Here's the Shit You Need to Know ...
Being fast fast fast, matters. And today I'm talking about your website.
Gone are the days when we could wait for the dial-up internet to get going. I can still hear that dial-up sound in my head, can you?! But it's nearly 2024, and it's been more than twenty years since we moved into the high-speed world. Suffice it to say, you have about three seconds for your website to fully load or we're leaving.
I recently read an article with a stat about Walmart's website. It says that for every 1-second of improvement in site speed, they found that conversions (aka sales/orders) increased by 2%. Furthermore, they saw a 7% increase in conversions after reducing page speed load time by another .85 seconds. We're talking a split second here. That's quite an increase.
When I'm onboarding a new client, one of the first things I look at is their site speed, and then their conversion rate. Your conversion rate is how many people come to your website (which is your website traffic) vs. how many orders you get (which is how many people buy from you). And the average conversion rate in the US for eComm is between 2.5 and 3% (source here). So that means for every 100 users that come to your site, on average 2.5 - 3 people will buy. Again, this is just a benchmark average. But you could see how Walmart's conversion rate increase was REALLY something - because of the site speed changes they made!
Now I know we're not Walmart, but your conversions MATTER. Your conversions may not be thousands of eComm orders - your conversion could be new leads or opt-ins, and as a small business every single one counts.
OK, so do you know what the number one most common reason why a website is slow to load? Unoptimized images!! This means the images on the website are TOO BIG in their digital size! It's such a silly, simple fix!
If you're like WTF is she saying? What I mean is - that you're taking your high-resolution digital image that should be used for printing purposes and you're using it on your website, without making it smaller first.
There are lots of other reasons why your website might load slowly, but this is the most common reason and it's a simple fix! And can have a huge impact on your bottom line.
Here's How You're Going to Implement This for Yourself ...
Test your site speed!
It's easier than you think! There are lots of free tools out there but I'm going to recommend using Google's Page Insights. You literally just put your website address in and it'll tell you everything. I just built my website - the one you're reading this on (with the help of my good friend Michelle over at STAK Marketing), and I know I need to take a look at my site speed.
Let me show you where this website is at - I have some work to do 🤣.
Here is what is happening on desktop for me. Not bad! For now, I'm going to say good enough.
Let's move on to mobile. And remember - mobile is everything. This is going to be the most important one for you to investigate.
YIKES. 🤪 Adding this to the list of things to work on in January.
OK so here is what I want YOU to do:
Put this on your to-do list either for some time this month or next month
Go test your site speed
See what Google says
Try and figure it out
Moving forward - let's make any images we add to our website the right sizes (and apparently for me I need explicit width and height!)
Have questions?! Lost or confused?! Reach out anytime!
How I Thrive (and get it all done!)... a Life-Hacking Tip from Me to You🫶🏻
I am certain that everyone already knows this amazing tip but it was new to me this year. 🤣 Walmart Grocery Delivery is a GAME CHANGER. I never do food delivery because I don't want to pay for it. I quit paying for Amazon Prime this past year because I feel like I never had 2-day delivery anymore and I figured out you can still get free shipping if you spend $25 or more. So if I need to shop on Amazon I just wait until I have an order of that amount or more. But then I learned about Walmart+ which is the same thing as Prime BUTTTTTT it includes free grocery delivery!!!!!!!!!
I do grocery pick up all the time but I often find myself in a pinch where I've run out of time and need groceries. Enter, delivery. Brilliant. When I plan out my week I'll take a look and see when I have time to go to the store and if I don't I plan my shopping ahead of time and set it up to be delivered to me. Also the Walmart near my house 100% has their A+ gold star employees on grocery pick up and delivery. I used to never want anyone else to pick my produce but I truly haven't had any issues, and it takes so much stress out of my life. Also I feel like Walmart's UX of their app and system for dealing with out-of-stock items and needing a replacement is so great. OK, that's my hot tip on grocery delivery. This isn't sponsored of course 😂 I just really really really love how this has removed stress from my life.
BTW I literally just had my groceries delivered 🤣 as I'm writing this.
Badass Women, Doing Awesome Things
Last week I got together with some amazing people. My coach Lyn with Soul Salt invited some ladies over to do "intuitive collages" together to end the year and start off 2024 with fresh eyes. It was RAD!
Here is what I put together for my collage. I wanted to add photos of myself as a little kid, to remind that little girl inside of myself - that today I'm the woman I always wanted to be. And to remind myself always, whatever happens this new year - I've GOT THIS! (And you do too!!)
When I first started working with Lyn back in 2019 they had me also do a collage. I still have it hanging up in my office:
It's so interesting to look at both. The thing that I noticed is how both collages, four years apart, have light bulb moments and mountain scenes. Two things I LOVE.
I highly, recommend giving yourself two hours before the year is over, cutting up a bunch of magazines with things that make you feel like you and gluing them all to a poster board.
OK, my loves. I'll see you next week. Hugs and kisses.
💖 Jess
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