Why You Should Care About Site Speed

Have you noticed your web traffic drop off? Your site speed might be why.

Have you ever clicked on a website, expecting to be shown the results immediately and quell all of your search stresses, only for, as 10 seconds to pass without the website loading, then 20 seconds, and, by the time you reach 30 seconds, when you’re expecting the whole website to have loaded, you’re presented with a few pixels on the screen?

You click back, and restart the search process to find a new, faster, responsive website.

To be honest, if you’re one of those people able to wait 30 seconds for a slow website to load, then you deserve a round of applause (maybe a trophy) for your patience. As internet users, we are notoriously impatient and expect results instantly. This is why it’s important for brands to make sure their website speed isn’t losing them traffic.

The above information is usually enough to make you realise why the speed of your site is important, because you’ve probably been annoyed by a slow website yourself – but if you need further convincing, here are some more reasons you should care.

1. Having a fast loading site makes it easier for your visitors to navigate your website, and find exactly what they’re looking for.
2. Your site will be able to keep visitors for longer, and a longer time spent on your site is an edge over your competitors.
3. Faster sites help to create more conversions – this one is just a stone cold fact. Have you ever purchased or made a decision on a slow website? I’d bet you a fiver you haven’t (not since the early 2000s anyway, so I’ll keep that fiver).
4. Having a faster loading site influences repeat business – if your site is easy to navigate, it hasn’t given the user a headache, and they know or can infer that you’re trustworthy.
5. It creates a significant impact on UX and business goals – again these points are all interlinked, if you give your visitors a good experience, you’re likely to attract the kind of visitors you want on your site and keep them coming back.
6. Your site speed determines (admittedly only in tie-break situations) your SEO ranking. If you have a faster loading website, you’ll find that you’ll outperform slower loading sites of similar quality.

Although by no means an exhaustive list of why you should care more about your site speed, in terms of aligning your business digitally; they make a pretty good argument for why you definitely should think more about and invest more in your loading speed as part of the overall usability of your site.