Have you invested time and resources in designing a visually appealing website? If so, congratulations! But we want to pose a question: Is your website fulfilling its strategic objective beyond just “being there”? Is it designed in a way that supports your communication goals, attracts clients, drives sales, and provides information effectively?
In this article, we will explore a crucial topic that is often overlooked: the performance and optimization of your website. Not just from an aesthetic perspective, but also in terms of its effectiveness in converting visitors into customers. Additionally, we will discuss how good web performance can boost your SEO efforts and enhance your Google Ads campaigns.
And yes, we will dive into the current trend of WordPress visual builders. We will examine how these tools impact your website’s performance and how an emerging tool, Bricks Builder, is making a significant difference.
We won’t stop there. We will also delve into why, despite the temptation to opt for the cheapest option or work with freelancers, choosing to work with expert agencies can dramatically change the trajectory of your online presence.
So, if you’re ready to understand how your website can be an effective tool for better communication and increased sales, this article is for you. Without further ado, let’s dive into the importance of web performance beyond aesthetics.
Aesthetics Are Just the Beginning: Beyond Web Design
Don’t get us wrong, an attractive website is essential. But that’s just the beginning. Effective web design needs to be functional, intuitive, and, most importantly, optimized to achieve your business goals. The content and message should not adapt to the design; rather, the design should be tailored to support the desired communication.
An Attractive Website: The First Step to Capturing Your Audience
Aesthetics matter. Attractive websites can capture visitors’ attention, reducing bounce rates and increasing the time visitors spend on your page. Good design can project professionalism and effectively convey your brand. However, a beautiful website alone is not enough to guarantee success.
Optimization and Performance: Key Factors for Conversion
An attractive website can draw visitors in, but an efficient and optimized website is what converts them into customers.
- Loading Speed: Visitors won’t wait for a slow website. According to Google, 53% of mobile visitors will leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
- Usability: A website should be intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing visitors to find what they’re looking for without hassle.
- Mobile Optimization: In today’s digital age, it is crucial for websites to be optimized for mobile devices, as most people use their smartphones to browse the web.
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Your website should be designed to guide visitors towards a conversion action, whether it’s filling out a contact form, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter.
Therefore, while an attractive website can draw visitors in, functionality and performance are what keep them engaged and convert them. It’s a delicate balance that requires a well-thought-out web design strategy and proper implementation.
If you’re interested in having us evaluate your website’s performance, contact us.
Why Your Website Isn’t Converting: The Crucial Role of Web Performance
So, you’ve made a great effort to ensure your website is visually appealing, but it’s still not achieving the results you expected. Visitors aren’t staying, they aren’t interacting, and most importantly, they aren’t converting. If this sounds familiar, the issue might lie in your website’s performance.
Here is an image that shows up to a 75% increase in organic traffic after redesigning a website with Bricks Builder, improving its performance.
Screenshot by Nicholas Arce, on magnifiedweb.com
Loading Speed: The First Essential for Conversion
Every second counts when it comes to your website’s loading speed. In fact, a one-second delay in load time can reduce conversions by 7%. And if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, more than half of your visitors are likely to leave.
The good news is that with the right optimization, you can improve your website’s loading speed. From image optimization to minifying CSS and JavaScript files, there are various tactics you can implement to make your website faster and, in turn, potentially increase your conversion rates.
Navigability: If They Can’t Find It, They Can’t Buy It
If your website’s visitors can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, they’re likely to leave. Not only that, but they’re also likely to leave with a negative impression of your brand. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure your website is easy to navigate.
Intuitive navigation can make a big difference in user experience and ultimately in conversions. From having a clear and user-friendly navigation menu to ensuring that the most important pages are just a click away, there are several strategies you can employ to make your website easier to use.
Mobile Optimization: You Can’t Ignore Mobile Users
Today, more than half of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t optimized for these devices, you’re missing a significant opportunity to connect with a large segment of your audience.
Mobile optimization not only improves user experience but is also a ranking factor for Google. A website that isn’t mobile-friendly may struggle to rank well in search results, leading to less traffic and ultimately fewer conversions.
Mobile traffic as a percentage of total web traffic in January 2023, by geographic area (source)
So, if you want your website to convert, you need to ensure it is optimized for loading speed, navigability, and mobile devices. But how can you do this? One option is to use website builders designed with these factors in mind, such as Bricks Builder. Let’s see how this website builder can make a difference in your website’s performance and, in turn, your conversions.
The Trend of WordPress Visual Builders and Their Impact on Performance
WordPress page builders are a great way to create a website without needing to know how to code. They allow users to design and customize their website visually, which can be very useful, especially if you have no experience in web design. However, not all page builders are created equal, and some can negatively impact your website’s performance.
Reference photo of Elementor Builder.
Are All WordPress Page Builders the Same?
No. While some page builders are known for generating heavy code that can slow down your website, others are designed with performance in mind. It’s crucial to select a page builder that allows you to design an attractive website without sacrificing speed and optimization.
The Crucial Role of Optimization in Page Builders
One reason some page builders can slow down your website is that they aren’t properly optimized. Optimizing a page builder can include things like minifying CSS and JavaScript, optimizing images, and reducing load time.
