The internet is always growing, advancing, and diversifying. For users, this means more options - brilliant news whether we're looking for our next holiday,
shopping for that must-buy item, or just idly passing the time. But even though our internet speeds are getting faster many businesses are losing out
due to their site's performance and it could be costing your business big.
So what's happening online?
It's not new information that the web is continuing to grow, more people are using the internet than ever and we're all using it very differently. High-resolution images, HD video, and powerful online applications are increasingly common in our day-to-day activity online. This means bigger web pages,
bigger web pages mean longer loading times, and longer loading times mean disaffected web users.
The truth is there are right ways and wrong ways to make great websites and far too often we see sites that look great and serve their purpose well but
we know from a conversion point of view that if nothing else loading time is going to be hurting their prospect of success.
What's causing these problems?
For all the infinite combinations of server, software, CMS, method, and content the issue of slow pages tends to be caused by any combination of three main
factors -
- The server - sometimes the server (the computer that figures out what the user needs to see and sends it to them) can be badly put
together, poorly maintained, or not powerful enough to deal with a site and its' traffic. Just like some cars are faster than others, there is a
huge variety in performance with servers and slow ones will leave your user staring at a blank white screen whilst the server tries to figure out
what it needs to do next.
- File size - we're able to use beautiful photography, fancy UI tricks, video, and graphics online, and where it adds to the user's experience
we should do so. But even though you can often cut file size in half using clever compression and the right formats several sites don't. They
end up sending data and adding to load times for literally no reason.
- Thinking… Time - this one is a bit different but bear with me. Take for example a site built in WordPress
(the system behind 40% of the top 100,000 sites online), the pages that you see on that site don't exist, they're put together on the fly
when someone visits your site. What happens to several sites that can cause them to load slowly is that they get stacked up with several plugins and fancy extras. These should add features to the site but end up just adding a lot for WordPress to think about first, which
means loading the page later.
Why does this matter?
So by now, we know that the bottlenecks are out there and they're getting in the way, but does it matter? Think about the last time you were in the
shops, you might expect to wait thirty seconds to get served, and after a minute you might be a bit irked. If it's busy you might wait a couple minutes
but inevitably you're going to assume the shop doesn't want your business and go somewhere.
Web users are generally less loyal, less patient, and always able to get to your competition much easier than in the real world.
Let me explain a bit better with some stats -
40% of visitors abandon a website when they reach a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load.
7% - a commonly observed drop in conversions for each second of loading time
51% of customers cite page load time as the main reason they'd abandon their cart
What next?
Clearly, speed is important, a well-built and optimised site will remove one all too common obstacle preventing your visitors from becoming customers. Website
Success has worked with several businesses to get their sites up to the pace of the modern web and give their products and services the attention
they deserve. Speed is an important factor in search engine optimisation as well as visitor conversion.
If you've got concerns about what the technical elements of your site might be doing to your success pick up the phone or send us a message, and we'll
take you through your options.
