In the modern business world, your website is the new “shop window” for your brand and product offering. It opens your business and services up to the world market, so having a quality, easy to use and quick webpage is a must. 

Unprofessional, difficult to navigate and Slow Loading Websites could potentially lose customers within seconds, and damage your brand reputation.

Furthermore, if your site was to experience downtime, both existing and new customers will be extremely disappointed and may turn their back on your services.

Improving your web performance(for further info see http://www.nccgroup.com) therefore, is of critical importance to your business’ revenue and general success.

The importance of website load speed

Speaking to Business News Daily, Nikole Haiar, Partner Marketing Director at Hostway Services Inc., said that checking your Website Load Speed is one of the main things you need to do before letting the page go live.

Large images can be one of the main reasons for slow loading websites. In fact, she also notes that lethargic web pages can be damaging to your place on Google search lists, as the latest algorithm from the internet giants takes loading time into account when determining your page rank.

Nikole suggests using a free page analyser to determine the current speed your website is running at. 

The NCC Group offers the perfect tool to conduct such a test. If it turns out the page is running excruciatingly slowly, a webpage health check can then be conducted to discover exactly what parts of the page are causing the main issues. 

After a thorough investigation by NCC technical advisers, they will produce a report and advice on the next step to take in order to optimise your website. 

However, once you have conducted one check, you shouldn’t just sit back and expect your website to run quickly forever. 

Continuous monitoring

With a number of internet security risks out there, and with the nature of the online world changing rapidly, conducting regular checks of website Load Speed is essential to maintain your business’ position as a market leader online.

Through 24/7 performance monitoring, this can be achieved. Taking advantage of a website performance service, as offered by NCC for example, will ensure you are alerted when any future issues arise or if your webpage starts to load slowly once more.

Online customers and spending power

Being on top of your game when it comes to internet services is vital for success in business. With UK shoppers spending £91 billion online in 2013, as reported in the IMRG-Capgemini eRetail Sales Index for December, and with £107 billion expected to be spent by the end of 2014, losing customers due to a slow website is simply not acceptable.

Your webpage is often the first point of call for customers. Of course, you can only make a first impression once, so having an optimised site is essential to bringing in new customers. However, you also want to make sure that existing customers are kept happy, so carrying out regular site performance checks will help to ensure those users return again and again.

Make sure your business doesn’t get left behind.