A website is essential to the expansion of your business, from bringing in new clients and consumers to establishing your brand. You’re probably aware of the fact that providing a wonderful user experience is just as crucial as having a website at all. Research has shown that 88% of online users are less inclined to visit a website again after a negative encounter.
Your website’s speed is one of the most important factors in ensuring that your visitors have the best experience. Users are growing impatient with slower website load times as technology continues to advance at a rapid rate. A website’s loading time shouldn’t take longer than two seconds, according to roughly 50% of consumers.
Make your first impression count
The saying “you only get one chance to make a first impression” holds true for all aspects of business, but your website speed is crucial in conveying your brand’s professionalism and how trustworthy your business is perceived.
When using a website for the first time, both customers and visitors anticipate that it will load in a reasonable amount of time (within 3 seconds). Keep in mind that making a good first impression is extremely important for businesses that operate on the web. When it comes to how viewers think of a company on the internet, speed is of the utmost importance.
It is natural for people to assume that a website that loads quickly must be more reputable and professional. On the other hand, website visitors find it extremely frustrating when the site is slow. Most consumers bounce right away and prefer to browse other websites that load faster to fulfil their requirements. Changing someone’s opinion after they’ve formed a bad one can be a very difficult task.
Site speed helps your SEO
A poor website speed will always have a negative impact on the search engine optimisation of a website as well as the rank of that website in Google. Google will punish your website with lower search engine rankings if it takes a long time to load. 2010 marked the beginning of this phenomenon. This was the first time that Google’s ranking algorithm made use of a specific ranking signal that was based on how quickly a website loaded.
They have determined that poor speeds have a negative influence on the overall experience that internet users have. They place a high value on aspects that contribute to the internet’s ability to be quick, useful, and easily accessible. If your website does not have elements that allow for the success of these goals, you will find that your company will not rank highly in search engines. If your customers are unable to find you with ease, you are going to have a difficult time generating revenue for your business.
Slow speed equals fewer conversions
Once you’ve attracted a client to your website, you want them to stay. It’s very much a case of “Time is Money and it’s measured in seconds”. Companies like Google and Amazon have researched this phenomenon known as “bouncing” extensively.
Bouncing occurs when a potential client leaves your website after only viewing one page. People who leave a website while it is still loading are not likely to return to that page, which means that you have possibly lost a long-term client before they ever had the chance to examine your content, even if you are exactly what it is that they are looking for.
So, if your website is taking more than two seconds to load, not only are you damaging your chances of a high google ranking, but the chance that your prospective new lead leaves your website, never to return. Site speed is imperative for holding engagement and transferring your leads into sales.
How to ensure site speed
When designing a website, not all web design and development businesses consider the fact that websites can become cumbersome if they include many features and capabilities that are not necessary and that your potential clients are unlikely to ever use.
One of the many things that can slow down the loading time of your website is the decision you make regarding whether to use a website template (also called a theme) or have a bespoke website developed. Although the price of a template website is typically lower than the price of a website that has been custom designed, template websites frequently come with additional features that are already integrated into the theme. These features are not actually essential to the success of your website. Because it takes longer to load all these additional features, any potential clients who visit your website will have to wait.
On the other hand, developing a bespoke website from scratch is one of the best ways to guarantee that your new website will include all the most important components. When there is no need to load any superfluous code, your website will be able to function much more quickly.
However, this does not mean that a website should be simplified to the point where it has no content to have the quickest load times possible. As an alternative, this comes down to prioritising the features and functionality that are vital for establishing a great user experience on your website and will assist your potential consumers in finding what they need in the shortest amount of time possible.
Meeting and Beating the Challenges
From website design, hosting, and search engine optimisation, the experienced team here at Jezweb realise the importance of site speed for your business. We will work closely with you to not only deliver your customers a great user experience but use all the latest strategies and techniques to ensure maximum returns from your internet presence. To find out more call us on 1300 024 766 or use the contact form here.