There’s no denying we live in an age where speed matters; especially when it comes to online content and getting what we want fast. From Amazon deliveries to Netflix streams, everybody in the modern age wants something, and they want it now. The same rules apply to your website.

However, why does the loading time of your website really matter? Surely people are willing to wait a couple of seconds for a page to load if they really want it, and if not, they’re probably not worth your time anyway, right? Unfortunately, that’s wrong, and today we’re going to detail why.

1. First Impressions Matter

When someone clicks onto your website for the first time, this is the very first impression they’re going to have of your business. If they’re left noticeably waiting, this is instantly going to put your potential customers in a bad mood, and many won’t stick around and will simply take their needs and wants elsewhere.

In situations like this, customers will probably not return if they see your name again, so it’s not worth this loss.

2. Attention Spans are Limited

According to the latest statistics, many of us don’t have an attention span that lasts longer than two seconds. That’s right, that’s not a typo, that’s two seconds. Think about how quickly you scroll and absorb content through sites like Instagram. That’s what we’ve trained our brains to do.

When it comes to your website, this means you have less than two seconds to grab your reader’s attention. Otherwise they’re gone. Around 40% of people will abandon your website if it takes more than three seconds to load.

3. Reduced Sales

If people are waiting a long time for your website to load and they’re trying to make a purchase, the longer this process takes, the more time they have to think about the purchase they’re making and it can put them off making it altogether. This means reduced sales for you, and overall a less profitable business.

4. Negatively Affected SEO

If people are clicking on your website, waiting for several seconds and then clicking off, this is going to dramatically affect your bounce rate, and search engine giants where people find you, like Google, will start to see your website as a negative website that people aren’t interested in, and will basically drop you down the list of search engine results pages.

Fortunately, speeding up your website is easy using a cloud-based service or making edits to your website’s code. For information on cloud-based services, read the reviews to see which is best, such as this cloudways review.

5. Speed is Professional

To customers, a speedy website means you’ve invested time and energy into your business, and you’ve aimed to put your customers and their experience first. This shows professionalism and people are going to respond well to this, and it will only help to improve the experience you’re giving your target markets.

6. Reduced Reputation

Whether it’s Google dropping your page ranking on their results page or customers visiting your website and bouncing off never to return, this is only harming the reputation of your business, and it’s very difficult to build a reputation back up over time again. If you can get your website right the first time, you never have to worry about this dent in your reputation.

Summary

As you can see, there are several things you need to think about when it comes to the speed of your website, and it’s easy to see that this is an investment that’s well worth your resources. Be speedy, put your customers first, and you’ll see a huge improvement in the success rates of your business.