When it comes to creating a marketing strategy for your business, it’s not enough to simply have a website. You need a website that’s fast. This important element is often overlooked in digital marketing. Think about it, though – as a business owner, the last thing you want is for customers (or valuable leads) to leave your site because it takes too long to load.
Digital agency and WordPress experts, WOWW, put together four ways to enhance your website’s speed, which can boost customer engagement and improve SEO. But first, why is a fast website so important?
1. Customers expect the best user experience
Thanks to faster internet connection, a rise in social media, and infinite scrolling, we expect an excellent user experience at lightning speed. Did you know that 47% of people expect a web page to load in two seconds or less?
According to Kissmetrics and Neil Patel’s marketing blog, 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. Interestingly, a page-loading delay of just one second can lead to 7% fewer conversions.
2. Search Engine Optimisation dictates your ranking
Search engines love fast-loading websites. The faster your website is, the better the experience for your visitors. It also makes it easier for the quicker SEO-crawling robots (like Googlebot) to scan your site and update search engine page rankings. The higher your website ranks, the better your chances of organic traffic being driven to your site.
So, what’s a good website loading speed? For best practice, your website should load in less than three seconds. Any longer and you could notice customers dropping off – or abandoning your site without returning.
3. Paid marketing costs and your quality score
Pay Per Click (PPC) is an online advertising model that drives traffic to your website through keyword bidding. If you’re using Google Ads, your quality score affects the rate you pay per keyword. The higher your quality score, the less you pay for ads.
If your website is slow, Google will see it as a poor user experience and lower your quality score. This isn’t ideal for saving advertising costs or keeping customers engaged on your site.
4 Ways to improve your website’s loading times
Now that you know why your site’s speed is so important for your digital marketing strategy – and your business – here are a few best practices for better loading times:
- Use a well-supported and fast-loading CMS like WordPress.
Here’s how to set up your WordPress for your website, hassle-free. - Optimise your website code, images and other media
Ensure your site is working optimally with a Website Health Check. - Leverage performance-enhancing technologies like CDNs and caching
These components decrease the load on servers and speed up access to files. - Choose a reliable hosting provider that’s optimised for speed
Your web hosting provider can make a big difference to your site speed – here’s how.
A fast website is attractive to customers and search engines. By following these four best practices, you can be confident in knowing you’ve covered one of the most overlooked digital marketing elements. So, give them a try and see if you notice any improvements to customer engagement and SEO. We’re cheering you on!
If you’re interested in learning more about online marketing, you could take a digital marketing course or consult a digital marketing expert.
