Think that speeding up your website isn’t important?
Think again.
- 47% of people expect your site to load in less than 2 seconds.
- 40% will abandon it entirely if it takes longer than 3 seconds.
To someone visiting your site, website speed is the first impression you ever make. Your potential customers make an instant judgment on you and your business, and coming across fast and professional is essential. If your website loads fast, your new visitors are happy and it’s a great quick win! On the other hand, a slow website makes you look unprofessional and untrustworthy, and it’s extremely tough to turn that negative first impression around. A few extra seconds can have a huge impact on your ability to engage visitors and make sales.
Apart from user experience, website speed is one of the biggest factors in Google ranking, Facebook ads bidding system, and overall sales.
Funnel Bounce Rate
As a potential customer progresses through your funnel, each time they move to a new page they become more likely to drop off. If your site is fast it gets people to the desired outcome quickly. Unfortunately, if your website takes longer to load it gives the potential customer more time to change their mind. It’s better to catch people in their buying mindset with a fast and easy-to-navigate site in order to lead them on their path to conversion.
Paid Search
Google has been using website speed on desktop devices as part of its ranking algorithm since 2009, and as of July 2018, page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile devices as well. On top of ranking high in Google’s search rankings, having an edge at pay-per-click advertising on Google comes down to your quality score. A large factor in determining your quality score is… you guessed it! Your website speed. Doing this enables you to pay the most affordable and cost-effective rates for keyword bidding.
Social Ads
Much like paid ads on Google, Facebook also favors fast site speed when it comes to ads. Facebook, much like Google, wants to show you the best results for what you are interested in.
Lucky for you, there is plenty to do to speed up your site. Here is a list of some of my personal favorites:
Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
- Hosts files on servers around the world
- Website visitors download files from servers closest to them
Optimize Images
- Crop images to the right size
- Reduce color depth to the lowest acceptable level
- Use JPEG first, and PNG as a second option
Browser Caching
- Saves files in the user’s browser to make moving around faster
Make Code Compact
- Remove unnecessary spaces, line breaks, and indentations in code
- Many plugins available to help with this
Having your website up to speed is more important than ever before and essential for growth. With customers’ attention spans dwindling and companies such as Facebook and Google raising their expectations, it is vital to adapt. When implemented, the smallest changes will push you ahead of the competition. Your company’s website speed can not be overlooked.
You can test your website on Google’s website below or my personal favorite, gtmetrix.
