Posted in Website Usability Testing	March 28, 2007

By Adam T. Sutton, Managing Editor, Mequoda Group LLC

Websurfers are not getting any more patient. More people are installing broadband connections in their homes, and more than 80 percent of all active Internet users in the US now access the net with broadband, according to Website Optimization’s March 2007 Bandwidth Report. The pokey 56K connection is becoming too slow to satisfy.

Online publishers should be concerned if their websites are slow to load. Users are paying larger Internet bills to have websites pop open, not gradually load. If your site’s load time is sluggish, users will surely take their business to a faster competitor.

Not sure of your websites’ load time? Website Optimization has a free tool that times websites. Test yours and compare it to the Mequoda Load Time Scorecard below to check your site’s performance. We base the scorecard on 56K load time to grade a website’s ability to satisfy all users. After all, almost 20 percent of active users access the web with a 56K modem, according to Website Optimization.

How did your website perform? If it is in the A to B range, then your website is probably loading fast enough to satisfy your customers and not drive them away. If you are in the C to D range, following some of the tips below may help generate more return visits to your site. If you have an F, your website did not load, and you have a much larger problem on your hands.

To get that instant-load feel, a website has to be designed properly. It has to have:

1. A reasonable amount of images,
2. Reasonably sized images,
3. No automatically running video or audio, and
4. Efficiently coded website scripts.

All of these tips can help bring down a website’s load time and increase its score on the Mequoda Load Time Scorecard.

Creating a rapidly loading website is only a small part of creating an effective website design. To learn more about creating websites that drive traffic, gain advertising revenue and sell products, see the Mequoda Generating Website Revenue Special Report.

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