Would you wait for a website that is taking 6-7 seconds to load?

The chances are that you will leave it and move to the next one on the search results. You didn’t take any action on that website and left. Therefore, you didn’t convert, affecting the website’s conversion rate. The takeaway from this example is that merely a single factor like website speed can make a huge difference when it comes to conversions.

Google and other search engines like Bing also penalize such slow-loading websites. However, more importantly, they lose a prospect that might’ve been converted to a customer otherwise.

Page load time is one of the most overlooked areas of conversion optimization, yet one of the most direct ways to boost the website’s conversion rate. According to a report by Akamai, even a two-second delay in web page load time can increase the bounce rate by over 100%.

Improving your website speed will make your customers happier, enhancing customer experience, conversion rate, and ultimately, your sales revenue (for e-commerce stores).

What most retailers do is overlook their website speed/page loading time in their annual priorities and focus on other elements such as SEO, social media ads, PPC, design, etc. This isn’t an appropriate thing to do – many kinds of research by industry experts have shown that page loading time directly affects page views, CPC, conversions, SEO, and revenues. According to Google, 53% of mobile visitors would leave a site if it takes more than three seconds to load.

If you have read up to this point, you might want to test your website’s performance.

So, what’s a Good Load Time?

• 1-2 seconds: Excellent!
• 3-6 seconds: Good, but can be further improved.
• 7-10 seconds: Poor – Needs improvement.
• 10+ seconds: It will cause a high bounce rate – better start working on it as soon as possible.

Sum up: The faster, the better

What Affects Your Website’s Speed?

Hosting Provider

Sometimes, the foundation of your website can cause slow loading speed. Make sure you opt for a host that offers plenty of resources and features, so you can feel confident that your website wouldn’t be affected by slow servers, at least.

Whether you are a freelancer, agency, business owner, or a reseller, Liquid Web offers a significant number of hosting plans with 100% uptime guarantees. What makes their servers fast is that they use SSD drives for the most part and latest Intel Xeon processors. They have one of the best server hardware and network infrastructure. Here are six amazing hosting plans they offer:

1. Managed Dedicated Server

This plan consists of a single-tenant (dedicated) server that guarantees the highest level of performance and is fully customizable. With 100% power and network uptime, you don’t ever have to worry about slow server speed and downtime.

2. Cloud VPS

This is one of the most reliable hosting plans for people who want amazing control of a dedicated server and affordable features of a VPS (Virtual Private Server). It offers a lot of interesting features, including enhanced security, built-in backups, DDoS Attack Protection, etc.

3. Cloud Dedicated

These servers are a combination of traditional dedicated server and cloud platform– the best choice for people who want the features of both of them in one.

4. Cloud Sites

Have multiple sites? Opt for Cloud Sites, a managed hosting platform that doesn’t require any server management skills from you. Whether you have one visitor or thousands of them, your site will always work fast.

5. Managed WordPress

This is an exceptional managed hosting plan for performance-obsessive people that guarantees the fastest page load time, and always keeps your site up to date, so you don’t have to worry about it ever!

Bonus: Image optimization plugin is included in the plan (free of cost) that can also help improve your page speed.

6. Managed WooCommerce Hosting

Running an e-commerce store? Managed WooCommerce Hosting plan is the #1 choice! This platform will help boost your website’s load time and reduce query loads by a whopping 95% to increase performance.

Choose the right hosting plan from the list above, according to your requirements, and increase your website’s speed, and ultimately, boost conversion rate.

Other things that can affect your website speed/performance:

Images

Most of the time, webmasters forget optimizing the images and upload them directly (in HD), which adds up over time, consuming a lot of space. You can compress them to increase your website’s speed and decrease the total space they take.

Plugins

Too many plugins or poorly coded plugins can affect the website’s speed severely – make sure to research the plugins before installing them to your site.

Not Using a Caching Plugin

If you don’t have a caching plugin installed already, have it installed immediately. It will help lower the time your website usually takes to load.

Page Design, Layout, and Content

If you have everything optimized but have a poor page design, layout or content, your website won’t feel user-friendly and leave a bad first impression, causing your visitors to leave, and perhaps never return.

Learn More About Ecommerce:

7 steps to set up an E-commerce website with Woocommerce Hosting

WooCommerce vs. Shopify: A Ultimate Comparison of E-Commerce Platforms