If your page builder isn’t optimized, it can increase your website’s load time, leading to a higher bounce rate, a lower conversion rate, and poorer performance in search engines. So, when selecting a page builder, it’s important to consider not only its ease of use and functionality but also its optimization.
One of the page builders that stands out in this aspect is Bricks Builder. Why? Let’s continue and find out.
Bricks Builder: Performance and SEO Working Together
In the world of WordPress visual builders, Bricks Builder has gained recognition for its performance and ability to generate clean code. But what does that mean, and why is it so important?
Reference photo of Bricks Builder.
What Is the DOM and Why Does It Matter?
The DOM (Document Object Model) is essentially the structure of your website. Think of it as the skeleton of your web page. A cleaner and optimized DOM means that your website can load faster, improving user experience and helping to boost your SEO.
Bricks Builder and the Clean DOM
Bricks Builder stands out for its ability to generate a clean and optimized DOM. Unlike many other visual builders, it avoids adding unnecessary code to your page’s structure, resulting in superior performance and a better user experience. It is the visual builder with the best balance between design and performance.
Moreover, the clean and optimized code generated by Bricks Builder benefits your SEO. Google and other search engines prefer websites with a clean DOM as they are easier to crawl and index. This can give your website an edge in terms of search engine visibility and help you attract more organic traffic.
The Importance of Working with Expert Agencies Instead of Cheaper Alternatives or Freelancers
Building a high-performance website that can drive your sales and increase your online visibility is no easy task. It requires expertise, knowledge, and a strategic approach. This is where the importance of working with an expert agency comes into play.
Quality vs. Cost
It’s tempting to go for the cheapest option when it comes to building your website. But the reality is that in the world of web design, you often get what you pay for.
Cheaper agencies or freelancers may offer much lower prices, but they may not have the experience or knowledge necessary to build a website that truly meets your expectations. Or they may know all that but, because the price is low, they won’t put much effort into the details.
In other words, a freelancer or a low-cost agency can develop an eye-catching website but will hardly be able to address all the aspects involved for success and for correctly communicating your sales and communication goals.
The Added Value of an Expert Agency
Working with an expert agency, on the other hand, provides you with the benefit of having a team of professionals experienced in all key areas of web design, from performance optimization to SEO.
- Strategy: Expert agencies can help you develop a web design strategy that aligns with your business objectives and helps you achieve your goals.
- Experience: They have years of experience and a deep understanding of web design and user behavior, which can result in a more effective website.
- Resources: They have access to tools and resources that may not be available to freelancers or cheaper agencies.
- Ongoing Support: They can offer ongoing support, even after the website has launched, to ensure it continues to perform at its best.
- Multidisciplinary Team: An expert agency usually has specialists in each area: Design, Writing, SEO, Programming, etc.
If you want your website to be more than just a storefront and become an effective tool for increasing your sales and improving your online visibility, working with an expert agency can be a worthwhile investment.
Take a look at our High Performance Web Development service!
How Good Performance and SEO Help Google Ads Campaigns
We’ve already seen that good web performance is crucial for user experience and SEO, but what about Google Ads campaigns? How do they benefit from a high-performance website and well-done SEO?
Imagine for a moment that you’re running a Google Ads campaign. You invest time and money in creating attractive ads, selecting the right keywords, and defining your target audience. Finally, you launch your campaign, expecting to attract relevant traffic to your website and convert visitors into customers. But when users click on your ad, they encounter a slow, poorly optimized website. What do you think will happen? Exactly, they will most likely leave, and your ad investment will have been in vain.
This shows that it’s not enough to have a great ad; the website you direct your users to also needs to be up to par. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your advertising efforts.
Website Performance and Google Ads Campaigns
Google has openly stated that page load time is a factor considered when determining the Quality Score of an ad. A high-performance website can help you achieve a better Quality Score, which can lower your cost per click and improve your ad position.
Moreover, a high-performance website provides a better user experience, increasing the likelihood that visitors arriving through your ads will convert into customers. At the end of the day, what really matters is not how many clicks you get, but how many conversions you achieve.
The standards for analyzing speed, mobile visibility, accessibility, and other factors are:
In these analyses, Bricks Builder shares a comparative table of some WordPress builders:
SEO and Google Ads Campaigns
Now, what about SEO? How does it help your Google Ads campaigns? Just like page performance, SEO also impacts your ad’s Quality Score. Google values pages that are relevant to the keywords you are using in your ads. If your SEO is well done, your page will be relevant to these keywords, which can help you achieve a better Quality Score.
But that’s not all. SEO also helps ensure that users who arrive at your website through your ads find the content they are looking for. Remember that users are looking for something specific when they click on an ad. If your page provides that content, users will be more likely to stay and convert into customers.
In short, good web performance and well-done SEO can significantly impact the success of your Google Ads campaigns. So, if you’re investing in ads, make sure you’re also investing in your website’s performance and SEO.
Let the Experts Help You!
Sometimes, the best option is to work with professionals. Here at Eukadi, we have a team of experts in web design, SEO, and digital marketing. We understand the importance of having a website that is not only attractive but also offers high performance and is well optimized for search engines.
If you’re ready to take your website to the next level, we’d love to talk to you. Let’s schedule a video call.