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Over at When Bad Websites Happen to Good People, today’s tip is all about website speed. In this tip, our 8th, you’ll find some of the usual causes of slow sites, and some suggestions to speed up your site.

But why is speed so critical to website success? Because, according to Forrester Consulting, two seconds is new acceptable norm for online shoppers.  Customer expectations can be brutal.

• 47 percent of consumers expect a web page to load in two seconds or less, and,
• 40 percent of consumers would abandon a site if it took more than three seconds to load

While this research is aimed at online shoppers, I would go out on a limb and say the same applies to B2B sites. Let’s face it, humans are an impatient bunch. As everything becomes instant, speed is crucial.

As much as it is up to designers to make sure a website loads quickly, it’s up to online copywriters to ensure content is web-friendly, and equally as important, human-friendly. I’ve discussed some of the differences between writing for the web and writing for print publications previously with suggestions on creating web-friendly text.

However, human-friendly content, or brand voice, is not often discussed in the conversion process. But brand voice plays a big role in instant connection and engagement.

Brand Language Influences Online Behaviour

Earlier this year, CDA (Content Delivery &Analysis) conducted a study to better understand the online linguistic processes and pathways that consumers take when they want to find things online. Among some of the CDA’s key findings:

• Language that people appear to respond to most favourably when they finally engage with a website is language that more closely resembles their natural language of intent – less mechanical and more human.
• Language that engages people on web pages is not the same as the language that forms the pathways to a site.
• There seems to be a direct correlation between what language a website uses and how a visitor feels. In many cases participants are put off by what they find because it is not in line with their previously articulated expectations and / or requirements. The language that brands employ on websites can often be too formal (technical, un-human, productised) – and this can alienate people.

So why does this stifling, consumer-inhibiting business formality exist? I’m not entirely sure, but I think that many companies confuse business jargon with professionalism.

Brand Voice Makes Connections

You only have a few seconds to captivate.  A strong human brand voice has a realness and authenticity that shines through and connects with remarkable speed and effectiveness.

Brand voice goes well beyond word choice. It considers intent, framing, syntax – it’s a whole semantics smorgasbord! It takes thoughtful reflection to pin down not only what to say, but how to say it. But the return is incredible, a clear voice that is 100% YOU cuts through the same-old,-same-old of a noisy marketplace.

In a lightning-fast digital world, that’s invaluable.

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