our site is getting
traffic, but conversion Sites that appear to load quickly
rates are horrible. on a high-speed connection can
Everything seems to be working, take forever on 56k. It is not
so what's wrong? Your site may unheard of to find a "fast site"
simply be to slow. actually takes 30, 50 or 80
seconds to load on a 56k.
Load Times - Are You Driving A Sometimes, the load time is so
Ferrari or Moped? slow the browser will actually
"time out" and fail to show
Give some thought to the sites anything. If your site has this
you have visited of the past few problem, 45% of the hits are
weeks. Were you willing to wait worthless. Worse, those
20 seconds for a site to load or frustrated surfers are unlikely
did you hit the back button? Why to try to access your site in the
would visitors to your site future even if you fix the speed
behave any differently? They problems.
won't.
How fast should a page load on a
Webmasters, designers and site 56k connection? As fast as
owners universally access the web possible, but no slower then 25
through high-speed connections. seconds. If you can get 56k load
Because of this, it is easy to times below 10 seconds, you can
forget roughly 45% of surfers use turn a negative into a
dial-up connections. While your competitive advantage. Surfers
site may appear to load quickly come back to fast sites.
on your high-speed connection,
have you tried loading it on a Determining Load Times
56k connection? The results can
be shocking. The best way to determine the
load time for your site is to watch your site load on a dial-up
actually use a 56k connection. connection. The experience will
While this solution isn't prove invaluable to improving
particularly technical, it will your site and conversion rates.
let you see exactly what your
prospects are seeing when they Improving Performance
visit the site. You will be able
to see what loads quickly and The steps needed to improve the
what appears slowly. This should performance of your site often
let you isolate particular depend on the nature of the site.
elements in need of optimizing. A database driven site will have
different issue than a graphic
Server statistics can also intense site. There are, however,
provide you with evidence of slow universal factors that can be
load times. Are users spending a checked:
lot of time on entry pages, but
not visiting internal pages? 1. Graphics: Typically, browsers
Either you have poor content or a have to make a connection for
loading problem. each image on a page. The more
you have, the longer the load
Finally, you can also use time. Limiting the number and
diagnostic programs to test load size of graphics can help.
times. Typically, the programs
will kick out estimated load 2. Tables: If you use tables, try
times for dial-up, DSL and T1 to break them up into smaller
connections. Make sure you test modules. Large tables can
your home page and internal negatively impact load times.
pages. Diagnostic programs are
excellent tools, but don't get 3. Multimedia: If it flashes,
lazy. Make sure you physically explodes, spins or blinks,
consider ditching it. Yes, it will load slowly.
looks great, but is it worth 45%
of your audience? Cheer up if you have a speed
problem! Yes, you've lost a lot
4. Size: Scrutinize the size of of business, but now you can fix
your pages. The bigger the page, it. Most of your competitors will
the slower the load times. It never figure it out. That puts
shouldn't be a problem if the you ahead of the game.
page is comprised of text, but
large pages with lots of code
About the Author:
Halstatt Pires is with http://www.marketingtitan.com - an Internet marketing and advertising company comprised of a search engine optimization specialist providing meta tag optimization services and Internet marketing consultant providing internet marketing solutions through integrated design and programming services.
Read more articles by:
Halstatt Pires
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
