One of the most essential tasks digital marketing services perform is taking steps to speed up a website. Studies indicate that nearly half of all internet users expect a page to load in under two seconds. If after three seconds the site has not yet fully loaded, roughly 40% of a site’s visitors will simply give up and leave. You read that correctly — close to half of your potential clients or audience will leave your site if it takes more than two seconds to load.

This is why great web sites for design inspiration such as MRN Web Designs don’t stop at design; they develop, test, and maintain your website to ensure that it is performing properly on all platforms. Not only does poor website performance test people’s patience — it can directly tarnish a brand’s reputation. Nearly half (48%) of internet users surveyed have reported that they interpret poor mobile performance as a sign of apathy in a business.

On top of enlisting great web sites for design inspiration and performance optimization, follow these extra website design tips to make sure your site loads as fast as possible:

• Keep image files small
  
  It makes sense — when users have to load less data, sites load faster. Site owners have the choice of removing images from the site or keeping images but reducing their file sizes. Steps you can take to reduce the file size of your images include utilizing image compression software, cropping out parts of the image which are not vital, and uploading a lower resolution copy of the image.
• Get rid of discretionary extras
  
  Many site owners want their page to have as many extras as possible to make it more exciting and functional. However, websites that are too feature-rich will suffer slower loading times as the server has to fulfill so many requests. Yes, a “like my page” button might bring you more connections on Facebook, and yes, external fonts may be very aesthetically pleasing. If you want your site to load as fast as possible, though, odds are you are going to need to make some cuts. Sites running on via WordPress will load faster if they are designed with fewer plugins and simpler themes.
• Cache rules everything around me
  
  When a site has caching enabled, visitors who return to a website after an initial visit will find that it loads extremely quickly. This is because caching stores files locally on the visitor’s computer, so the server does not have to retrieve them again every time. This strategy is highly effective at decreasing loading times and does not require any changes in design.

Great web sites for design inspiration are only truly great if they also help you make a fast-loading site. Visit MRN Web Designs for help with all aspects of the web design process.