In today’s digital world nearly every business has a website to communicate with and to reach potential consumers. Gone are the days of relying on phone books to find companies. Consumers have evolved to using their favourite search engine to find what they need. Websites are often the first impression, a customer gains of a business which is why it’s vital to get your website right.
A professional and effective website will be easy to navigate, well organised and modern. Consumers want a visually appealing website that gives them the information they need in a simple but efficient manner. However, after you’ve got your content right, ask yourself these crucial questions:
Efficiency is key to a successful and professional website, it’s crucial to stay on top of your website’s performance after it has launched. A slow website will lose visitors to your site therefore creating a massive impact on your business conversion rate. Research conducted by Kissmetrics shows that 40% of people give up on a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. The same study also found that a one-second delay can lead to a 7% decrease in conversions. These numbers are massive and prove that potential customers won’t hang around.
Site speed is a Google ranking factor so if your business has a slow website it would be unlikely to top the search results. A more efficient website creates happy consumers however, when a website responds slowly they are less likely to spend time there which will ultimately decrease your conversion rate, or in school terms, the number of students enrolling.
Want to learn more about your website’s performance? There are a variety of testing tools you can use, to test your speed and performance at https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/. This handy tool will analyse and deliver results on your visitor loss, and industry comparison and also give you options to reduce loading time. Whilst this offers you results on your website’s mobile device loading times it’s a great starting point in maximising the performance of your website. You can also use Google’s page speed insights to inform you where the problem may have arisen from. This tool rates your website from 0 to 100, a score under 80 indicates your website has speed issues that need to be worked on.
Discover where you are against the competition with Google’s other tool, Search Console; This offers you a wealth of knowledge in understanding where you rank on the search engine. It gives you greater insight into which certain keywords work effectively through average position.
Need help with creating content for effective websites or need further support with troubleshooting issues? Our silver package offers you full guides in dealing with any of these issues all in one place. The Education Agency is proud to deliver support in creating a beautiful and efficient website for your school.
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