8 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
8 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Tag clouds vs. Recommended vs. Most read

by stipto
7 replies
Hello there,

We run a news/lifestyle website for students.
We want to decrease the bouncerate and increase loyalty and relevant visitors. On an article page, for example in the sidebar, wich of these methods is better? (either proven or in your opinion)

- Tag clouds
- Recommended (articles like this)
- Most read articles

Would be cool if anyone actually uses multiple methods and has compared this via an analytics tool.

Cheers!
#clouds #read #recommended #tag
  • Profile picture of the author kiloh
    How old are the students? High school or college? Why not use all 3? They all serve different purposes, I think it would all depend on each student independently if they'll return or not, not really your sidebar widgets.
    Signature
    Need help with SEO? Feel free to PM me with any questions, I'll do my best to help.
    PR3 Backlink + Pr1 Backlink - Get your permanent backlink for only $5.
    Need a higher Google ranking? Want to learn what the pros are using? Most essential Wordpress Plugin
    Autoblogs - Try it FREE today! No Domain, No hosting. Setup your own blog farm in 180 seconds.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3142125].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
    Well! Why don't you use all three?
    Signature

    no sig

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3142163].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author stipto
      We don't really know the age of our readers, but this is a good method to find out. If we split up our target group in segments and start writing articles for these specific segments, we can see who clicks on wich type of link.
      So: great idea to use all three.

      Cheers!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3160822].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Andrea Wilson
    Yes, try to experiment on which gets most click throughs by which age bracket. However I often see tag clouds in blogs rather than the other two.

    Andrea
    Signature
    Virility Ex|Mobile Website Design|Yeast Infection Causes|Extenze Male Enhancement
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3160934].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author stipto
    You're right about that, but our website has a bloggy feel to it. You can comment on each article and that makes the content of the site more valuable.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3160970].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Devid Farah
      Hi stipto,

      You should probably focus more on the content then things such as tag clouds.

      If those three items do have an effect on bounce rate and loyalty, then it will be very small compared to the content.

      I think that it’s safe to say that people will visit to your site to see your content not your Tag Clouds.

      That being said, I do think that those three items do help flesh out a website.

      Personally on an article page I will put a recommended/related articles section at the end of the article.

      Good luck,
      Devid
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3162704].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        Originally Posted by Devid Farah View Post

        Hi stipto,

        You should probably focus more on the content then things such as tag clouds.

        If those three items do have an effect on bounce rate and loyalty, then it will be very small compared to the content.

        I think that it's safe to say that people will visit to your site to see your content not your Tag Clouds.

        That being said, I do think that those three items do help flesh out a website.

        Personally on an article page I will put a recommended/related articles section at the end of the article.

        Good luck,
        Devid
        Very true. It does not make any difference at all how you point to your content if your content is not what they want.

        I don't use tag clouds because they take up so much eye space on the screen, but I do use recommended, but this is also on more product oriented sites rather than news.
        Signature


        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3162866].message }}

Trending Topics