In the fast-paced online world, the speed of a companies website sets the first impression for consumers. Slow loading times are unacceptable. No matter how great your service or site, consumers today have no patience to wait. Companies have 2 seconds or less (ideally less) before irritation kicks in, and consumers take their search elsewhere. This is amplified on mobile where users are on the go – more rushed = less patience.
As we’ve discussed before, there can be a variety of factors that cause slow page load times, including design, images, or links; all of which will lead to Google’s algorithms pushing your site down on the search engine ranking page – making you invisible, on top of being slow. Ouch.
Success online is all about keeping your consumers happy. What do they want? A smooth experience. This starts with speedy loading times.
Optimising your website load time
While optimisation can be a little complex and confusing, there are some simple steps businesses can take to improve loading times and enhance the customer experience.
1. Optimise images
Quality images boost engagement, but large files slow down websites. Thankfully, image sizes can be reduced without compromising quality, using tools like ImageOptim, JPEGmini, or Kraken.
2. Reduce plugins
The more plugins on a site, the more resources required to run them. Companies can run a performance test to see which plugins slow down the website. Avoid plugins that load a lot of scripts and styles or generate a lot of database queries.
3. Website caching
Caching stores data on a visitors’ computer temporarily. Implementing caching saves visitors reloading the same data every time they visit the site, thus improving the speed. The approach to setting up website caching is different for each platform. Companies can contact their host to look at their options.
4. Avoid redirects
Website redirects create additional HTTP requests. This has a negative impact on website performance. If they’re not necessary, we recommend avoiding them. You can identify redirects by running a site scan with tools like Screaming Frog.
5. Use compression
Compression drastically reduces the page size, which in turn increases its speed. It’s like putting your website into a zip file. The process for implementing compression depends on the web server and its settings. Businesses need to contact their hosting company to see what they can do.
You won’t get a second chance to offer a positive user experience. High-performance websites get high return visits, lower bounce rates, higher conversions, better engagement, higher ranks in organic search, and better user experience; the optimal results that every business seeks.
Starting with these five simple steps can take businesses a long way in reducing loading times. Not only will it help to win the very short attention span of their site visitors, but it will help to put the sites SEO in favour with Google’s algorithms; delivering more visitors to the site, ready to be wowed with a smooth user experience and moved quickly through the sales cycle.
Companies can use Google’s PageSpeed insights to test out their site. If it’s in need of a fine tune, it’s time to implement the steps above or contact AdVisible.
As a specialist website design company in Sydney, our team here at AdVisible specialise in page speed optimisation, and search engine optimisation. If you’re looking for an SEO company in Sydney that can speed up your load time and boost your online results, AdVisible has you covered.
