In today’s fast-paced world, customers are accustomed to having the world at their fingertips on their desktop and mobile devices. The speed with which your site loads can make the difference between a potential customer staying on your site or clicking away to a competitor’s. From your own experience, if a website is taking too long to load, you may feel frustration, or possibly even a little anger, depending on your urgency. How often do you return to a website that continually leaves you frustrated? Your clients and potential clients are just like you in that they want service fast. The longer you make your customers wait, the closer you are to losing their business.

Fast Loading Websites Improve Rankings

Speeding up your website is important not just to your customers, but to search engines as well. In 2010, Google began including site speed one of the metrics used to determine rank. Google understood that it was good business for them to refer users to fast-loading sites. As a result, your site load time now also affects how well your website ranks in the search results. A faster load time means better rankings.

Factors Affecting Your Site’s Load Speed

It isn’t just optimizing the site itself that you need to focus on. The server your website is using has a big impact on your site’s performance, either boosting its connectivity with potential customers or dragging it down to a grinding halt. The following factors can affect your site’s load speed.

• Server Performance

Poor performing servers take longer to respond to user requests, causing your site to lag. Server performance is frequently dependent on your choice of web hosting company. Based on the web host you select, you could be sharing space with a multitude of sites all fighting for the same resources.

• Server Location

When data travels, it matters how far it has to go. When users request to see pages on your site, the information must travel through cables, satellites, and to your server. If your server is far away, the delivery of that information is slowed.

• Server Ability to Handle Increased Traffic

You should always aim for a growing amount of traffic on your website. However, a sudden increase in traffic can cause your site to get bogged down. When a high number of users attempts to access your site at the same time, your tries server to handle those requests. However, if your server is not configured to properly manage that many requests, bottlenecks can occur.

Server Load Balancing Increases Site Speed

A fast load time for your company’s website is essential. It attracts potential customers and increases your visibility in the search engines. A slow website can quickly cause clients to lose interest, and that’s not the “word-of-mouth” advertising you want. Prioritizing the features and functionality that are essential for creating a great user-friendly experience can help your customers find what they need quickly. Those clients will return, with a friend.

Resonate Networks allows exceptional website and application speed through server load balancing. Contact us to learn more about maintaining your website’s speed. Your customers’ online experience is in your control.