Why is website load time important?
Creating a content-rich website is a great first step to the online presence. A well optimised site can boost position in the search rankings and attract more users. Improving website performance should be an integral and continuous part of the development process rather than an afterthought.
It is no secret, Google favours fast and effectively optimised sites, and so do your website visitors. What is favoured by the search engines will also benefit your users, it really goes hand-in-hand.
Slow loading pages are quickly abandoned by the visitors. At the same time it will be noticed by the search engines and eventually is going to be reflected in the page indexing, ranking and search results position.
If you have spent a lot of precious time to produce rich copy and interesting web content, do not let this hard work go to waste. Make sure that the browsing experience is uninterrupted, smooth and all information in speedily delivered. According to the statistics every second of the load time greatly increases the chances for viewers abandoning your site.
On one side, bad website performance will drive down the search results presence and will deliver a poor user experience. On the other hand, perfecting this one aspect of your site is going to bring multiple benefits and can make a huge difference in the short and long term for your website.
How to improve website loading speed?
The type of changes required to improve website speed and performance will vary from site to site. Having said that there are common solutions you can implement to see immediate results. It is also worth mentioning that it should become a part of the development and maintenance process. As your website grows and evolves so should the performance strategy.
To start with, review all the assets loaded to your site. Make sure that all images, scripts, styles and font files are minified and optimised and that they are absolutely necessary for the page to function. You can make huge performance improvements just by following this single step. It might take a bit of your time but it is worth it.
Review your hosting. What type of service are you paying or planning to pay for? There is a countless number of hosting providers to choose from but most of them have a very similar list of services in their offer. From the cheapest shared web hosting to a fully customizable and more expensive dedicated servers. In most cases, as the cost goes up so does the quality, speed and the options for server modifications. To run a simple, well optimised blog or a website, a basic shared hosting will be sufficient. With time you might want to review your choices and invest in a more costly option.
Have a question about websites performance? Use the contact form.