A website can be very important in today’s business landscape, where many aspects of the sales cycle are online and digital. In many ways, it can even help determine the success of your business.
However, having a website is not enough. It should have a good design, is easy to navigate, and should load on people devices quickly. These criteria should be present for your website to have a good website ranking.
Today’s customers and target audience are voracious online researchers. They are always looking for information online. They are also quite impatient, and they want to get their information fast. If you have not engaged in website optimization, then you will lose out on potential customers.
Why does loading speed matter?
Business owners need to understand that today’s audience is among the most impatient. They like everything fast.
That being said, nobody likes a slow website. However, there are still other reasons why the speed of your website matters.
- First impressions last. When a person visits a website for the first time, they will surely judge its performance. One of the things they will first notice is the speed by which your website will load. If it does not meet their expectations, then they will not be coming back. So to make a good impression, make sure that your website will load fast.
- People are always on the go. The world today is very fast-paced. Although people can access almost everything on the tips of their fingers, they still want it faster. People will not bother with it if your website speed can’t keep up with their urgency. Therefore, your website must be able to skip and jump as fast as the people’s fingers click.
- You need to capture people’s attention. Since people are always hopping from one website to another, you have to capture their attention. And as mentioned earlier, speed is a factor in moving up the website ranking. So sites that are on the top of the SERP capture’s the audience’s attention.
- Speed affects conversion rate. Did you know that 40% of your visitors will leave your site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load? If your customers are leaving, who will buy from you? It’s why you must keep your website speed in check. You have to optimize your website constantly so you will not lose out on potential clients.
Speed check your website.
Before launching your website, you have to speed test it to make sure that it loads fast on all major browsers. You also have to ensure that the speed is consistent whether accessed from a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. If your business caters to an international audience, you have to conduct speed tests on all major regions.
Your website speed matters not just for website ranking, but more importantly, for client satisfaction. Therefore, your website must deliver, especially in this day and age where people expect results to come in an instant.
Do you want to learn more about this topic? You can learn more by reading Rob Dunford’s blog Metrics, Tools, and How to Advance Page Speed Optimization.
You can contact him if you want to know more about the importance of a fast-loading website to your business.
Rob Dunford is a marketing consultant based in the Great Toronto Area. I have over 20 years of experience in marketing planning and implementing for small business.