by Lindsey Winsemius - Posted 10 years ago
The time it takes your website to load is crucial. If your
site is taking too long, you are losing visitors.
What is too long? Small business owners should aim for a 3
second or less load time for their web pages (a widely accepted benchmark).
With so much available content and choices, users are more
impatient than ever. Poor loading time can account for high bounce rates and
low conversion rates. Visitors will often abandon a slow site altogether. This
can have a severe impact on a brand’s bottom line, as the Aberdeen Group found
that a one-second delay in website performance results in a 7 percent loss in
conversions, an 11 percent decrease in page views and a 16 percent decrease in
customer satisfaction.
What are some things you can do to improve load time?
Design for mobile browsers. Get a responsive design so
mobile sites load faster. (79% of US Shoppers use their smartphone for browsing
and shopping on websites and apps). Mobile users aren’t much more patient. A
design that is responsive will optimize regular browsing and the mobile
experience while still presenting the same information.
Get rid of that flash. Flash is passé. It can also slow your
website down. Large images can also be responsible for a slow load speed.
Test your load limit. Depending on your server speed and
load capability, too much traffic can cause your site to be slow or even to
crash. Make sure your webmaster checks your site’s load, particularly before
heavy traffic times (like a new marketing campaign or the holiday season).
3rd Party Plugins. Plugins (such as social media
widgets) can add extra load time, as each plug in ‘tag’ loads in sequence. Too
many plugins, or mismanaged plug ins, can increase the time it takes your site to
load. There are programs available to manage these tags to improve load time,
which your web developer should be aware of.
How long will you wait for a website to load? Share your
opinion in the comments below!
By Lindsey Winsemius. Lindsey is the Vice President of Communications for ApogeeINVENT, and is the social media voice and blogger for the company. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn or Google+
