Why is Website Speed Important for Your Business?

40% of internet users will navigate away from your website if they experience a loading time delay of just 3 seconds. If your website is slow to load, you could be losing a ton of potential customers. Don’t let slow site speeds cost your business!

What Causes a Slow Website?

There are many things that can cause a slow website: complex code, HTTP requests, outdated equipment, and outdated or insecure websites.

How do you Improve Your Website Speed?

Website Design Issues:

  • Reducing HTTP requests: HTTP requests are how parts of your page are sent from the server to the user’s browser. Each request eats up processor time and memory and slows down your page loading speed. HTTP keep-alive response headers reduce the number of requests by using the same connection to transmit multiple parts of your page.
  • Compressing content: Complex code often requires big files. Compression allows smaller versions of files to be transmitted while still providing the same instructions on the receiving end. One example of compression is a routine that removes spaces and characters from HTML code to reduce the amount of data that is transmitted. You can also compress your images and a number of other factors on your site.
  • Minifying routines: JavaScript and CSS files are typically large. Minifying is similar to compression. Unnecessary line breaks, spaces, and indentations are removed to reduce the size of the files.

Network Issues:

  • Slow DNS: The DNS is what connects your URL to your website. A slow DNS will introduce a delay between when a user enters your web address into their browser and when your page begins loading.
  • Outdated equipment: As internet marketing firms build more sophisticated and dynamic features into webpages, the servers and communications equipment must advance to maintain network speeds. Old or obsolete equipment might be unable to handle the large files and fast communication speeds needed for newer websites.
  • Incorrect configuration: Errors in configuring server hardware or software can lead to slow loading times as processes conflict with each other or are improperly prioritized.

Technology Issues:

A website that is outdated or insecure can lead to page loading issues. For example, an outdated or incorrect TLS certificate can cause a page to load incorrectly or error messages to appear in the user’s browser. This is bad news if you want people to stay on your site. Any type of error message will encourage your customers to go elsewhere.