Consider using a “More” capability to improve Bounce rates

1. 85

   Mike Hardyposted 5 years ago

   Consider an option to display only the first 500 words of a Hub then force the reader to engage with a “More” button or bar. I noticed Breitbart recently started doing this. (I troll the site) I’m sure it improves Brounce rates. Whata think?

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   1. 97

      DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      When I come across sites that do that (or ask me to click a separate page for each thing on a list) I bounce out of there, quick, and put it on my mental list of "sites to never visit again".

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      1. 91

         Titiaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         1+ Me too.

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   2. 84

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      People who try to "game" the system like that are using black hat tactics which are unacceptable on HP.  Try it and you'll find yourself  banned from the site.

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   3. 87

      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      No way, I detest websites that do stuff like that. I second what Dr Mark says. Also, it does not reduce your bounce rate when you do that. You should look up what it means to have a bounce and what kind of bounces affect you negatively.
      
      Only a bounce back to the search results page affects you. Anything else does not matter. So if someone clicks this more option and decides to go back to the search page anyway and click on another result it still counts as a bounce. They can view 10 pages on your website and go back and it would still count as a bounce because your website has not satisfied the user for that query.

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   4. 85

      Mike Hardyposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      I’m rather amazed at the negative response to offer this feature as an option.
      
      Disappointing.
      
      Especially since WP offers this capacity as an option on many templates

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      1. 87

         lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Wordpress is not the holy grail and any Tom Dick and Harry can create a WP template, I've made my own too.
         
         And as I explained, the idea you propose does not solve the problem you say it would. So, no point discussing it from that point of view. If you want it as a feature and nothing else then you could say that. When you post on the forums it's always open to debate.

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   5. 88

      NateB11posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry about joining the chorus of people lambasting your idea, but I agree with others here that the "more" button is a big turnoff and would likely make me bounce. It's like it's an obstacle; I go to an article to read it or see what it is, not to go through a hoop to see it in the first place. I've always wondered why people even use it on their sites.

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      1. 73

         Barbara Kayposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I think they use it, because the new page has an entire new list of ads. I resent it when a site does this. Some of them have you go through as many as 20 pages before you are finished.

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         1. 88

            NateB11posted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Exactly. I hadn't thought about the fact that there are more ads when you go to a new page. Also, I've wondered about click through rates. There is supposed value to click throughs but I'm not sure what it is, except it seems the idea is that it looks like someone is staying on a site and looking around.
            
            This is one reason I hate the slideshow sites, where they make you click to the next slide to read the story and see pictures; they could put it on one page but they make you continuously click through and then the new page has to load. You can't just read the article, you have to keep clicking through.
            
            Edit: And in fact I think this all answers the question of why HP doesn't use a "more" button: User experience.

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2. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   Why reduce bounce rates to just reduce bounce rates?  If a person finds my hub through search and then clicks an advertisement--that is a bounce, its also money on my pocket.

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   1. 93

      robhamptonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Bounce rates are difficult to control through a platform such as HP although it is related to reader engagement. A high bounce rate for us authors on HP isn't unexpected. I am down from 86% last year to around 78%. If someone owns and manages their own website then a bounce rate of say over 20% is not good.

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      1. 85

         Mike Hardyposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I agree. I'm learning that HP seems to be a one-and-done visit kind of operation.  How are you getting folks to click another article?

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         1. 93

            robhamptonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Back links and q&a

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         2. 97

            DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

            If they are interested in reading more, they will click another article. If you have answered their question, they will not.
            There are other readers out there.

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3. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   My goal is to get the reader to click an advertisement or amazon link... and only go to another article if that might be the one where they click the ad or amazon link.  So raw bounce rate doesn't tell me anything about how I am doing on that goal.  It is more about how they exit than when,

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4. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

   The reason blogs use a "more" button is general to get a larger number of unique posts listed on the index page.  But Hubpages doesn;t really follow that model and treats each hub as free standing.

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   1. 88

      NateB11posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, that clarifies a lot.

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   2. 87

      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      That's not the kind of more the OP refers to. We already have that kind of thing  (without the word more) on the home page of the niche sites.

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5. 86

   B. Leekleyposted 5 years ago

   I've often seen More used in the online newsletters of churches and nonprofit organizations. Those newsletters don't have ads, and they exist only to be helpful to members and friends of that community or group. The More is used for the same reason that newspapers put only part of a news story on the front page and continue it on an inside page—so that readers can get the gist at a glance of current news story and can choose whether or not to read more details about a particular news story. What is appropriate for a newspaper or newsletter isn't appropriate for a site like HubPages, for the reasons given in the previous posts.

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