We all expect a fast service when we make a purchase from any company these days- whether that’s purchasing a burger at the local drive thru restaurant or let’s say queuing to buy a new dress at a shop- we all expect to be able to buy something and to do this quickly.

And this is exactly the same online, that’s to say if a business doesn’t offer a fast service, well, that business may just be losing customers.

For example, if a web design agency was to build a website that’s slow then following could occur:

 

·        Increase the businesses bounce rate

·        Negatively impact the businesses SEO

 

And the reason for this is because a lot of SEO websites now state that if a shopper is made to wait for anymore than 3 seconds for a page to load, well they could lose that customer.

So, this is why website developers are looking to make company websites even faster, and one way to do this is thru what’s called “AMP”, which stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages.

This is why many Cardiff web design agencies like Top Space are now offering to build a CMS website, but also for the web designers to also build an AMP version of the website.

AMP simply stands for accelerated mobile pages, and if you haven’t got the time to read the whole of this article, then the condensed version of this blog post has been bullet pointed for you below:

 

·        AMP can be used to create ultra fast websites

·        Ideal for loading company websites onto a smartphone more quickly where there may well be a weak mobile network

·        HTML and CSS can be used to build an AMP website which is ultra lightweight, by that we mean that the website can load quickly

·        A lot of web design company’s such as Top Space are now offering to build AMP websites

 

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

So, you want your website designers to build a website that has a lot of text or to put a lot of information of your company’s homepage, it also has a long self-loading video, and this has to be placed on the homepage of your website.

The video then gives a guided tour of your offices which are in Cardiff Bay, and you also meet staff in the video on your homepage, that’s a great way of showing people what your business can offer, where your business is based, and also a chance to meet your staff, so win, win right?

Plus, if this is placed onto your websites homepage, then this will make the website more modern, right?

Well, not exactly, that’s because a lot of businesses are now moving away from company websites that might take a long time to load.

That’s to say if the design is too complicated, then this may cause a slow company website, which may mean that the company’s bounce rate increases.

Fast website hosting and AMP websites

So for example, you may have hired a web design company, and they have stated that they will provide your company with “fast hosting”– but what does that exactly mean?

Well, sometimes it can mean that your website will load quickly, on the other hand it doesn’t really mean much at all- that’s because some hosting companies say they are fast, when in reality you may see your beard growing as the website loads- so in reality they are not that fast at all.

So often what’s needed is a web design agency here in Cardiff, like Top Space that can design a website that’s built to load quickly (AMP), plus also the business to choose hosting that is ultra-fast.

 

AMP stands for accelerated mobile pages and this means that your website is then designed so that it loads more quickly but when you couple this with ultra fast hosting, well its like your turbo-charging your company’s website – Kevin Jones  web design manager

 

That’s to say the coding, the Javascript, the HTML and the CSS will all load much faster if the hosting is fast, but combined to that, you should pick a Cardiff web designer that knows how to build a fast website.

 

And will this effect the design of the website?

Well, yes, that’s because a page that’s AMP normally looks very basic, as its not intended to look super impressive, the main focus is on speed.

So, think formula one, the company’s that build formula one cars are concentrating on speed, plus reducing weight, well the same concept can be applied to building an AMP website.

The website is built for speed, so the website developer and website designer will get rid of elements that mean it will take ages for the website to load.

For example, if the homepage has too much text, then the web designer may recommend design changes are made to speed the company’s website up.

So, for example, you know we mentioned earlier about an auto loading video on the homepage, well, this is a good example of what can slow a businesses website down and cause a high bounce rate, so if the website developers were to build a HTML AMP version of the homepage, they would remove this element.

Faster websites

So in a nutshell, what does AMP offer?

Well, that’s a really easy one for us to answer, AMP if implemented correctly by a website design company can help to speed up your website.

This can mean that a shopper may stay on your e-commerce website for longer- and why is that?

Well, lets say a shopper in Cardiff, South Wales is looking to purchase a used car online, and that shopper is happy to travel anywhere in the U.K for that brand of car.

Now, one website has thousands of cars that are for sale, but the website is slow on the smartphone that the shopper is using, so they leave that website, and so do many other shoppers, which means that the business obtains a high bounce rate.

However, business number two, well that company has hired a web design agency here in Cardiff in order to build an ultra fast website, that’s to say every bit of HTML and the CSS has been designed so that the website is fast, and this means that shoppers on average spend longer browsing all the various cars that are for sale.

This means that when the business compares key stats, such as time spent on site, bounce rate and number of organic visitors, the website has a stronger website, so the SEO improves, so now you can see why its so important to have a CMS website that is fast.

Lower bounce rate

One of the other main benefits of owning an AMP website, is that AMP could lower a company’s bounce rate.

And how could it do that?

Well, let’s say you sell running trainers, and your website loads quickly, then the person may buy from you rather than another business, where the other businesses website was taking too long to load onto the smartphone. So just as we mentioned in the example of used cars, its important to lower your company’s bounce rate.

A business here in Cardiff may lower there bounce rate in many different ways, for example hiring a web designer to do split testing or A/B testing, that’s to make gradual design improvements, such as re-designing the main menu, this is so the main menu is improved, the company and the web designers may then use A/B testing to see if the design improvements have resulted in more sales, plus lowering the bounce rate or not?

So that person who’s on the train looking to purchase a new pair of running trainers, well, they are most likely going to want to use a website that’s fast, and one way a business can obtain a fast website is to use AMP.

Why you will often need a website developer

Some companies may think that AMP can be switched on, that’s by merely altering a setting in the CMS settings, however often AMP needs a lot more work.

That’s to say often a web developer is required.

Light Weight Web Pages

The whole point of AMP is to make a light weight page, so this means that an AMP website may look very basic, yet the main purpose is to make the website load more quickly.

AMP HTML

Why should my business invest in an AMP website?

“40% of people abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load”

If a company wants to decrease its bounce rate then it may use AMP as one of the methods to try and reduce the businesses bounce rate.

How our web design agency can help:

Do you run a business here in Cardiff? Well, if your business requires a new WordPress website, or help with your company’s seo, then why not call us?