Want to get an easy win on Google?
If you’ve got a website, you can make a one-off tweak to your site that boost you.
You’ll see an improvement in the professional ‘feel’ of your site, the number of people who book appointments, and how visible you are on Google.
This tweak works especially if you’ve thought about your optometry marketing, got a clear message that you want everyone to know, and made it reflect your practice.
Want to know what this easy win is?
It’s website speed
That is, from the time someone taps on your website link, or types it into the address bar, how long does your website take to load?
(Hint: want to know how fast your website is? Send me a Facebook Message and ask for a free website speed test.)
Website speed is critical for your practice website. Why?
Having a fast website:
- Increases the perception of how professional you are
- Increases how long people stay on your website
- Increases the chance that visitors will book an appointment with you
- Increases the likelihood that you will climb higher in your Google rankings
If you want to learn more about website speed, here is a great infographic by Kissmetrics showing how website loading speed is critical.
But, don’t most people have fast internet speeds? Would this make website speed irrelevant now?
You could easily think that. Maybe you’ve got a great internet connection like NBN, 4G or fibre-to-the-premises.
But this technology may contribute to us becoming more impatient.
The Kissmetrics study above showed that:
- “47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.”
- “40% abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.”
If you practice in a competitive area, and your website speed isn’t fast, it’s easy for a potential patient to hop onto a competitors website and book an appointment.
Did you know that Amazon stands to lose $1B per year if their website speed slows by one second?
So getting back to your practice, if you want to have a quick win on Google, then make your website load faster.
If you can be the one with the fastest website in your area, you can keep more potential patients for yourself!
I’m excited to share with you some real results! Want to take a look?
Ezekiel Eyes, Damon Ezekiel’s Independent Optometry Practice in Perth, WA. (Damon is the current president of the International Society of Contact Lens Specialists.)
Prior to doing any work on optimising the site, it loaded in about 11.2 seconds.
After optimising the site, the website loaded in 3.6 seconds.
You can see a huge improvement in the speed, right?!
Actually, these results were based from Vancouver, Canada.
So when we test with servers based in Sydney, Australia. we get a website speed of 1.7 seconds
That’s a speed improvement of over 311% (and over if we test it in Sydney)
This is so much better for potential patients who visit a practice website.
This also means that it’s better for their Google ranking too.
Belle Vue Specialty Eye Care is an independent Behavioural Optometrist run by Dr Megan Lott in Hattiesburg, MS, USA. Dr Lott is awesome with kids!
How fast does the website load now?
This new speed of 2.2 seconds is great for Dr Lott’s website visitors.
So what about you? How can you increase your website speed?
1. Move to a faster website host in your country
Two of my favourite website hosts are:
WPEngine* (for Australia, USA and more countries)
Hatchet* (for Australia)
Both of these hosts are superfast and have excellent technical support.
You can get an easy win just by switching your site. In most cases, it can be transferred for you seamlessly. Transfers takes less than 24 hours. Sometimes you can be up and running in a few hours.
Find a great local provider or select one of the two options above!
2. Use a Content Distribution Network
Don’t have a website hosting company near you?
Content Distribution Networks (CDN’s) are servers set up to store your information closer to where your visitors are.
They store a copy of your website and show it to visitors who aren’t nearby to your actual website host.
CDN’s like Cloudflare can help to speed up your website.
However, I’ve used Cloudflare previously and felt frustrated with any website updates taking several hours to become active.
Nevertheless, a CDN can be useful in speeding up your website.
2. Get a developer to optimise your site
Hiring a developer can make it easy for you to optimise your site.
Just like tying down a trailer with the right ropes, an experienced developer can help you to optimise many small things about your site.
These changes can help you see big improvements in your website speed. Just like the fast Ezekiel Eyes website!
If you want to optimise your website, contact me and you can get an easy win, with no effort from you.
Show your potential patients how professional you are with a superfast website, and Google will reward you!
Oh, and don’t forget to get your free website speed test via Facebook Messenger
