We witness this on a daily basis within our industry. A customer approaches us with their amazing product and their big budget for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. We develop high-converting landing pages, craft compelling copy, and then launch the campaign. The clicks begin pouring in, but the conversions are not budging. After analyzing the data, the problem is almost always the same culprit. And that is not the copy or the offer. It is the loading speed.
As soon as the user clicks the ad, the expected result is an instant action. But if the page takes a few seconds to load, the user immediately goes back to the search results page, and in effect, we have just paid for an ad click that has brought us no value at all. Though code optimization and the size of the images are frequently cited as the cause of slow speeds, the key to the speed of your website could actually be the web hosting that you are using.
The server where your website resides determines how quickly the website will load to a potential client. How does web hosting affect website speed and performance? It’s a question that every marketer should consider when planning their campaigns.
Link Between Hosting and Load Times
The Time to First Byte (TTFB) is the responsibility of your web hosting company. TTFB measures how long a browser has to wait before receiving its first byte of data from a server. When you have opted for a cheap hosting package with a busy server, this time increases.
Regardless of how clean and well-coded your website is, a slow TTFB can create a bottleneck that can frustrate users before a page loads. We always tell our clients that a fast-loading server is the best insurance policy for their advertising dollars, especially when working with the best PPC company in the Houston area.
Understanding the Different Tiers of Hosting
Hosting is very important when it comes to the speed of the website. The most popular way to begin is shared hosting. This means that your website shares the same server as hundreds or thousands of other websites. It is very economical, but the downside is the “noisy neighbor” problem. If another website gets a surge in traffic, the server gets consumed, and your website runs very slowly.
For any business that uses paid traffic, shared hosting is not an option. That’s why scalable website hosting and hosting for high-traffic sites are crucial for any brand expecting significant growth or large visitor volumes.
One major upgrade that Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting brings is in regard to resources. Even though you are sharing a server with other sites, the resources are carved out for you. This means that you are guaranteed a certain amount of RAM and CPU power that will not be accessed by any other site.
At the top of the pyramid, we have dedicated hosting. With dedicated hosting, you get to use an entire server by yourself. You get to control everything, including resources and bandwidth. For high-traffic websites where speed is everything when it comes to conversion, dedicated hosting is the best.
Optimizing for Speed
After you have ensured you have good hosting, you can improve your site’s loading speed using server caching. Many good hosting services have in-built caching systems which cache your site’s static content, allowing users to load your site in an instant if they have visited your site before.
We also recommend using a Content Delivery Network in addition to your hosting services. A Content Delivery Network will distribute your content to servers all over the world, ensuring your site loads in an instant whether you are in California or Germany.
Investing in Your Digital Foundation
Your web host decision isn’t solely an IT decision. Your web host decision is a marketing decision. As a results-driven agency at Key Light Collective, we understand that a slow-loading site will surely kill conversions and waste your advertising dollars. When you choose a web host that provides dedicated resources, up-to-date equipment, and smart server locations, you’re providing the foundation for success for your campaigns.
A fast-loading site will establish credibility, enhance user experience, and ultimately drive the ROI that all of us seek. Why is it important to use a web host? The right hosting choice can make the difference between a successful campaign and a wasted opportunity.