Improve website load speed is key to not lose any potential clients because surely it has happened to you that you enter a website and it starts loading. 1… 2… 3… 4 seconds go by… and the page still doesn’t load. Then, you decide to close the tab and try your luck on the next page.
Have you ever thought that what happens to you in other eCommerce sites can happen to your customers in yours?
Also, did you know that a website with a loading speed above 2-3 seconds is considered not to be an acceptable website?
Doing periodic reviews of the loading speed of your website is as essential as the content on it.
In today’s post, we are going to talk about what affects the loading speed and the possible solutions to solve these problems. Here we go!
The importance of improving website load speed
People love things fast. How fast we get our take-out order at a restaurant. How fast we can get from point A to point B. And, you know what? People love fast websites too. That’s why it’s very important to improve your website load speed.
But let’s start at the beginning, what is website performance and how does it affect website load speed? It’s the speed at which a web page is downloaded and rendered in a user’s web browser. Basically, it tells you how fast your website is.
Create your e-commerce for less than 100€
Why is website performance so important? Well, because it has a direct impact on organic searches, user experience and visibility on Facebook.
The direct impact on organic search. If you think about it, it makes sense for search engines to take into account the loading speed of a website, as they want to offer the best user experience.
Also, a website with a slow loading speed translates in the vast majority of cases to less traffic. This means that you could be losing potential customers by the simple fact of not having your site well optimized.
In addition, the metrics most affected by poor website performance are the most important for any eCommerce: traffic, conversions and sales.
Optimize the elements of your web page
Let’s dig a little deeper into the details that increase our page size.
What is page size? Page size is the overall size of the block of stored memory that makes up a page. Therefore, if you reduce the overall size, you increase the loading speed.
Here are some of the improvements to optimize the elements of your web page to reduce its size:
- Use Google fonts. No custom fonts.
- Use video platforms to store your videos.
- Compress images.
Google Fonts
Using custom fonts greatly affects the size of a web page. In addition, if a user doesn’t have the font you are using, they will have to download the font files in addition to the rest of the website, thus increasing the loading speed.
In contrast, Google fonts are accessible to all browsers. Google has optimized these fonts to be delivered in the most optimal way possible.
Video storage
Another important point to reduce the overall size of the website is the storage of videos. Are you storing videos on your servers?
Stop doing it now! Platforms like Youtube, Vimeo or Amazon help you publish the same content, but with the difference that this content is stored on their servers.
Each of these platforms offers similar but different services. Youtube is by far the most popular platform as it is free. Its only problem is that ads may appear at the beginning of the videos. But if you have a well-organized channel and publish relevant content, you can even monetize the videos thanks to the visits from the website.
Vimeo appears as a solution by claiming to be an ad-free platform, but offering these services comes at a cost. In this case, a cost of 6 €/month.
Amazon is presented as the most customizable platform of all of them. The problem is that the technological level required to use this tool is higher than the two previous ones.
All platforms are valid and there is none better than the other. Simply, each one offers specific services and it is up to you to decide which one best suits your business.
Compress images
The size of the images can also be a big problem when it comes to counting the size of the website. If you do not optimize them, they can seriously affect the loading speed of your website. Especially if the user does not have a good internet service.
How can you compress the images on your website? A very good tool is tinypng.com. Tinypng.com is free, easy to use and efficient.
It’s very, very important that you do this step because most of your eCommerce content will probably be in images.
Of course, if you don’t want to lose any potential customers, you need to have the elements of your website well optimized.
Following these easy to implement tips, you will be able to improve your website load speed.
And remember, everything that happens to you in other eCommerce are situations that other users may be encountering on your website.
Did you know the importance of having a good loading speed on your website?
Let us know in the comments how you manage this issue in your eCommerce!
Do you want to subscribe to our weekly Newsletter?