Slow websites loading speed kills conversion.
And this is not just an assertion. It’s a statement backed by enough stats and evidence. According to KissMetrics, the average website visitor expects your website to load in less than two seconds. If it’s taking more than three, as much as 40% may abandon the process!
You’ve not spent all of that money on building a website to let prospective customers leave even before they’ve transacted with your business. Here are three reasons your website is loading too slowly, with recommendations for tremendous improvements;
Web hosting plan or provider may affect site speed
Everything from the type of hard drive your hosting provider offers (SSD or HDD) to the available RAM and bandwidth can impact how fast your website loads. GoDaddy website hosting, for instance, has a reputation for being slow. SiteGround, on the other hand, is believed to be much faster, as well.
The same also plays out with the type of hosting plan your website uses. Shared web hosting plans are known for their low-cost prices. But since you have to share server resources with a lot of other websites, your website may experience occasional slowdowns at times.
A dedicated server, on the other hand, gives you better control of resource allocation. If you’re committed to genuinely improving your website speed, this type of hosting plan guarantees the best balance between performance and affordability.
Image sizing and page speed
Images are a double-edged sword. They can make or break your website.
If served properly, they could help convey your idea, support your story, and even make your brand more relatable. But serving up improperly sized images may have less desirable results.
Reducing image file sizes to fit the space where the picture will be on your website can help immensely. Light images, compared to heavy image file sizes, will take up less space on your website. Consequently, this will reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred when customers visit your website.
The benefits extend beyond just making your website lighter. This guarantees better website speed performance and better user experience, all while still improving SEO.
Plugins and website loading speed
Plugins help enhance the functionality of WordPress websites.
While too many plugins might end up slowing down your website speed, some of the best plugins are well-built enough that you won’t experience any significant lag in speed. Still, there are some plugins purposely designed to help websites boost their page loading speeds.
WordPress plugins like SG optimizer, WP Rocket, and more are some of the best WordPress caching plugins you might want to consider for speed optimization.
Why improve website speed?
Wondering why you need to improve your website speed?
More visitors will keep on abandoning your website if it’s taking forever before they can find what they need or do what they want. This will end up reducing the average time spent on your website while significantly increasing your bounce rate.
For Google, as well as your users, a seamless website user experience is non-negotiable. The more users leave your site, the stronger the signal this sends to Google that your website does not offer enough value and relevance to visitors. This will consequently, send your website page rankings further down the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
If you want to build a wicked fast website, your website hosting and design processes need to tick all of the boxes at the right places. And if there’s anyone you can trust to help you achieve this, the professionals here at Black Tusk Web are more than capable.
Black Tusk Web website design
Black Tusk Web offer website design services for businesses in Squamish, Whistler, Vancouver, and beyond. We use SiteGround dedicated hosting services to ensure your website has all it needs to maintain functioning at incredible speed. We also use reliable plugins from reputable outlets, such as the SG optimizer plugin, among other things.
The expert web design professionals at Black Tusk Web will help you build a high-speed, high-converting business website. With our services, you can easily avoid the pain of slow loading website pages while being sure that your website won’t constantly be crashing down.
Contact Black Tusk Web today to get started!