2 Geeks Web Design
Keep Visitors Reading With Related Content at the Bottom of Your Pages
When a visitor reaches the end of a page on your website, you've got roughly ten seconds to decide where they go next. If nothing catches their eye, they're gone — back to Google, or off to a competitor. That's a wasted opportunity, especially for small business owners who rely on every single enquiry to keep the doors open. Whether you run a boutique accommodation in Byron Bay or a plumbing service out of Fremantle, the same logic applies: the bottom of the page is prime real estate.
The good news is that you don't need to be a developer to make the most of that space. A few well-chosen links to related posts, products, or services can turn a casual browser into a qualified lead. Australian web users are notoriously quick on the scroll, so giving them a clear next step matters even more here than in markets where readers settle in for a long read. Below is a practical walkthrough of how to set this up properly, what tools to consider, and what to avoid.
Why This Approach Works for Small Business Sites
Let's start with the basic psychology. Most people don't arrive at your site through the front door. They land deep on a blog post about a specific problem, read what they came for, and then look around. If the page ends abruptly, they leave. If it offers something relevant — another article, a related service, a product that solves the next problem — they often stick around.
For Australian small businesses, this matters because the market is highly localised. A café in Adelaide doesn't just compete with the place next door; it competes with every takeaway option in the CBD. Keeping visitors on your site long enough to book a table, request a quote, or sign up to your newsletter is half the battle. Adding related services near the bottom of each page can lift your average session duration without spending a cent on ads.
There's also an SEO angle. Internal links help search engines understand the structure of your site, and they pass authority from one page to another. When you link a blog post to a service page, or a product page to a case study, you're telling Google which pages matter most. Done well, this simple habit supports your broader marketing efforts without requiring technical wizardry.
Manual Curation vs Automated Suggestions
You have two main paths: pick the related content yourself, or let a plugin or script handle it. Both work, and the right choice depends on your site, your industry, and how much time you have.
Manual curation gives you full control. You decide exactly which posts, services, or products appear at the bottom of a given page. This is ideal for service businesses where the next logical step is always the same — a builder might always link to their contact form and a quote request, for instance. It also keeps the recommendations genuinely relevant, which builds trust.
Automated suggestions rely on tags, categories, or content analysis to pick related items. They're faster to set up and scale well across hundreds of posts. The downside is that they sometimes suggest odd pairings, especially early on when the algorithm doesn't have much data to work with.
| Method | Best For | Setup Time | Maintenance | Cost | Customisation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual curation | Service businesses, small catalogues | 2–3 hours upfront | Low | Free | Full control |
| Tag-based plugins | Blogs with 50+ posts | 1–2 hours | Medium | Free–$50/year | Limited to tag logic |
| Behavioural tools | Larger sites with steady traffic | 4–6 hours | Medium | $100+/month | High, after learning period |
| AI recommendations | E-commerce, media sites | 8+ hours | Low once running | $50–$300/month | Learns and adapts |
For most Australian small business sites, manual curation combined with a simple tag-based plugin hits the sweet spot. You get the efficiency of automation for the bulk of your posts, with the option to override selections on key pages. A tradie in Geelong running a 30-page site doesn't need behavioural AI; a hand-picked list of three relevant services will outperform it every time.
WordPress Plugins and Native Tools Worth Considering
If you're running WordPress, which is what most Australian small business sites are built on, you've got plenty of options. Plugins like YARPP, Related Posts by Taxonomy, and Contextual Related Posts have been around for years and are reasonably well maintained. They read your tags and categories and output a clean list at the bottom of each post. Installation is straightforward, and the default styling is serviceable out of the box.
WooCommerce sites have their own upsell, cross-sell, and "related products" blocks built right in. These appear on product pages automatically, and you can configure them in the product editor. For a gift shop in Noosa or a boutique fashion label in Melbourne, this is often all you need. Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix also offer their own related-content features, though they're often tucked away in the template settings.
On Squarespace, look for the "Related Posts" section in your blog settings. On Wix, you'll find similar options under "Blog Posts" in the page editor. None of these are difficult, but they're also not always obvious if you don't know where to look. Spend fifteen minutes exploring your platform's documentation before installing a third-party plugin.
If your service pages get more traffic than your blog, consider linking each service to trust-building resources elsewhere on your site. An about page that shares your story, combined with case studies or testimonials, does the heavy lifting when someone is ready to make a decision.
Design Choices That Keep the Block Looking Clean
Where you place the block, and how it looks, matters just as much as the content itself. A wall of blue underlined links halfway down a page looks spammy and unprofessional. A neat three-column grid with a clear heading reads as helpful.
Stick to three or four suggestions per page. More than that, and you risk overwhelming the visitor. Fewer, and the block feels underwhelming. Use the same typography and colour palette as the rest of your site, with a bit of breathing room around the block so it stands out without shouting. A subtle background tint or a thin border line works well.
On mobile, the layout needs to collapse gracefully. Grids that look great on a desktop monitor often turn into a cramped mess on a phone if not styled properly. Test with your own device, and ask a mate to do the same — fresh eyes catch things you miss. Australia has one of the highest mobile browsing rates in the world, so this isn't optional.
Avoid including more than one call-to-action in the related-content block. If your main page already has a "Book Now" or "Get a Quote" button, the related section should guide visitors toward information, not compete with the primary conversion path. Think of it as a friendly nudge, not a hard sell.
Measuring Performance and Iterating Over Time
Once the block is live, don't just set and forget. Most website builders and analytics tools will tell you which links visitors click, how far they scroll, and where they drop off. Google Analytics 4 shows this under Engagement → Pages and Screens. If you're not using analytics yet, that's the first thing to fix.
Watch your average engagement time and bounce rate over a month or two. If engagement climbs, the recommendations are working. If it stays flat or drops, your selections might be off, or the block might be too prominent. Small adjustments to wording, ordering, or the number of suggestions can shift the needle surprisingly quickly.
Refresh the block manually every few months. Old blog posts become less relevant, services come and go, and what was a useful suggestion last year may no longer fit your offering. A quarterly tidy-up takes an hour and keeps the recommendations aligned with your actual business. For site owners based in regional areas — say, a cellar door in the Barossa Valley or a tour operator in Cairns — this kind of ongoing attention is what separates a website that quietly generates leads from one that just sits there. The bottom of the page isn't glamorous real estate, but treated well, it does more work than most landing pages ever manage.