Website speed got you down? Not only does a slow site create a poor user experience, it could also be costing your restoration services company money. Restoration Digital Marketing is exploring a few of the most common causes of slow website speed and how you can best address them to optimize the performance of the site.
Why is Website Speed Important?
A Deloitte study found that improving page load time by a mere 0.1s can increase conversions by 8%! While this may seem minuscule initially, the boost in conversions adds up over time.
With the speed of life these days, it makes sense that your customers want your site to be available when they need it, and as quickly as possible. When you throw in the urgency of the disaster restoration industry, your page speed is even more important.
Did we mention that site speed is a ranking factor? If you needed an additional reason to prioritize this part of your business, let this be it. In order for customers to find your website in the first place, a fast load time is essential.
6 Causes of Slow Website Load Time
When assessing your page speed times, there may not be a one-size-fits-all diagnosis. Use this checklist to troubleshoot your website speed.
1. Web Hosting Service
You may remember our recent blog about shared vs dedicated hosting. Depending on which type of hosting you have, as well as the overall quality of your server company, your website could be suffering. Dedicated hosting is usually your best bet so other websites on the same server are not slowing your site down. Experts recommend looking for hosting services with an uptime of 99.5% and above.
2. File Sizes
Logic follows that it takes more time to load larger files. This is the same across the board for images, videos, and animated elements. These should all be properly optimized, with proper sizing, specified dimensions, reduced color depth, comments removed, and compressed to ensure fast loading.
3. Plugins
Plugins are an excellent way to enhance the functionality of any website. Unfortunately, too many cumbersome plugins can hinder the loading time. Be sure to use optimized plugins, or those that are built with page load time in mind.
4. Heavy Style Requirements
JavaScript and CSS are the style languages that bring your site to life. However, without the proper optimization and minification, the style languages may be slowing your site to a crawl. Consider a plugin that optimizes JavaScript and CSS. Use only one style sheet during set up and combine external CSS files.
5. Caching
Caching plugins are a real life safer when it comes to website speed. Caching means that after the first time someone has visited the site, their browser will automatically recognize and process the elements on your web page. If you clear your cache too often, this could impact the speed for your returning customers.
6. Redirections
Redirections are helpful for pointing your customers in the right direction if a web page has been moved or temporarily taken down. However, incorrect and unnecessary redirects could be costing you precious seconds. Avoid redirect chains in which one page redirects to another, that redirects to another, and then another, until the chain ends. You will also want to avoid creating loops. These occur when one page redirects to a page that then tries to redirect back to the original. This continues in a loop and presents your customer with an HTTP error code.
Tools for Testing Your Website Speed
If you are curious about the speed of your restoration services website, there are a few tools we recommend for testing:
Site Speed Matters! Test Yours Today
If you are like most restoration services company owners we talk too, you likely do not have time to regularly test your website speed and make the necessary adjustments. Let RDM do the work for you! We offer web design and website management services to keep your site up and running. Contact us today.