Do you want to go faster?
When it comes to websites, your answer should always be yes! The average time a person will wait for a page to load is less than 4 seconds, and some studies say less than 2 seconds. That may seem like a short time, but we’ve all been there, you click a link or type in a URL and if it doesn’t appear almost instantly, you’re clicking the back button or searching again. Page speed not only affects your bounce rate (whether or not people actually stick around to view the carefully curated content on your website), but it also affects your search engine rankings and ultimately whether they make a purchase, or contact you for your services, or learn what you’ve designed the site to teach them. Really, you want the viewer to complete a specific task, so to do that, they can’t leave before they’ve even seen your content.
As most websites are primarily viewed on mobile devices now, mobile page speed is another factor you need to consider. Unfortunately, these are measured separately from desktop speeds and both need to be addressed. Several factors can affect your page speed that are beyond your control, such as the connection source, the device used, the browser, the amount of traffic, the distance from a tower. So, you need to make sure you are doing all you can to ensure the page itself is optimized to function as quickly as possible.
Not sure what your page speed is? You can check your page speed using Google’s Page Speed Insights tool. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on this and to check it after any significant changes to your site.
How to increase the speed of your website?
There are many ways you can increase the speed of your website.
These includes but is not limited to:
- Optimize all images and files
You want to make sure that all your images are appropriately sized and are responsive so they will resize automatically no matter how a person is looking at your site - Maintain your site
Make sure you stay on top of all the updates for your template, security features, plugins or widgets. If your components are using older versions, they can slow things down - Delete anything that isn’t necessary
Do you have pictures in your media folder you don’t need or PDFs that you’re not referencing anywhere, it’s time to clean them out! - Change your template
Maybe the template you used is old and outdated, and maybe it’s time for a fresh new look that is more efficient and will work faster - Time to move
If you’ve tried all these things and it’s still slow, you may need to move your site to a new host. Sometimes the server your website is hosted on is what’s causing the hangups. As your service provider if they have other options or shop around for one that works better for you.
Increasing the speed of your website can be a daunting task if you are not a web developer or familiar with web development. Our team at MKT Communications can help you design a new site, maintain your current website, or troubleshoot and help you find ways to increase your page speed. Contact us today to learn more.