20 Ways To Increase Your Average Time (Session Duration) on Site!

Do you feel like your users aren’t really reading your articles? Do you have problems with your average time on page?
You need to stop writing boring articles and actually implement engaging tactics to make sure your readers will stick around but also enjoy reading your content.

Below I’ve listed 20 proven methods to avoid boring the hell out of your readers:

1# Rule of one

Once concept. One idea. Once call to action. Don’t talk too much about multiple subjects and ideas in the same article! Each of your articles should be based on just ONE subject, a single important idea that should be clear throughout your story, argument, and examples.

2# The opening line is highly important

You need to master the opening line, that’s the introduction of your article. You need to hit readers hard with the best you have because if they won’t like your first sentences, chances are they’ll just abandon the whole article.

3# Keep it short

Keep everything short. Not the article itself, the article can be as big as it needs to be. You need to use short sentences and paragraphs and even short words. Why? Because you need to give people time to digest and understand what they are reading. Long paragraphs that don’t say much are just boring, don’t expose your users at a wall of text with little to no meaning or substance.

4# Use common words

Don’t go around using scientific words and meanings if you don’t absolutely need too! If you can find a simple, more comfortable way of saying things, use that instead of some pretentions difficult words. Few people will stop and search the dictionary to find out the meaning of an unknown word, most users will just find it boring.

5# Become empathic

Stop being a cold-hearted writer. Your readers need to understand that you empathize with them on a certain level. Avoid passive tone and show your users you are one of them, with similar struggles and problems. Keep in mind you readers are there to find the solution to a certain problem, make sure you give them that solution and not some diplomatic theory.

6# Stop being predictable

Your readers aren’t stupid, they’ll figure out right from the start if your article is similar to the other hundreds or thousands of article available online on that very same subject. So try to be unpredictable, surprise them! If you regurgitate the same old content your competition posts they’ll figure out and stop reading.

7# Don’t bloat the article with unnecessary words

I know you want to reach a certain number of words for your articles. But this practice will often stretch the content with useless statements, words, adverbs, adjectives, and nouns.

8# Don’t act like a sleazy salesman

Avoid being a salesperson. Avoid being uninteresting and tiresome. Stop rambling about your subject or topic. Show the benefits to your readers. Don waffle about irrelevant facts, instead educate your readers!

9# Make your readers feel

It is called sensory writing when the writer is able to make people remember how they’ve felt about a certain topic even when they forgot the details on that specific subject. Turn on your passion and choose your words carefully!

10# High energy is the key

You’re writing needs to be contagious, this means giving out a high energy and dynamic style of writing. Don’t dull people to sleep with your writing. Positive energy will initiate a positive reaction from your users.

11# Be fun and playful

There is no reason not to have a sense of humor when writing an article, it will make you more desirable and easy to read. Think of unique ways of expressing your ideas and subject. Make people smile and be humble!

12# Readability

Make your articles very easy to read! This means choosing the right font, avoid typographic mistakes and choose a good font color that can be easily distinguishable compared with the background.

13# Pictures and videos

You can say a lot with including one picture in your article. A picture can sometimes mean a thousand words. Take advantage of this and include both pictures and videos! Makes sure both types of content are related to the article’s subject

14# Good stories

Include interesting stories in your content. This may be a great opportunity to give readers a glimpse into your life by drawing analogies from personal experiences.

15# Readers should sometimes make up their own mind

Let readers fill the gaps for themselves. Sometimes it may be ok for you to allow them to make up their own mind in the end. Facts are way more important compared to statements!

16# You don’t need to be highly professional

When you are writing in a compassionate tone, people will actually believe what you are saying, it will make you credible in their eyes, so stay away from acting too professional, let people connect with your more easily on the subjects they are passionate about.

17# Giveaways

Give away unexpected gifts. Readers love to know you care about them there is no better way to show you cares than offering gifts. Give away something that your readers can really use and is pretty related to the niche of your website or the subject or your article.

18# Don’t have any doubts

When writing an informative article you are the expert and you shouldn’t show any signs of weakness or doubt. Don’t use stuff like “in my opinion” that raises doubt and in essence, they already know that is your opinion since they are reading your article!

19# Don’t ignore the content’s formatting

This means including number and bullet points, subheadings, bold important phrases, use trigger words and power words. Make your content appealing and away from the label “boring”.

20# Your readers need to enjoy your content

Create something enjoyable. When your reader is reading something they should enjoy it first. They should know very well where they are headed and in the end, understand how they got there. This is just like a ride and it is your job to make it enjoyable as well as fascinating.