With designers and developers focused on aesthetics and intuitive layouts leading to higher conversion rates, site speed is often overlooked. When your website is the front for your brand, pages that are slow to respond make a poor first impression. Studies show that most people tend to "bounce" from a site if it takes longer than 2-3 seconds for the content to appear on the screen. Faster sites create happy users, it seems.

Here’s why and a few tips on how to tackle the problem.

User Confidence 

A speedy site promotes confidence in your users. They see the site performing highly, responding efficiently to their demands and, as such, are more inclined to commit to purchase or to engage fully with the services the site promotes. A slow site, on the other hand, gives the impression that using the site will be a chore or that it will not respond successfully to users' demands, meaning that visitors are more likely to click away.

Search Listings 

In 2009, Google decided that site speed was going to be factored into their search rankings. Their research showed that increasing site speed could not only increase the time users spend on sites but that it could also reduce operating costs.

Different Devices 

Site speed is often an issue when sites are viewed through mobile phones or tablets. One of the most pressing challenges facing designers and developers today is getting their sites to function fully on a range of different screens. There are some helpful statistics regarding site speed and mobile phone access on the Kissmetrics blog. And remember that you can track how users are accessing your site (through what device, at what times, from where) using Google Analytics.

Measuring Site 

Speed There are a number of ways to measure the speed of your site. You could use a web-based program to run a site speed test. You can also compare your site speed with those of competing sites. Another option is to use Google Analytics, which provides an at-a-glance report delivering stats on loading times for each page, as well as an average loading time for the whole site. You can read more about Google Analytics and site speed on the Analytics blog. If need a basic Google Analytics introduction, take a look at this step-by-step Google analytics guide.

Though all working under the same umbrella of site speed optimization, different web tools, apps and programs will provide different kinds of information and follow-up services. Choose your weapon by considering carefully the particular needs of your site.

Monitoring Progress 

Once you start to improve your site speed, it's important to keep track of how this is affecting the way users are engaging with your website. Use Google Analytics to monitor bounce rates and the average time spent on each page. It’s likely that you’ll see an improvement.

Authors Bio:
Rob Toledo is a Seattleite who matches the usual stereotypes. Loves coffee, the rain, and prefers dogs to cats. When not rambling about marketing and web design, he can be found in the mountains either climbing or hiking.