Bouncy, Bounce, Bounce- Google Analytics: Part 1  

Posted by Wear Me Jewels- in , ,

Bounce rate- What's that???
One of my goals in 2009 is to understand, track, and improve traffic to my various websites. One of the tools that I will use to do this is Google Analytics (a very powerful and free tool from Google). My first step in this venture was to sign up (yesterday) and get the ball rolling. I have been tracking traffic with hitslink but wanted to try out this more powerful tool. I have to say that it is a bit overwhelming at first. My first question, was what exactly is this "bounce rate"? Mine says 81% for the first day, that must be good right? Yikes, was that ever wrong. The bounce rate is basically all of those Attention Deficit Disorder people (you know you are one) who click on a site and click off within 10 seconds or less. So you could say the bounce rate is your abandon rate, your "nope, not interested" rate.
This is a very basic yet powerful metric to look at when analyzing your site. Once a visitor lands on one of your pages the clock starts ticking. You have only a few seconds to get their attention and convince them to stay on your site. How can you do that? What are the steps you need to take to change your bounce rate from a high percentage to a lower one? Those are a few of the questions that I will be exploring and discussing in future posts. Stay tuned!

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 11, 2009 at Sunday, January 11, 2009 and is filed under , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

16 comments

Reese  

My bounce rate was 91% the first day! Dang, I'm good---Not! Today was 52%, so I guess it's improving.
Good luck. Love you blog!

January 11, 2009 at 2:36 PM
KayzKreationz  

Very interesting. Don't remember if I knew that or not. Off to check my analytics to see what my bounce rate is. Hope it's good.
http://KayzKreationz.blogspot.com
http://KayzKreationz.etsy.com

January 11, 2009 at 2:42 PM
Anonymous  

Thank you so much, this really helps a lot. I love the box of bounce, LOL

lightworks.etsy

January 11, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Amanda Fall - Sprout editor  

LOL the first time I saw my bounce rate (was about 70% at first), I thought it meant viewers that had seen the page before and came back...dang, I was feeling pretty good about myself!!

-Amanda/fellow Etysan

January 11, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Cathy from  

I JUST asked this VERY question in the forum!! NOW I see! I need to keep coming back!!

January 11, 2009 at 3:29 PM
ceejay  

Your blog is gorgeous, btw!
This is info that I really didn't know about. I'll be following your blog to find out more. Thanks!

www.ceejaybags.etsy.com
www.ceejaybags.blogspot.com

January 11, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Wires n Pliers  

Thanks, I'll be watching for more, too!
Wires N Pliers
great blog 2

January 11, 2009 at 3:34 PM
halloweenie, smile!  

Ooh, so that's what Bounce Rate is. Thanks :)

January 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
starrynightimpressions  

That's what I thought, you want your number to be low!
Thanks for the details, I'll be back to see what else you have learned so I can learn too. You made it very easy to understand!!!
starrydeborah

January 11, 2009 at 4:33 PM
lorraine  

Great explanation. What is an acceptable bounce rate? Of course, you don't want it to happen at all but it will happen. So what is a workable baseline? Food for thought.
http://studiorickrack.etsy.com

January 11, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Wear Me Jewels-  

Anything above 50% is not good. 30-40% would be a great goal to shoot for.

January 11, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Unknown  

Thanks for your down to earth explanation! I'll be back!

January 12, 2009 at 6:38 AM
Metalsgirl  

GREAT information! Thanks!

January 12, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Zouzou  

Thanks for the straight forward explanation.

January 14, 2009 at 2:21 AM
cjc  

Very interesting. I'll be watching my bounce rate and following you for updates!

January 20, 2009 at 2:42 PM
mrsbeccijo  

great information!

January 21, 2009 at 10:35 AM

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