post Layout:
A clean after-post area can lead to extra comments and submissions! Here are three tips to optimize the after-post layout:
- Integrate: Integrate elements into your design. Everything should feel as a part of the design!
- Do not Mess Up: Every single element should be noticable! Moreover, there's no need to fill all kinds of widgets here. Just keep essentials, Social Icons, Related Posts, Author and Category info and an advertisement!
- Remove Empty Space: Every empty pixel is a waste! Do not leave much blank space. For example, if you want to place a big ad (like ours!), align it to one side and use the empty space for Related Posts or Social Icons.
Remember, your blog is yours and you are the only one who will give readers the choice! Set your priorities straight. Decide what you want and put only essentials in the after-post area!
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Good pointers, but I have to say that all bloggers are different and would want different responses from their readers/visitors.
I use to have loads of widgets, but now I have narrowed it down to a few. If someone visits your website and finds it interesting enough, they will bookmark it or open other tabs/windows for links.
I have a bit of open space, might have to see what I can do with it, thanks for mentioning that.
I agree with you George,by crossing some favourites blogs ,I noticed the different backgrounds of everyone of them,and i got learnt from this and use it inside my posts
That is a good point, I however have limited options due to my blogging platform. I do not use wordpress I use Yola, it is a great service and free but it has more limited blogging options.
I do keep lots of Empty Space , i will improve on it. Thanks for such a nice post.
thanks for the pointers. i’ll definitely keep some of this in mind, because right now my blog is only getting inorganic hits. i really need a way to get actual readers.
Good. Can you share what you’ve done or plan to do? Each post has a link to the site you review — so that’s where you want them to exit (with your referral) but if they don’t then you need to point them to other posts or at least your RSS options [another 'good' exit] You need to promote to get readers, then control your exit points.
Hi there,
Hmmm, this is something that I’ve been looking around for. Is this something that you can shed more light on in terms of how to reduce exit points and have the reader spend more time on your site. Even though I’ve managed to reduce the exit points on my site, I feel there is lot more to be done. Looking forward to more posts related to this topic.
Cheers,
Eddie Gear
FYI –
Mr. I will respond when he resurfaces.
But until then, some thoughts that came to mind:
- you have ‘similar posts’ which should keep visitors interested. what about adding popular post, even if you do it manually on a separate page with a highly visible link
- don’t be so formal with comment invitation “if you would like to leave a comment’ — instead say how much you want to hear from them…
Good post. Stumbled it.
And your stumble brought immediate traffic! You must have lots of friends. Thanks.
Very good post. I have one concern on my blog which i would like to tell you so that you can check and let me know if you can help.
I have put social bookmarking. related stuff.
but my social bookmarking traffic is almost nil. Why is it so? if you have time can you check any of my blog post and see whats wrong. anything you would like me to change?
EXIT POINT I like your strategy for promoting the blog. It will really work I know that.
I really like this post. Something alot of people do not consider when setting up their blog. I know I didn’t at first. Once you think about it, it’s pretty illogical to put exit points in places where people have just landed on your page.
Good post. I subscribed yesterday and putting these posts to heart.
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