Before launching your new website, you’ll want to feel confident that it is performing as it should be. You’ll have to think about why you may have invested significantly into the development of your site, and checking its performance is one area that just can’t be overlooked.
So how should you test your website performance to feel confident it is as it should be? There are a number of approaches and factors to consider when testing.
Check website loading speed
The speed at which your website loads is absolutely essential to its success. Nearly half of website visitors will abandon a site if it fails to load within three seconds, while a single second’s delay can lead to drop in 7% of conversions.
A slow performing website does more than simply inconvenience online visitors – it can seriously have an impact on your business’s bottom line.
Tools and services to assess website speed and performance from Digivante are a useful start to address the problem, and help you take action to improve this.
Take various locations into account
An initial test of your website’s performance may deliver a false result, by judging it from your own location.
Most websites will receive website visitors from multiple locations, and so it’s vital to use tools that can replicate and consider this. By looking at the load times in various locations, you will then be able to make any necessary modifications to your site, to allow for the best performance possible.
Where do your visitors come to your page from?
Another factor that can skew the results of your performance testing is the false assumption that visitors will only ever come to your site from its main home page.
While it might be the case that a large number of visitors do come via the home page, a greater proportion is likely to reach your site through search results and various random pages or links. This will also likely include a large number of new visitors who have never visited your site at all, and as a result, their browsers will not have any page elements from your site stored in their cache, which can influence the performance of your site.
Take a look at real performance data
Formal web testing may give you the assurance that all is ok with your site, but if you’re still concerned about potential issues, it’s worth taking a closer look at the cold, hard data from your actual site visitors.
Google’s analytical tools provide a useful insight into the speed and performance of your site, as well as vital statistics on the amount of time visitors have spent there. The average value of your site over a specific period of time will show you if there is room to improve.
Website performance testing is all about understanding the visitor’s experience of your site, and considering any obstacles that might be present. Ultimately, this is essential to making your site as competitive as possible and boosting your conversion rates.