Speed Matters
In today’s fast-paced digital world, user experience is king, and the king’s consort is website load speed. A slow website can drive visitors away, damage your brand’s reputation, and negatively impact your search engine rankings.
The general consensus is that an ideal page load time is between 0-2 seconds – three seconds at the most. Anything more and your website can suffer negative consequences.
Why Website Load Speed Matters
Let’s take a closer look at how page load speed impacts the performance of your website as a valuable digital marketing tool.
User Experience
Everyone’s busy and on the run – we don’t much time out to smell the roses anymore and we certainly don’t have time to hang around waiting for a web page to load so we can read more about the services your company has to offer.
The first reason for having a fast website is therefore to cater for the limited patience of the online audience. If they have to wait, they’ll be fed up and frustrated and leave with a negative perception of your brand and business.
A slow speed will result in a high bounce rate – that is the number of visitors to your website who navigate away after viewing only one page, failing to take any action (like clicking on a link or filling out a form).
Faster websites encourage users to stay longer, explore more, react to CTAs and engage with your content.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
As you probably know having a business website is no good to you unless the site is SEO friendly. SEO is the magic potion that animates your website and makes it prominently displayed on the Google search results when potential customers are seeking your goods or services.
Google and other search engines prioritise websites with fast load times, which makes load speed a serious search ranking factor. Google takes it a step further – with its mobile-first indexing policy it means a slow mobile load speed can negatively affect your search rankings across all devices.
Conversion Rates
Converting users into paying customers, in other words capturing sales and leads, is the main aim of a business website. To convert, a user needs to take an action, like hitting a “buy now” button or submitting a contact form. Studies have consistently shown that fast page speed results in a better conversion rate. Speedy websites also correlate to customer satisfaction, so can encourage repeat visits and customer loyalty.
Brand Reputation
There’s a very real risk that if your website is slow, users will perceive that your company is slow too – outdated, unreliable and unprofessional. It sounds harsh, but human nature is such that users are more likely to trust and engage with brands that offer a smooth, efficient online experience.
How to Improve Website Load Speed
Here are five strategies, gleaned from the experts at Dentons Digital – the Wiltshire agency that specialises in making websites work for small businesses – that will significantly improve your website’s load speed.
1. Optimise images
Compress images using tools (TinyPNG, ImageOptim for example) designed for the purpose to reduce the image file sizes without compromising on quality.
Make sure you use formats (like WebP) which offer the smallest possible file sizes, and implement lazy loading techniques, which results in images only loading when they are needed.
2. Leverage caching
Enable browser cashing to store static resources, including images, locally, reducing the need to fetch them from the server on subsequent user visits. You can also utilise caching mechanisms on your server to store frequently accessed content and deliver it more quickly.
3. Minimise HTTP Requests
Combine multiple CSS or JavaScript files into fewer requests to reduce the number of round trips to the server. You can also combine smaller images into a single sprite sheet to reduce the number of HTTP requests.
4. Minify CSS and JavaScript
Remove unnecessary characters and whitespace to reduce file size. Further, identify and remove unused code, and optimise JavaScript execution with techniques like deferring or async attributes for scripts.
5. Upgrade Hosting
Choose a reliable hosting provider with a hosting plan sufficient to handle your website’s traffic.
Optimising your business website’s load speed is not a one-off exercise. You need to consistently monitor and test site performance to identify and address any issues that arise, while you stay updated on the latest best practices for improving website speed. If you don’t have the time or inclination to tackle this important task yourself, then consider seeking professional help so you can get on with your business and make the most of your website.
If your website is slowing down your business rather than speeding it up, get in touch with Dentons Digital and we’ll put your site back on the fast track to success.
