Measuring website speed is critical to success in your digital strategy. This point of analysis goes beyond the obvious finding that the user will not be waiting for your page to load forever.
The average time of loading a webpage influences how the Internet user will perceive your company, because a page that has a slow loading transmits an image of amateurism.
This characteristic can compromise the company’s credibility. Furthermore, a longer loading time for a website can be potentially bad for those who sell over the Internet, after all, it allows the user to rethink the purchase.
If you were interested in improving the performance of your website just read this article until the end. Good reading!
Why should you care about measuring the speed of your website?
One of the foundations of a company’s digital strategy is to attract customers. To this end, Digital Marketing professionals strive to discover which criteria make Google rank a page with prominence, to the detriment of another.
Although Google’s requirements are an industrial secret, marketing enthusiasts have already understood that the search engine considers the average time to load a website as a relevant factor.
According to a survey by the Kissmetrics platform, 40% of Internet users give up accessing content that takes more than three seconds to load.
In addition, a study released in 2015 by the Aberdeen group shows that with every second it takes a website to load, it loses about 11% of visitors; the customer satisfaction rate is also negatively impacted by 16% per second more than expected.
Another point that must be remembered is the navigation behavior of the Indians. A study published by the company Teleco showed that the mobile Internet in India is one of the cheapest in the world. This justifies the fact that 44% of Indian internet users have access to the Internet exclusively through smartphones.
On the other hand, the possibilities of including multimedia tools on websites and blogs , through plugins for WordPress or by private developers, can make companies build heavy websites, which take time to load, consume the entire Internet of the data package. Users and contribute negatively to SEO strategies.
For you to be able to measure the performance of your site, we have selected the following tools:
- Google Page Speed Insights
To help developers build websites faster, Google has made Google Page Speed Insights available. The tool analyzes the page and provides some recommendations for what can be done to make it more efficient.
Some changes are simple, like using lighter images. In this case, the tool itself offers more compressed versions of the images to be downloaded and used on the website.
The Google tool is highly recommended for professionals who are taking their first steps in the virtual world or thinking about becoming a digital entrepreneur, such as bloggers, for example. This is because it is an intuitive and didactic website when presenting the results.
Another highlight is that two analyzes are shown, one for desktop and one for mobile. Thus, if the developer has a strategy for each platform, he can adapt its content.
- GTmetrix
This is one of the most popular tools among Digital Marketing professionals and Web Designers, as it offers complex analyzes and detailed reports. All components of the site are analyzed and suggestions for improvements are offered. You can download reports in PDF format.
In order to take advantage of all the possibilities of the platform, it is recommended that the user has some knowledge in programming. Access GTmetrix right now!
- Pingdom Website Speed Test
Another option to measure website speed, Pingdom Website Speed Test also offers a good visual experience. By means of graphics, the tool presents, in detail, the loading time of each component of the website.
For this reason, this option can be used by professionals who have not yet mastered programming or who have no knowledge of English terms.
- Web Page Test
This option offers detailed analysis of your website, but its design is not very intuitive. For this reason, it can be complicated for an inexperienced user to understand the information presented.
On the other hand, Digital Marketing professionals or Bloggers can solve serious problems with the reports presented. Furthermore, in the Web Page Test it is possible to measure the speed of the website according to different browsers. This option can help you to develop material suitable for your target audience.
- Yslow
Browser plugin that measures the loading time of websites. The tool is in English and offers analyzes similar to the other options listed.
Although complete, its design can be challenging, as it is not very intuitive. It can be used as an additional analysis option or to check against previous results – which is highly recommended.
Does your website have a strategy?
The possibilities available to create a website fill the eyes of entrepreneurs. However, before putting your address on the air, define what the objectives of the site are.
That way, you will avoid overloading it with unnecessary functions. In addition, hire experienced professionals for this task, as this is an important investment.
Another point that deserves attention is the use of multimedia resources, such as photos and videos. Use them responsibly, optimizing their size so that they don’t overload the page – or consume the entire visitor data package.
Some aspects, such as the security of your online business, cannot be left out, such as the adoption of SSL. These are the resources that should be prioritized when building your website.
Now that you understand the importance of loading a web page and how to measure the speed of the site, do a test on your address to check the performance of your business. Does your volume of visits have anything to do with it? As we saw in the research cited, this item can influence the sales performance of an e-commerce.
