We all know the one odd website or app that loads slowly and takes up a lot of time. How many times do you close other tabs on your browser when stuck on a slow website with a sluggish loading speed? This is common practice when dealing with perilously slow speeds.
Now imagine people coming on your website have a similar experience. They too end up closing tabs only to make sure your website can cope. It’s never a good feeling to see the end user struggling to cope with deficiencies of your website.
Speed is not a lofty, unachievable goal. There are a myriad of ways and hacks to streamline website speed. Some of them are easy and free to implement while others require more complex solutions. In any case, there are enough actions you can take unilaterally to enhance website speed.
Website speed can even impact your app performance. If you happen to use AppMySite app creator online for your business, a fast website will also ensure smooth app speed. A slow web speed would have the opposite effect.
How important is speed for the success of a WordPress blog? Does it only affect the experience of website visitors or are their additional knock-on effects?
#1 – User experience
The first and obvious reason website speed matters is user experience. Low speeds immediately hamper the user journey and drive people away. There really is no faster way to lose traffic and business than serving website content at sluggish speeds.
This can become a big problem on websites that require constant user interaction. Slow page loading speeds can frustrate users quickly when they’re actively engaging with the website.
The perils of bad user experience have various knock-on effects. Any goal you want to use your website for such as lead generation or online sales basically goes out of the window. If you cannot piece together a half-decent website experience for an incoming visitor, there is no point in running the website at all.
A slow restaurant is a good analogy to understand this concept. You can’t run a restaurant if your chef takes an hour to prepare every dish. Even a great interior design and fantastic ambience can’t save your restaurant if you cannot send out dishes in a timely manner.
Your website can have a great theme, engaging content, and valuable feature, but it all matters for naught if the underlying speed is low. You’re again back to square one with a poor website speed.
#2 – Speed and SEO
Not all websites are overly concerned about user experience as long as they keep getting good traffic from Google. The search engine however is not as free-spirited about ignoring website speed.
Website speed is a key ranking factor. There are numerous examples of website gaining and losing ranks simply on the account of poor loading speeds.
Google has its own speed measuring tool called PageSpeed Insights that enables users to check the speed of any live website. It is safe to say that getting a good score on this tool is a must if you plan on competing and winning for high volume keywords.
The contribution of website speed to search rankings creates an entirely new dynamic in the world of SEOs. Generally, SEOs focus on content, link building, and other related activities. Website speed makes the practice a little more challenging and UX-focused.
#3 – Bounce rate
Low speeds naturally leads to people leaving the website as soon as they spend some time on it. Bounce rate is another important reason website speed is important.
What does the bounce rate refer to? It is simply the percentage of people who choose to leave a website after arriving on one of its pages. A high bounce rate shows more people leaving a website after arriving on it. A low bounce rate contrarily shows a majority of people staying on a website and not leaving.
There are a lot of things that keep people on a website. Content is the first thing that comes to mind. We spend a lot of time on social media and streaming platforms partly because of the content quality.
Along with great content, social media platforms are also adept at delivering content at a fantastic speed. Part of the reason people stay on social media platforms for so long is the overall performance. It is impossible to retain people for a long time without decent website speed.
#4 – Conversion rate
Online marketing campaigns are always driven by goals. It is always necessary to turn engagement into real conversions.
Every company runs a website with a goal in mind. Some want to generate leads and some want to sell their products online. The overall direction of every marketing campaign is heavily influenced by the end objective.
The speed of a website can naturally have a major impact on the conversion rate. How likely are people to buy products or enter contact info on a sluggish and unresponsive website?
A car can be visually appealing and meet all the aesthetic standards of a modern automobile. However, a bad engine can still cause its downfall. Website speed is the engine of a marketing campaign. You can strategize and set up a top-notch marketing campaign, but it won’t succeed if your website is slow and performs poorly.
#5 – App performance
Generally, people do not relate slow website speeds to perilous app performance. Tools like the AppMySite free online app maker help users forge a connection between website and app performance.
Companies generally develop an app with coding. They either hire developers or work with third-party agencies to create an app for their business.
This approach is changing with the arrival of DIY-app making tools. AppMySite is one of the more prominent automated app makers around. It is also possible to create e-commerce apps without coding, even if you have a non-WordPress website.
How does this affect website and app performance? Most app makers enable users to build apps using their websites as a base. AppMySite for example directs users to install a WordPress plugin on their website. This forges a connection between the website and the app maker. The final app is hosted on the same web host the website is hosted on. The performance of the website thus has a direct impact on app speed.
Faster web hosts also promise optimum app speeds for those using online app makers. Website speed is thus important for app performance as well.
WP Engine – Our recommended website performance solution
WP Engine is a leading web hosting provider, serving more than 90K clients over 140 countries. WordPress websites are generally known to graduate to WP Engine in order to meet their performance needs.
The main point to remember here is the nature of WP Engine’s web hosting service. WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting service. This simply means it is specially designed to provide seamless experiences in WordPress environments.
Besides offering blazing fast speeds instantly, WP Engine is also a great choice to scale website security with measures like 2FA, data encryption, and more.
Alternatively, you can also choose the WordPress web hosting add-on. This option is basically for AppMySite users who want to migrate their website and app to WP Engine. The advantage of choosing the add-on is that the migration process will be handled by AppMySite.
In conclusion
We all intrinsically value website performance despite not knowing its direct impact on various verticals. The points made in this article shed light on the various reasons website speed is important.
A website now is not just a platform to run your business. It is also a ladder to create mobile apps. Users can create a WordPress app in minutes without knowing any form of programming.
It is thus vital to constantly work on website speed optimization. The fastest way to get blazing fast speeds is upgrading to a premium web host. Our recommendation in this regard is WP Engine. It is a reliable hosting partner for WordPress and WooCommerce websites.
You should also work on improving other aspects of your website to optimize speed such as compressing images, leveraging caching options, and more.