Every second counts in web design. Forty-seven percent of consumers say they expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less. Forty percent will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Consider the traffic, conversions, and sales that will be lost over the long haul!
Speed has become so important over the years, webmasters have had to trim the fat on their sites. Even though people love visual information, a simple, streamlined design that loads quickly is more important. That’s not to say that you can’t have anything fun on your website, but you must always be thinking in terms of speed and user experience.
Here are a few tips for making your site extra speedy as we finish out the second half of 2017.
Choose a Minimal Design
The simpler the design, the less elements there are to load. This is one of the most effective ways to speed up your website. It’s best to start with a minimal design that accommodates fast loading times and then pick and choose the elements that are important to you. If you already have a site, changes can be made to improve speed.
Features of a minimalistic design are:
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White space
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Short web forms
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Small images
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One font
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Hamburger menu
Consider User Perception
As important as it is for your site to be fast, it’s even more important that your users perceive it to be fast. Rather than implementing technical solutions, stick to what you are familiar with. Good design, simple navigation, fast loading web forms, large, clickable buttons, and easy-to-read font are all examples of ways to improve the feel of your website.
Get Help from Google
Google wants your site to be fast. It contributes to the overall goal of making the internet faster. Start with Google’s Make the Web Faster page where you have access to a wide range of tools and information to help speed up your site.
PageSpeed Insights is another tool that provides information on why your site may be slow. Are your images too large? Is your interface too complicated? The results are customized for both mobile and desktop versions.
Optimize Your Servers
Even if you make all the recommended changes, your site needs optimized servers to perform well. Server response time refers to how long it takes for your server to respond to a browser request. A few ways to boost server response are:
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Use fewer resources on each page
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Deploy a caching solution
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Use a content-delivery network (CDN)
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Improve your web server software configuration
Faster Sites = More Buyers
It’s 2017, and your customers expect a fast, seamless experience when visiting your website. If you can’t deliver, conversions and sales will be affected. The worst part is that you could lose potential customers to other brands – forever! With the tips and tools listed above, you can make speed a priority, improve your site’s experience, while enjoying improved traffic, conversions, and sales for the long term.
