ImagesMagUK_October_2021

www.images-magazine.com OCTOBER 2021 images 33 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT relevant information to users the second they search for it, which is why your website must deliver. If not, you’ll find sites that do deliver appearing higher in Google result pages. ■ A slow website is bad for conversions According to statistics, 40% of users will abandon your site if it takes longer than three seconds to load. If 100,000 people visited your site and it took five seconds to load, you’d lose 40,000 potential users that could have converted, whether that’s placing an order, requesting a sample or booking an appointment. A slow-loading website can lose your business hundreds, maybe even thousands, of pounds worth of conversions. ■ The long-term impact of slow loading times We’ve already established that a slow-loading website has negative implications for your business in terms of bounce rate, which is considered short-term. However, when this is a constant feature of your website, the longer term effects can be damaging as word of mouth and negative reviews associated with your slow speeds can slow your overall business growth. I n today’s fast-paced society, time is everything – especially when it comes to finding the information we need. If we don’t get the answers we’re looking for from a website within a short period of time, we bounce away and look for them elsewhere. This is why your website’s loading speed really matters. Here are some other reasons why your website needs to be fast, responsive and deliver the messages and information that users are searching for instantly. ■ First impressions count When it comes to the internet, first impressions are everything. If your website doesn’t deliver what a user is searching for the second they search for it, you risk losing them to another site and oftentimes leave a bad taste in their mouth. However, if your site loads fast you are more than likely going to make a very good impression, leading users to return to your website again in the future. ■ Good user experience One of the few ways that you can set your website apart from your competition is by offering your visitors a good user experience. At its very core, good user experience concerns itself with creating a fantastic and simple experience for your visitors, often involving two important factors: giving people what they want and giving it to them fast! ■ Website speed impacts your Google ranking One of the most important factors that affects your Google and search engine ranking is your website’s loading speed. Search engines like Google and Bing want to deliver the most Domywebsite’s loading times reallymatter? I f I was to suggest the best use of time and money today, it would be in podcasting. A video podcast to be precise. This format allows people to consume the conversation just through audio or even having it up on a screen in their studios as they print into the small hours. The podcast format requires a lot of effort and technological know- how and is definitely the most advanced form of social media strategies. I have started this myself and launching this platform requires skills in copywriting, thumbnail design, verbal communication and a strong understanding on how these files are distributed for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes. As always, I am trying to lean into the difficult situations and make the most of these amazing tools we have at our disposal. I don’t want to suggest everyone makes a podcast, but being a willing and fun guest on other people’s would be an awesome bit of content for your website and channels. The other perk of being a guest is you don’t have to do all the hard work of formatting, editing and planning that goes on behind the scenes. If you want to be seen by a particular audience you can bet there is a podcast advertising to them that you could get on. I teach a multi-platform approach to social media advertising to a select Attention is the new currency group of business owners and find that creating a base piece of content and distributing that over the platforms yields the best results. So, in real life that would involve taking a couple of clips of the podcast to feature on your Instagram and Facebook stories, posting the whole video on a blog post, and doing a TikTok of you filming the podcast too. It’s time to pick up a microphone and invite yourself onto a podcast! Chessie Rosier-Parker is director and studio manager of Squeegee & Ink, a screen printing and embroidery studio that also provides pre-exposed screens and film to garment printers along with social media workshops. www.squeegeeandink.co.uk/ learn-to-screen-print Joel Dear is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk