A first impression always matters. Whether applying for a job or meeting a client for the first time, we all know the importance of appearing at your best. Commercial enterprises go to great lengths to entice and engage customers as they walk through the door. The same concept holds true for your website, with site speed and page load time as one of the most crucial aspects in making great first impression online.
Positive User Experience
A website may be spectacular in design and scope, but if any page takes longer than two seconds to load, the risk of losing a potential customer increases dramatically. A recent study revealed that 47% of consumers expect a website to load in two seconds or less, and 40% abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load.
Effect on Search Engine Rankings
In addition to the impact upon user experience, a slow loading website affects search engine optimization (SEO). As far back as 2010, Google announced that they would be adding page performance into their search engine algorithms. Since that time, other search engines have followed suit. Now all major search engines factor in page load time as part of search engine ranking.
Causes of Slow Site Speeds
There are many potential causes of a slower-loading time on a site. A few of these include:
- Large unoptimized image files
- No caching information with images
- Bulky coding such as white space, comment tags, and unneeded meta content
- Lack of file compression
- Oversized database with too many old or unused images and files
- Excessive or poorly performing Flash, CSS and JavaScript modules or widgets
- Spam
Even with regular updates and maintenance, website speed can still be affected by various factors. That is why at Cinch we offer our Performance Boost add-on to assist in maintaining site speed.
How We Can Help
With the Performance Boost add-on to the Essential Support maintenance plan, we utilize a scope of technological tools to increase website speed.
- Speed Test – Our team will conduct a speed test on your website to find any issues that are can be resolved fast.
- Site Caching – Our next step is to set up and configure a caching system for your site that will further increase your site speed and reduce server load.
- Database Optimization – Once our team has conducted the initial analysis we will continue to maintain and optimize your database on an ongoing basis.
- File Minification – Removing duplicate and extraneous data in your website’s files can shrink their size and greatly reduce bandwidth usage, increasing overall site load speed.
- Spam Protection and Comment Removal – We regularly monitor for bulky spam comments and remove them to keep the site functioning seamlessly and fast.
By increasing your website speed, you can make customers happy and get better traction on Google and any other search engine. For every second you shave off page load time, you’ll increase customer satisfaction, engagement, and conversions. A few seconds is all it takes. Speed matters now more than ever – we can help.
