Improve Conversion Rates - Load Times

Your site is getting traffic, but conversion rates are horrible. Everything seems to be working, so whats wrong? Your site may simply be to slow.

Load Times Are You Driving A Ferrari or Moped?

Give some thought to the sites you have visited of the past few weeks. Were you willing to wait 20 seconds for a site to load or did you hit the back button? Why would visitors to your site behave any differently? They wont.

Webmasters, designers and site owners universally access the web through high-speed connections. Because of this, it is easy to forget roughly 45% of surfers use dial-up connections. While your site may appear to load quickly on your high-speed connection, have you tried loading it on a 56k connection? The results can be shocking.

Sites that appear to load quickly on a high-speed connection can take forever on 56k. It is not unheard of to find a fast site actually takes 30, 50 or 80 seconds to load on a 56k. Sometimes, the load time is so slow the browser will actually time out and fail to show anything. If your site has this problem, 45% of the hits are worthless. Worse, those frustrated surfers are unlikely to try to access your site in the future even if you fix the speed problems.

How fast should a page load on a 56k connection? As fast as possible, but no slower then 25 seconds. If you can get 56k load times below 10 seconds, you can turn a negative into a competitive advantage. Surfers come back to fast sites.

Determining Load Times

The best way to determine the load time for your site is to actually use a 56k connection. While this solution isnt particularly technical, it will let you see exactly what your prospects are seeing when they visit the site. You will be able to see what loads quickly and what appears slowly. This should let you isolate particular elements in need of optimizing.

Server statistics can also provide you with evidence of slow load times. Are users spending a lot of time on entry pages, but not visiting internal pages? Either you have poor content or a loading problem.

Finally, you can also use diagnostic programs to test load times. Typically, the programs will kick out estimated load times for dial-up, DSL and T1 connections. Make sure you test your home page and internal pages. Diagnostic programs are excellent tools, but dont get lazy. Make sure you physically watch your site load on a dial-up connection. The experience will prove invaluable to improving your site and conversion rates.

Improving Performance

The steps needed to improve the performance of your site often depend on the nature of the site. A database driven site will have different issue than a graphic intense site. There are, however, universal factors that can be checked:

1. Graphics: Typically, browsers have to make a connection for each image on a page. The more you have, the longer the load time. Limiting the number and size of graphics can help.

2. Tables: If you use tables, try to break them up into smaller modules. Large tables can negatively impact load times.

3. Multimedia: If it flashes, explodes, spins or blinks, consider ditching it. Yes, it looks great, but is it worth 45% of your audience?

4. Size: Scrutinize the size of your pages. The bigger the page, the slower the load times. It shouldnt be a problem if the page is comprised of text, but large pages with lots of code will load slowly.

Cheer up if you have a speed problem! Yes, youve lost a lot of business, but now you can fix it. Most of your competitors will never figure it out. That puts you ahead of the game.

Halstatt Pires is with MarketingTitan.com - a firm providing internet marketing services.

Tips To Increase Website Conversions
One of the biggest myths online is that its acceptable to have a conversion rate of 1% or 2%. Although this is the average, i...

Mortgage Website Design Basics for Mortgage Lead Generation Success
The mortgage industry is a competitive business. Practically every marketing medium is used to generate new customers. The pr...

How To Get A Pay Raise From Your Web Site
How many of the visitors to your web site take the action you want them to take? Whether you want them to buy something from ...

Battle Tested Web Design Secrets That Will Boost Your Profits
Knowing how to design an effective website is one of the most important skills that you need to do. If you are not highly ski...

Ways To Improve Your Website
You've created a website that is visually pleasing. You have spent enough money on marketing as well. Overall you seem quite ...

Website Conversion Secrets Revealed
In my last article entitled, Maximizing The True Value Of Your Traffic (found at http://tinyurl.com/2cf84), you discovered th...

The Fast and the Furious Web
"You can have the world in the palm of your hand."I heard that once in the movies. Before, way back in the dark and middle ag...

Home Equity Loan Rates
Interest rates have been steadily increasing over the last twelve months. This reflects the upward trend of the prime rate, w...

Adverse Credit Mortgages - Home Loans For People With Poor Credit
Mortgage lenders offer many financing options for people with adverse credit. For those who dont qualify for an A loan, you c...

How to Choose Your SEO Web Designer
Web designing and search engine optimization (SEO) seem to be two very different concepts. Nevertheless, you need to be able ...

Want to Increase Your Online Sales? Make Sure That Your Web Site Has a Unique Selling Proposition
If you own a web site or if you are going to build a new one, the most important thing about your site is to achieve as high ...

Developing Your Winning Web Site Strategy
Your web site is the key to your success on the Internet. You can use your web site to build your brand, increase sales, gene...

Home Mortgage Loans After Bankruptcy - Can You Get Approved for a Home Loan?
After a bankruptcy, you can get approved for a home loan. Just be prepared to pay several points above conventional rates. ...

Why Does My Doctor Care About Diet And Nutrition If I Have Arthritis?
A common question about arthritis is just that, why does your doctor care about your diet and nutrition? After all, this is ...

How Do Credit Ratings Affect a Home Equity Loan Rate?
Bad credit ratings always have some sort of bad impression on lenders when applying for a loan. Naturally, your best interest...

Design Your Webpage With Visitors In Mind - Optimize Your Images To Reduce The Load Time
As you may know all successful web sites are designed with visitors in mind. There are way too many website elements that can...

Home Equity Loan Scams
A home equity loan is a great way to use your house as collateral to obtain some cash which can be used for other purposes. F...

Home Loan Mortgage Loan Refinance - Refinancing For A Shorter Term To Save Money
Saving money with lower rates isnt the only reason to refinance. Opting for a shorter loan can also save thousands in interes...

Keep Yourself Together with a Split Home Loan In 3 Simple Steps
When you are selecting a split loan, you can customise the loan and take advantage of the various features that different fin...

Home Equity Loan Rate
Frightened of high interest rates on loans? Often, one does require additional funds for some purpose or other, but is caught...