Like “bigger,” our culture tends to think that “faster” is better. It kind of makes one wonder how Aesop’s story of the tortoise and the hare would turn out if he were alive and had written it in the 21st century.
Whether faster is better or not, it seems that we cannot shake our need for speed. Fast food used to mean an apple flying across a middle school cafeteria.
Today, fast food restaurants are located on nearly every corner (and every available space in between) and Apple is a company, not a fruit.
We think that something is wrong if it takes longer than we think it should. In other words, when someone or something isn’t fast enough we become frustrated. We simply don’t like to wait. Sometimes that is just our sense of self-importance getting in the way. At other occasions time and speed, are of the essence. That can be especially true for businesses, particularly when it comes to lead generation and conversion.
Why Website Speed Matters Technically
Like a lot of other issues when it comes to websites and e-commerce, speed matters because Google says that it matters.
On 09 April 2010, Google’s Webmaster Central Blog announced that, “We’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings.” In other words, faster web pages will rank higher on search engine results pages (SERP) than slower sites. That’s important, but here’s the problem: There are several ways to measure the rather nebulous term “page speed” and none of them are significant enough for a home improvement business owner to waste his or her time trying to understand, let alone improve.
There’s another problem. No one seems to know which of the multiple means of measuring speed Google actually uses. Google is not saying, and research has been unable to determine what, or what combination of, speed measurements it uses, or exactly to what extent any of those measurements has a significant impact. Some experts tend to believe the biggest impact is from back-end issues, including the servers on which sites are hosted.
Technically, understand that speed in some way and to some extent affects SERP ranking. Don’t waste time worrying about the technical aspect. That’s someone else’s job.
Why Website Speed Matters Practically
The relative speed at which your home improvement matters most is for one reason. It’s called customer satisfaction. Assuming that your website is intended to draw customers to your business, it is less likely to do so if it takes a long time (measured in seconds) to access. That goes for moving from page to page as well as awaiting initial access.
It doesn’t take an expert to decide if your business website is slow. All it takes is an interested consumer with a computer.
One good thing about that is that if your website is slow, no one will tell you. That’s because those would-be customers won’t be your customers. They will take their business to a competitor who has a website that allows them to navigate faster. And you will never know about it. No leads. No customers. That is a major marketing disaster for any business.
The practical matter is that home improvement business owners should regularly assess the speed and ease of use of their websites. You won’t need someone else to tell you if it is slow. You’ll know.
Yes, a faster website can affect your lead generation and profitability. But the amount of effect that it has is not even close to being comparable to the highly dynamic, qualified, and exclusive leads that Keyword Connects can generate on your behalf. Visit our (very fast) website to learn how Keyword Connects works and how it can work for you.
