Few people ever pause and ponder as to precisely why many, if not most commercial websites are not really living up to their true potential?
From a marketing point of view, all commercial and e-commerce websites have two basic jobs. One, they need to be able represent the brand that is displayed on the website, and two, they should, also need to work flawlessly as well.
In other words, they should be the showcase for all of the brand’s marketing efforts, and at the same time, should also act to ensure that the erstwhile potential customer actually goes and buys a product.
The web design industry takes care of the job of making beautiful websites that are as eye-catching as they can get while being truly unique and absolutely special in their own right.
However, the thing is that a whole lot of attention is paid to the ‘front end’, i.e., the overall aesthetics of the site, but unfortunately, not enough attention is paid to what is often colloquially referred to as ‘backhand operations of the site. (Such as the fact that if a site does not open within a few seconds at most, the prospective web browser will lose interest and find something a bit faster for his tastes).
Then there is the part where the designer will try and touch base with the target market using his own personal judgments as to exactly what is it that the customer actually wants. He will ‘thrust’ his ideas in terms of both pricing as well as colors, fonts, etc. right on to the site owner who will, of course, have his very own ideas as to what constitutes a good enough site. More often than not, the person with the loudest voice (not to mention wallet) gets his way, and so his version of the site holds sway.
o The seminal importance of creating a highly reliable and fast website
However, all of these ideas are secondary to the real deal, and that is to get the site up and working properly so that there is a bare minimum of lag or downtime as far as the site is concerned.
Many websites that exist out there tend to opt for a near relentless pursuit of good content over speed. While it is certainly true that content is very important for both holding and also securing the interest of the target market, nonetheless, it is not the sole criterion, as such. In fact, it is one of many pervasive factors that will ensure that a potential customer not only comes to the site but what is more, actually stays there as well, till such as time as he makes a purchase.
o The need for speed
However, that certainly does not mean that the speed at which your website operates at, has any less importance than various other criteria. On the contrary, the faster the website opens and displays the various products available therein, the better the chances of an eventual conversion. Apart from that, as of now, the more commonly used search engines are now also looking at the speed of any particular website as a means of improving its rankings.
This, however, will not happen if the site is too slow, and therefore it will not easily show up in the first ten rankings of the search engine. This means that other faster sites belonging to the competitors will end up with a distinct advantage over your site. Not only will they be displayed in the top ten searches, but also their faster speeds will mean that the potential customers will not have to wait and therefore it will be easy from them to make that purchase decision. This holds particularly true for impulse shoppers.
o Latency can really hurt your business
As a general rule of thumb, the slower the average speed of a site, the lower the chance of the potential customer being interested enough to actually stay on it long enough to make a purchase. And if this potential customer actually leaves then it will be very difficult to get them back.
And losing a long term customer can turn out to be a telling blow, chiefly because once a person becomes a loyal customer, then he will not want to go through the hassle of looking for other sellers and sites and even products. Once they feel that they are on to a ‘good thing’ they will continue to shop from the same site, till such a time when they are left jarred from the errors or downtime experienced at their favorite site.
In today’s increasingly competitive 4G technology and smart device driven environment, a time lag of even a very few short seconds can mean the difference between clinching a sale or losing one.
But here it is pertinent to note that speed is merely just one side of the equation. While it is certainly an extremely important part, there are other important factors to take into consideration such as the home page or about us page.
o Creating eye-catching ‘home’ and ‘about us’ page
The “Home” page is arguably the single most important page of any particular website. Here it is also very important to effectively make sure that the webmaster and designers use an eye-catching font that appears as both attractive and at the same time reflect the product’s availability on the site without taking away their luster or shine in any way.
Similarly, the “About us” page should always try and aim for a relatively clean as well as an uncluttered look. This will also generate a significant amount of interest of the visitors towards the site, making them linger long enough to be able to browse through the products that are available on the site itself.
In the light of the above, we can safely conclude that for a website to gain popularity and actively sell its product, it has to be both fast and attractive, at the same time.
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact
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