There are different ways to think about website performance. You might think of it in terms of ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs) or you might think of it as getting website visitors to do what you want them to do. Regardless of how you’re defining your poor website performance, most of the causes are the same. The following are seven reasons your website might not be performing well and what you can do about it.
1. Your website is too slow
Having a slow website can impact your bounce rate, the percentage of users who enter your website and leave before exploring other pages. Website visitors are known to have short attention spans, and may exit your site in as little as three seconds if your site is loading slowly. This might mean potential customers never make it past the homepage. Beyond being frustrating, a high bounce rate can impact SEO and cause you to rank lower in SERPs. If you do have a slow site, you can work with a web developer to speed up your site.
2. You aren’t including the information your visitors want to see
Put yourself in your potential customers’ shoes. Does your website have all the information a customer would want to find out? Are you making it easy to find this information? Is your content up to date? If you can’t answer “yes” to all of these questions, your website isn’t performing as well as it could be and it’s time to update your copy. You need to give your website visitors a reason to stay on your website.
3. Your user experience is lacking
Website visitors don’t want to deal with websites that don’t load properly on different devices or that are hard to navigate. User experience is vital when it comes to website performance. Consider how frustrating you’d feel if you were trying to find product information or proceed to the checkout page while online shopping and you were unable to. You might even find out that your website is laid out in a way that makes it difficult for users to even understand how to get in contact, causing you to lose out on leads. Poor user experience can be improved by working with a web designer or web developer who can help you fix your website.
4. Your expectations are too high
Sometimes, the issue isn’t website performance, it’s your expectations. To find out if your goals for your website are reasonable, you can compare your goals to industry standards. If you’re meeting benchmarks, you have no reason to be concerned about your website performance.
Get help with your website performance
Digital Bridge is a Melbourne-based web development and web design company. We can help you with your digital presence. You can contact us at hello@digitalbridge.com.au or give us a ring at +613 8658 2434.