The Consequences for Your Business if Your Website is Slow

What Could Be the Consequences for Your Business if Your Website Is Slow?

Over the past year, there has been a significant increase in complaints about slow websites and the consequences of slow loading speed.
One of the most common grievances among online store owners is related to their site’s speed. A slow website is not only a bad signal for users, but is also a main reason for weaker business results. Did you know that 25% of users would leave a website that takes more than 4 seconds to load? Can you estimate how much this could cost you if you sell online?  

Why Speed Matters
A fast online store is no longer an advantage, but rather a necessity for merchants. The resources and time you invest in speed optimization will definitely pay off because:

    • Website speed is an important SEO factor – the faster a page on your website loads, the more it will be liked both by users and by search engines. Slow websites often cause visitors to leave before even spending minimal time reviewing the content. This, in turn, raises the so-called bounce rate, which will detract from your advantage over direct competitors in the results page.
    • User experience is key for purchases – it’s unlikely that many of your site’s users would browse and order a product if your online store doesn’t function quickly enough and isn’t well-visualized on different types of devices. Remember, even a one-second delay in loading brings an average of 7% fewer conversions.
    • Satisfied customers return – not attracting, but retaining loyal users is today’s biggest business challenge. According to Akamai and Radware, 79% of users dissatisfied with their shopping experience would not shop again from the same online store.

Why Shared Hosting Is Ineffective for Online Stores

Shared hosting is the most common solution for web projects, but because of its shortcomings, it is the least suitable for online stores. This is because with shared hosting:
    • You share hosting resources with other users – with shared hosting, your website is hosted on a physical server together with other online projects, sharing limited resources. This means that increased traffic or a malicious attack on another website on the server can affect the operation of your online store as well. Certainly, this would harm loading speed and, in the worst case, could lead to downtime – a prolonged period during which your site will be unavailable and sales will drop to zero.
    • Insufficient security – online commerce involves serious exchange of sensitive data – company information, personal data, payment details, and more. Storing this information on shared hosting greatly increases the risk to data security.
    • Lack of flexibility – likely, your online store will develop over time, requiring additional hosting space. On the other hand, during campaigns (promotions, Black Friday, sales), you’ll generate more visits and site traffic, which are also limited by your hosting service. With shared hosting, you have no way to manage these resources flexibly according to your needs, which also leads to a slow site and interruptions in its operation.
    • Inability to optimize your costs – you request a service with predefined parameters and a price you pay regardless of actual resource usage. This makes shared hosting an inefficient solution for online businesses with periodic campaigns, frequent changes and updates, software integrations, and variable workload.

Why Cloud VPS Is the Best Choice

Cloud hosting is a service where you have exceptional flexibility regarding resources, space, and costs for your business’s online presence. You can provide excellent accessibility to clients for your online store. That’s why cloud-based solutions have become increasingly popular for businesses operating in the online environment. 
Cloud VPS (Virtual Private Server) is such a solution, allowing your online project to benefit from: 
    • Dedicated server resources for your project only
    • Maximum security and protection for stored files and data
   • Guaranteed uptime of over 99.9% under all conditions, since your site’s operation is not tied to the performance of a single physical server
    • Proactive professional support
In terms of loading speed, all this means that your online store will not only function in a more protected environment, but also won’t be affected by factors like increased load from other sites, hacking attacks, or a sudden spike in visitor numbers. That’s why Cloud VPS is a preferred reliable solution for e-commerce, larger web projects, file and mail servers, software products, ERP, and CRM systems.

AbsCloud offers its virtual servers with a focus precisely on the speed of online stores and providing a secure hosting environment for their operation and growth. Apart from the benefits for your business, custom Cloud VPS solutions also give you the opportunity to:
    • Use a personal system administrator
    • Free management panel and pre-installed OS of your choice
    • Ability to change server parameters at any time
    • Service continuity guarantee and high-speed internet connectivity
    • Daily backup of all your content, with rapid restore from archive whenever needed.
And the best part? Besides guaranteeing a faster online store, you get the chance to optimize your costs and pay only for the hosting resources you actually use. 

Learn more about Cloud VPS hosting for online stores from our consultants:  Contacts

or visit our page Cloud Hosting for Web Projects