These days we are hearing more and more about optimizing websites, but why should you do it? That is a fantastic question, sure your site already has amazing content, great pictures and quality links. What else could you possibly need? You need to be ranked, you need customers to stick with your site once they find it, and you need people to see it, period. There are over 7 billion (that is with a B folks) websites on the internet these days. If your site hasn’t been optimized, it is likely it will never be seen. But, I’m sure it is a great site.
Even the most patient human beings don’t like to wait in lines whether it is at a coffee shop or the bank, so it is no small wonder that we refuse to wait when we don’t have to. When we are shopping online for goods or services, we don’t want to wait we want it to happen quickly and easily. All businesses; both on and offline utilize queuing theory, which inputs how fast people are beings served vs how quickly they get bored or angry and move on. If there is a long line at the local coffee shop, another cashier moves up to make the line move faster, we expect our online services to be just as efficient. Using this theory online has produced some serious site rebuilds. Why is that? Because waiting for a site to load is just the same as waiting on that cup of coffee, except it is a lot simpler to move on to another place to buy something online. If a site takes a long time to load, customers will leave.
Do you need to optimize your site to work faster? No, not at all. Unless you want to make money. Site speed is the number one factor in determining whether a customer buys from or uses your site, or clicks away and finds a new one. This is a matter of common sense, how many times have you yourself clicked away from a site that took a long time to load? Over half of online shoppers will abandon a purchase; even at checkout if the site is too slow. Five years ago, a site that took ten seconds to load would still be utilized, but today? If your site doesn’t load in under 4 seconds you can forget it, your potential customer has already moved on. Really, they want it to load in under two, but most will wait the few extra seconds.
Time is money really has taken on new meaning in this super-fast technological age. A one second delay in loading times, or at checkout can cost you up to ten percent in sales. If you want your customers to stay on your site and buy things, or purchase services it needs to work properly and be fast. A site that loads in under two seconds, has proper flow rates from page to page, and has an automated checkout that cycles through quickly are of vital importance to your businesses success.
The speed of your site is a big deal and gets bigger by the day. It is not only utilized by Google to help determine your sites ranking, it keeps your customers happy. Consumers today want good quality products and services, and the want them from fast loading, efficient consumer friendly websites. Making your website load faster means repeat customers, recommendations of your site given out and more revenue for your business. If your site isn’t fast it may as well not exist, since customers will move on as fast as they hit the link to get to it.