Full Transcript
Lauren: So my cousin built her own website on Wix like two years ago. She was really proud of it, you know? But she just told me business has been slow and I'm wondering... could the website actually be the problem?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor... We make interwebs and website stuff make sense... Let's get into it.
Honor: So here's the thing that's kind of scary. It takes about 50 milliseconds for someone to decide if they trust your website. That's 0.05 seconds.
Lauren: Wait... 50 milliseconds? That's like... faster than a blink!
Honor: Exactly. And studies show that 75 percent of people judge a business's credibility based on how the website looks. Not the business itself. The website.
Lauren: Oh no. So if your website looks homemade...
Honor: Then they assume your business is homemade. Even if you're amazing at what you do.
Lauren: That's like showing up to a job interview in pajamas. You might be the best candidate, but nobody's gonna find out!
Honor: Perfect. And here's the other killer... page speed. Sites that load in one second have about a 7 percent bounce rate. Meaning 7 percent of people leave immediately.
Lauren: Okay, that doesn't sound too bad.
Honor: But if it takes five seconds to load? That jumps to 38 percent.
Lauren: Thirty-eight percent?! From just five seconds?
Honor: Yeah. And on phones it's worse. 53 percent of mobile visitors will just leave if your site takes more than three seconds.
Lauren: So over half the people on their phones just... bounce. Before they even see what you do.
Honor: Right. And DIY sites are usually slow because of things you'd never think about. Unoptimized images, too many plugins, cheap hosting, templates loaded with stuff you don't even use.
Lauren: That's like having a store where the front door sticks. People walk up, tug on it once, twice... and they just go next door instead of waiting.
Honor: Exactly. And here's the really painful part. 88 percent of people won't come back after one bad website experience. One! And 89 percent will go straight to a competitor.
Lauren: So one slow load, one weird experience, and they're gone forever?
Honor: Forever. Your website is basically doing job interviews all day. And if it fails one... that customer is gone.
Lauren: Okay that's terrifying. And my cousin has no idea any of this is happening.
Honor: That's the thing. It's all invisible. She just knows business is slow. She doesn't know people are bouncing before they even read what she does.
Lauren: So what's the one thing she should do right now?
Honor: Pull up your website on your phone. Not on wifi... use your regular cell signal. See how long it takes. See how it looks. If you're wincing... you've got your answer.
Lauren: So the moral of the story is: your DIY site might be doing its job, or it might be quietly turning away customers you worked hard to attract. Pull it up on your phone and find out.
Honor: And if it's not great... that's what we're here for.
Lauren: Give YouGrow a call!
Honor: 79 dollars a month. Sites that load fast. Built accessible from day one... not with some overlay widget. Unlimited edits, you just email us and we handle it. Month-to-month, cancel anytime. And we're local... I'm in Arroyo Grande. Call 805-439-6288 and I'll pick up.
Lauren: Alright, this has been 805 Web Minute. Thanks for listening.