Nothing causes lost potential customers quite like a slow website.

This can be for a number of different reasons as listed below:

1. Large image sizes. This is usually the biggest culprit. In general images for the web should keep their file size to a minimum. The larger the file, the longer the loadtime. 
2. Bloat. A lot of times websites are built with builders that include a lot of uneccessary files and scripts that get loaded despite the website not using them. This is common for inexperienced developers or for users using DIY solutions to build their own sites. 
3. Load sequence isnt’ optimized. Modern websites that are developed well will only call on a script or image when needed. So if a script or image that is being found at the end of the page is loading at start, this can lead to slower load times. 
4. Entry level budget hosting. These hosting plans usually offer servers with very limited resources, causing longer load times. For more about hosting, click here.
5. Malware or malicious files. A slow loading website can be a sign of a hacked webite that has malicious scripts injected into it. This should be remedied immediatedly.

There is no one straight answer, as every website is built differently. As a guideline, you’ll want to make sure you’re on a good hosting plan, images are kept small, number of fonts are kept to a minimum, and that you have some kind of caching software in place. These steps alone can dramatically improve your website’s load speed. Contact us and we’ll be happy to get your site’s speed optimized. 

Simply put, people have very short attention spans when browsing the internet. If a potential customer cannot access what they need to on your site within seconds, they’ll leave your site and most likely never return, opting for the competetion which has a faster loading site. Slower loading websites are also generally ranked lower by search engines, since they mostly likey have higher bounce rates than normal. All this translates to thousands and thousands of dollars in lost potential revenue.

If your website loads in under 3 seconds, it’s faster than 75% of most websites. That means a faster loading website gives you a leg up on 3/4 of your competetion. It seems like a no brainer then, that you’d want your website loading as fast as possible.