A three-second delay may not seem like much. But in the age of the internet, it can make all the difference. If your site fails to load in three seconds, you could be losing as much as 40 percent of your visitors before they even see your homepage. The best way to prevent this from happening is to have a website speed test that shows site flaws that are influencing online performance.
What is a Website Speed Test?
Since everyone hates slow loading websites, developers have identified ways to test the different web design elements, like image file size, which influence page speed. Google PageSpeed Insights and Website Grader are two popular options for website speed tests.
Why does Website Speed Matter?
A website speed test can help you identify factors that are hurting your site’s usability, visibility and conversion opportunities. A slow website often leads to poor performance in other areas.
3 Reasons to Pay Attention to Page Speed
- A high bounce rate can cause a website to slip in search engine rankings
- A slow loading website decreases customer satisfaction, which Google also considers
- Every lost visitor is a lost business opportunity
What you can do to Improve Website Speed
1) Optimize Image Sizes
Although eye-catching photos can improve engagement, they can slow down a site if they are not formatted properly. Website photos should be compressed before publishing on web pages or blogs. Online file compression software, such as TinyPNG.com, can quickly complete the task for free.
2) Remove Landing Page Redirects
Website redirects are another major cause of a slow website. It’s best to limit the number of redirects on your site or eliminate them entirely if possible. It is usually not necessary to have redirects that do not serve a specific purpose.
3) Reduce the Number of Plugins
Every website has plugins that add extra features. Since each one requires more resources, they can slow down a site. Add too many and you could lose a precious few seconds off your page speed. Every site owner should regularly review site plugins to determine which ones are really necessary.
It’s important to regularly monitor your website’s functionality. A website speed test is a quick way to determine if there are any issues that could be causing your pages to load too slowly. If your site is not fast enough, it can be easily fixed by contacting a professional web design agency.
