Welcome to the UKFast School of Hosting

There are serious consequences for an online business with an underperforming site.

In a society where consumers are growing ever more demanding immediacy is a rapidly becoming a right, not a luxury. In a recent report by Forrester¹ it states 47 per cent of web visitors expect a web page to load in just 2 seconds or less (0.5 secs faster than in 2006).

£171.9 million is spent on internet retail on average every week ² and 61% of online shoppers who spend more than £75/month say website speed is critical to their loyalty and 65% abandon a website if pages load too slowly.

So ask yourself, can you afford to go slow?

Internet Giant Google is focusing on speed too. Vice President of Google, Marissa Mayer knows "speed matters." ³ To achieve a better customer experience, Google's research reveals that just a 0.5 second delay in page load speed can cause a 20 per cent decrease in traffic and it has used this in not only Adwords analysis but also in its complex search algorithm.

Page load speed is a significant factor in Google's PPC (pay-per-click) Quality Score. A Quality Score is a dynamic metric used by Google to assess the quality and relevance of your ads and landing pages, subsequently affecting your cost per click.

At UKFast, we have long thought that the speed of your website has a significant impact on your organic rankings and on April 9th 2010, our beliefs were confirmed as Google announced the news officially on the webmaster blog.⁴

So what will make 79% of customers return to your website?

The answer is a fast loading website that delivers a great customer experience. It's easy to see why web users become impatient and why speed attracts visitors.

Many businesses think that the performance of their website is determined by the hardware it sits on, what most do not realise is the huge impact coding, design and hosting has on the speed and peformance of websites.

So how do you speed up your website and consequently 'Multiply Your Online Success'?

The quickest and easiest route to a faster website is through your hosting, businesses who host with UKFast are growing at twice the rate of the rest of the Internet. But don't just take our word for it, read more client success stories now.

Request a quote online or call UKFast today on 0800 458 4545.

References

1. Forrester Consulting - Report produced 17 August 2009, eCommerce Web Site Performance Today An Updated Look At Consumer Reaction To A Poor Online Shopping Experience
2. Statistics.gov.uk - Report March 2009 - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/irs0409.pdf
3. Marissa Mayer - Google VP - http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/11/marissa-mayer-at-web-20.html
4. Google - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

Learn more about the inspiration for our advertising campaign and the school of hosting.

The need for speed online

Never has the speed of a website been more important than in today's online consumer-driven world. Google has confirmed that speed influences your strength when it comes to search engine advertising. Jonathan Bowers, communications director at UKFast investigates further in this short film.

Speed matters

Marissa Mayer - Vice President of Google discusses the necessity for speed online.

Let's make the web faster

Browsing the web should be as fast as turning the pages of a magazine to enable the next generation of rich web applications. Learn more about why the web can and should get faster by Googlers Bill Coughran, Vic Gundotra, Steve Souders, Dennis Hwang and Arvind Jain.

Speed is an element which helps you to get higher, attract more customers and save money. Call UKFast today on 0800 458 4545. And for more detailed advice to 'Multiply Your Online Success' download our report today.

Google discuss new speed based ranking

Matt Cutts - software engineer at Google discusses the necessity for speed online.

At PubCon, Matt Cutts said Google plans to introduce a new ranking factor into the algorithm i.e. "how fast a site or page loads". Matt described this as one of his 'what to expect in 2010' bullet points in his presentation in Las Vegas. He explained that Google's co-founders want searching to be real fast, as if you're flipping through a magazine. Part of this is making sure faster web pages rank better than slower ones. Matt explained that page speed is a factor in search and AdWords quality score and there's currently a strong push to make it a factor in organic ranking algorithm.

Accelerate your website, call UKFast today 0800 458 4545 or request a fast hosting quote online

Latest research on user experience

Based on this study of 1,048 online shoppers, Forrester's study¹ yielded these key findings for website owners:

Take heed of the 2 second rule

Forty-seven per cent of consumers expect to wait no more than 2 seconds for a Web page to render. Online shopper loyalty is contingent upon quick page loading, especially for high-spending shoppers. Fifty-two per cent of online shoppers said that quick page loading is important to their site loyalty.

Slow sites increase abandonment

Twenty-three per cent of dissatisfied online shoppers attributed their dissatisfaction to the web site being too slow or taking too long to render. Another 17per cent reported dissatisfaction due to site crashes or error messages they received. One-third of shoppers who abandoned a recent shopping session were dissatisfied with a retail site's performance.

Slow sites = lost sales online and offline

Seventy-nine per cent of online shoppers who experience a dissatisfying visit are likely to no longer buy from that site. Also, 46 per cent of dissatisfied online shoppers are more likely to develop a negative perception of the company, and 44 per cent will tell their friends and family about the experience. With 87 per cent of consumers shopping in both online and retail channels, the impact of a bad online experience reaches beyond the Web.

It is clear that there are serious consequences for an online retailer with an underperforming site. However, by taking steps to improve site features and performance, online retailers can look to increase overall consumer satisfaction and ultimately increase sales.

Online retailers must test their website performance, fix easy site features and performance issues, as well as addressing content and functionality issues. For detailed advice download our 'Multiply Your Online Success' report.

References

1. Forrester Consulting - Report produced 17 August 2009, eCommerce Web Site Performance Today An Updated Look At Consumer Reaction To A Poor Online Shopping Experience

UKFast is one of the UK's fastest hosts

Our network is one of the fastest in the UK. Unlike any other hosting provider, the UKFast network was carefully built from the ground-up in accordance with a unique and highly effective design. Like Google, our secret formula has remained classified, ensuring that our customers receive a significant competitive edge over their rivals.

"Since we moved across to a faster web service with UKFast we noticed a dramatic increase in visitors to the site...our customers are much, much happier which shows in our conversion rate which has increased from 1.85 to 2.35 per cent in the first month alone." Troo Healthcare.

Double your growth

Figures show that businesses on the UKFast network have grown their websites by 47.7 per cent over the last 12 months. This contrasts with IMRG research which reveals that online businesses in general are currently growing at a rate of 23 per cent per year.

So you can see that on average, businesses on the UKFast network are growing at twice the rate of the rest of the Internet.

"Weekly takings went from £15,000 to £33,000 in little over seven days. In a fortnight online takings were up 300%". Top Furniture

Don't just take our word for it, read more client success stories, simply click on the PDF links to the right.

Accelerate your website, call UKFast today 0800 458 4545 or request a fast hosting quote online

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