Rumors have been circulating recently that Google is considering including the speed of your website as one of the factors it uses in ranking your pages in its search results.
That’s all speculation at this point, but overnight Google announced a new tool that lets you measure your website’s speed, based on data provided by people using the advanced features in their toolbar.
Perhaps they are gearing up for such a change, perhaps not – but importantly as explained on their blog:
Studies have repeatedly shown that speeding up your site leads to increased user retention and activity, higher revenue and lower costs.
It’s worth considering this the next time you’re thinking about large images and special effects that take longer to load. Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. “Would I really want to wait for this?”
(Image credit: Photo Monkey)
Browse related entries: ecommerce, google, strategy, usability, web
Posted in Articles, News on December 3rd, 2009
Today’s Sydney Morning Herald features an article on the benefits of small businesses having the power to update their own website.
The author states:
I hate being held to ransom. And I’m sure you do, too. But that’s the scenario you’re creating when you hand over your website to a web designer or developer and relinquish control over when and how you can change your content.
And further:
That’s why I think it’s vital for small-business owners to use their own content management systems (CMS). My recommendation is to initially use a designer to create the overall look but after that you at least want to be able to change the text on your website whenever you want.
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Browse related entries: strategy, web
Posted in Articles on April 7th, 2009
When preparing websites, we often have clients say they don’t want to put too much information on their site, because they “want people to contact us”.
The belief is that too much information means people won’t contact them.
But think of it this way: your website is often the first point of contact a customer will have with your business. If your website is helpful, you are being helpful. That creates a positive first impression, and first impressions count. The additional detail you provide can also eliminate enquiries from people who you really can’t help anyway, so that can be an additional time saver.
On the other hand, if the information on your website is overly brief and sketchy, a potential customer may well leave thinking, “That was a waste of time – it didn’t tell me anything!”
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Browse related entries: marketing, strategy
Posted in Articles, Thoughts and Opinions on March 6th, 2008
