One-second load speed has a conversion rate 2.5x higher than a 5-second load time. DesignRush interviewed web design experts to get tips on how to improve a website's performance and load speed.

MIAMI - NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Research by Portent revealed that an eCommerce site that loads in one second has a 2.5x higher conversion rate than a website with a 5-second loading time. This highlights the importance of website performance and loading speed for conversion rates and sales.

DesignRush, a B2B marketplace connecting businesses with agencies, leveraged its 16,000-agencies-strong network for quick insights – or “QuickSights” – on the impact of load speed in web design and assessing website performance.

1) TEST YOUR WEBSITE SPEED & FIX THE ISSUES

According to Clio Websites CEO Nat Miletic companies should pay close attention to how fast their websites load on mobile devices and identify ways to optimize their performance.

"Website load speed can have a major impact on how your visitors and clients interact with your brand," said Miletic. "In fact, visitors will leave a site if it doesn’t fully load in three seconds on mobile. To find out if your site is suffering from poor performance, visit PageSpeed Insights and perform an assessment. Then, read the results and make sure you fix all issues following the recommendations to optimize the performance. The most common issues we see when it comes to poor performance are uncompressed/large images, and cheap hosting, both of which are easily fixable."

2) REDUCE THE NUMBER OF PLUGINS

In the opinion of Audia Wira Rachmadi, digital marketing manager at Virtualspirit, businesses should reduce the number of website plugins to ensure better speed and user experience.

"We know that it's not just about the design and development of your website," said Rachmadi. "Your user experience (UX) is a crucial element because it helps improve customer perceptions of your brand's reliability and quality. You can now focus on your business success by implementing a personalized customer journey strategy on your website by optimizing your site speed. A good practice to follow for better speed is to reduce the number of plugins, keeping only the most critical ones."

3) USE CACHING PLUGINS AND CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK (CDN)

Consensus Creative Founder Art Karapetov shares that using cache plugins and CDN can help speed up a website.

"In a survey by Unbounce, 70% of consumers said that page speed affects their willingness to purchase from an eCommerce store," said Karapetov. "We see similar data from our clients. Caching plugins, CDN such as Cloudflare and high-speed dedicated hosting will ensure fast loading speed, and thus more inquiries/sales."

4) CHOOSE AN OPTIMAL WEB HOSTING PROVIDER

Optimized Webmedia Marketing CEO and founder Donald Kim stresses the importance of choosing the right web hosting solution.

"Having fast website speed load times for both desktop and mobile helps ensure that site visitors have a good user experience," said Kim. "It is also a Google ranking factor and thus is important for improving organic search results. Hosting is often an overlooked factor when it comes to website speed. Therefore, make sure you pick a reliable and performance-optimized hosting solution that can offer a powerful platform designed for speed."

DesignRush released the November list of the top web design companies that can help businesses optimize their website’s performance and ensure high conversions.

The top web design companies are:

1. Creative.onl - creative.onl
Expertise: Web Design, Web Development, UX Design and more

2. Itersi - itersi.com
Expertise: Web Hosting, Website Maintenance, Web Design and more

3. Kode Digital - kodedigital.expert
Expertise: Website Maintenance, Web Design, Web Development and more

4. Digismiths - digismiths.com
Expertise: Creative Web Design, Web Development, Digital Marketing and more

5. Clio Websites - cliowebsites.com
Expertise: Responsive Web Design, WordPress Development, eCommerce Development and more

6. Do Good Things - dogoodthings.co.nz
Expertise: Web Development, Web Design, Branding and more

7. LeadCardinal - leadcardinal.com
Expertise: Web Design, Logo Design, Digital Marketing and more

8. Gold & Fourth - goldandfourth.com
Expertise: Responsive Web Design, eCommerce Development, Web Hosting and more

9. Action Analysis - actionanalysis.com.au
Expertise: Web Development, Web Hosting, Web Design and more

10. IX Publishing - ixp.agency
Expertise: Web Analytics, Web Design, Digital Marketing and more

11. Christom - christom.com.au
Expertise: Web Design, Web Development, WordPress Support and more

12. Virtualspirit - virtualspirit.me
Expertise: Web App Development, Web Development, UI/UX Design and more

13. Infinite Ideas Web Design - infiniteideaswebdesign.com
Expertise: Web Design, Digital Marketing, SEO and more

14. SlashMonk - slashmonk.com
Expertise: Web Development, Web Design, Website Maintenance and more

15. Consensus Creative - consensuscreative.com
Expertise: UX/UI Design, Web Development, Web Design and more

16. Speck Designs - speckdesigns.com
Expertise: Web Design, Graphic Design, Digital Marketing and more

17. Blckpanda - blckpanda.com
Expertise: Web Development, Web Design, eCommerce Development and more

18. Vancity Web Design - vancitywebdesign.com
Expertise: UX/UI Design, Graphic Design, Web Design and more

19. Optimized Webmedia Marketing - optimizedwebmedia.com
Expertise: App Development, Web Design, Digital Marketing and more

20. Siguro - siguro.co
Expertise: Web Design, eCommerce Development, SEO and more

Brands can explore the top web design companies by location, size, average hourly rate and portfolio on DesignRush.

About DesignRush:

DesignRush.com is a B2B marketplace connecting businesses with agencies through expert reviews and agency ranking lists, awards, knowledge resources and personalized agency recommendations for vetted projects.