Web traffic is useless unless it results in some kind of an action.
These actions can vary. These could be clicking a link on a page to continue browsing the site, sharing the page on social media, buying something by using on-page calls-to-action, subscribing to your email list, etc.
These actions are commonly referred to as on-page engagement.
An on-page engagement is anything the site user may choose to do on the page instead of exiting it right away.
In fact, an on-page engagement is also scrolling the page to view it, readers and re-reading content on the page, and even “pinning” the tab in a browser to read it carefully later.
An engagement is always a goal of any page because we are looking for our landing pages to trigger just about any action, instead of sending those hard-earned clicks away right away.
So how to keep more people engaged with your page? Here are a few fundamentals to take care of:
1. Make Sure Your Page Loads Fast
More than half of mobile site users abandon a site if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load.
This means that you risk losing most of your hard-earned traffic, just because your site is slow.
In other words, site speed is the first thing to check and fix. Google Search Console offers detailed and free reports covering your website speed and performance, so make sure you check your scores.
Luckily, there are plugins and tools that help you speed up your site without the need to invest into expensive development projects.
Additionally, try loading your site on your own mobile devices to make sure it is usable and readable.
2. Make Sure Your Headline Catches an Eye and Triggers Curiosity
You’ve heard this a lot by now, “The headline is the most important part of any text…”
And we’ve already covered this, “You only have a few seconds to capture attention…”
Your content headline of your article should convince your audience of its value. From the title alone, they should be able to identify why the content is important and what they will miss out on if they don’t read your article.
You can also create an impact with “how-to’s” or lists. These forms of content provide your audience with quick, digestible pieces of information that are likely to stick in their minds.
Asking questions in your headline and subheadings is another good way of triggering curiosity.
Questions work as headlines so well because we answer them automatically. It’s almost impossible not to answer a question you read. This psychological phenomenon is referred to as “instinctive elaboration.”
And when you get the reader to look for an answer to that question in their minds, they’re much more likely to see the value you can provide and keep reading.
Text Optimizer is a cool tool helping you find popular questions on any topic. Use these questions to create the main headline of your article as well as subheadings you use to structure your content:
For SEO fundamentals, try WebCEO that offer handy content assistant helping you optimize your title and on-page headings:
Including your brand name in the page title may also be a good idea as it may build brand recognizability from within search results. Just make sure it comes at the end of the title, so that it starts with the unique part.
Additionally, above-the-fold space is at a premium, especially on mobile devices, so make sure your article headline loads first and on top of everything else, including your ads.
3. Add Engagement Triggers: Videos, CTAs, etc.
Videos are universal engagement triggers. If one picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the worth of a video in promoting your product or service?
A contextually relevant video on a page can do wonders to its performance. A helpful video is claimed to increase conversions by 86%.
Simply put, videos replace the time needed to read text and pages of documents. When videos are done well, visitors hit the play button and learn everything they need. An online video can help to advertise how good your product is, without the need for lengthy text and lots of words. In a video you can show how good the product is because people can see how it works, what it looks like and how it performs.
Note: When embedding videos, make sure you don’t hurt your page load time because third-party content does tend to slow down pages. This tutorial will help you set up lazy-loading for your embedded videos for them not to ruin your page performance.
Likewise, contextual calls-to-action can also engage your readers and encourage them to follow your conversion funnels. For an example of that done well, look at Hubspot blog that does contextual CTAs perfectly:
Conclusion
Creating engaging content is art, rather than science. It ultimately comes down to how useful your content is and how well you structure your content. The above three steps will only be helpful if your copy is really well done. Content quality always comes first!