Tag: 6Step

The 6-Step Guide to Make Your Mobile Site Load Faster

Your users expect your site to load fast. If it doesn’t, you could lose a ton of traffic.

How fast, you ask?

Some research suggests that if a page doesn’t load in the literal blink of an eye, people could lose interest. That’s about 400 milliseconds.

Just a one-second delay can reduce customer satisfaction by 16 percent and one in four visitors will abandon a site if it takes more than four seconds to load.

mobile site speed stats

Not to mention the mighty Google says site speed is a ranking factor for mobile sites.

So if your site isn’t fast, both your audience and Google will think poorly of it. You’ll lose visibility and traffic.

So, how fast is your site?

Because if it takes longer than one or two seconds to load, you’re losing traffic right this moment.

It’s okay if your site is slow. There are steps you can take to make it faster to ensure you don’t let a single visitor slip through your fingers. Here’s how.

Step 1: Test Your Mobile Site Speed

Before you do anything else, you should test how fast your mobile site really is.

You might think it loads just fine, but it could be slower than you think.

One of the best mobile tests is from Ubersuggest. Here’s how it works:

Step #1: Enter Your URL and Click “Search”

ubersuggest make your site load faster

Step #2: Click “Site Audit” in the Left Sidebar

ubersuggest make site load faster site audit

Step #3: Scroll Down to “Site Speed”

ubersuggest make site load faster site speed test.

This is where you’ll find the loading time for both desktop and mobile devices. This shows that my site’s mobile loading time is 2 seconds, which is an “excellent” score.

It also tests speed related to six key elements of your website:

  • First Contentful Paint
  • Speed Index
  • Time to Interactive
  • First Meaningful Paint
  • First CPU Idle
  • Estimated Input Latency

If your site speed is excellent, you shouldn’t have any concerns. But if there’s room for improvement, don’t wait to take action. Every additional 0.5s it takes to load your site increases the percentage of visitors that will leave.

I’m going to address the most common causes of slow mobile sites and explain what you can do to improve yours.

Step 2: Perfect Your Mobile Site Design

Think back to when you designed your site.

Did you have mobile devices in mind?

I’m guessing you didn’t. (If you did, give yourself a pat on the back.)

If you didn’t now is the time to rethink your design with a mobile-first mindset.

Mobile sites have changed a lot in the last few years.

It used to be that sites would have two versions, one for mobile and one for desktop.

A mobile site is easily identified by the “m.” subdomain:

mobile subdomain make your site load faster.

In this situation, the mobile and desktop sites are two completely different animals operating separately from one another.

This is no longer the case. Now, most sites use responsive design.

Responsive design allows you to have one site that dynamically changes depending on how it’s being accessed.

So your mobile and desktop users will be looking at the same site, but it will appear differently on each device.

This is actually what Google prefers. They state it quite simply:

“Responsive design is Google’s recommended design pattern.”

You’re probably thinking, “Okay, cool, but what does this have to do with speed?”

Responsive designs typically load faster than mobile-only sites, so you’re gaining a massive SEO advantage there.

If you use a responsive design, your site will get more attention in the form of social shares, which will also boost your SEO.

Making your site responsive is good for both the short term and the long term. If you don’t already have a responsive site, I recommend looking into it as soon as you can.

Step 3: Keep Your Site Lightweight

It’s easy to get caught up in making the best and most eye-catching design out there.

Sometimes you get too caught up, and as a result, your site gets slower and slower because you keep adding more and more.

This is a condition that developers call code bloat.

Code bloat happens when your site gets weighed down with excess code.

make your site load faster code bloat

Most of the time, code bloat happens when a designer is too focused on the visual presentation of a site.

Don’t get me wrong. How a site looks is extremely important.

But performance can’t take a backseat to looks.

Luckily, it doesn’t have to. You can have your cake and eat it too. Here are some tips to keep in mind when designing your site:

Keep it Simple

Leonardo da Vinci had this to say about simplicity:

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Now, about five hundred years later, his words still ring true.

Look all around you. The complex designs of the past have been replaced with the minimalist designs of the future.

This applies to websites too. Especially mobile sites.

On a mobile screen, sites can easily become too crowded, so it’s important to keep everything open and decluttered.

As a rule of thumb, you should only have one call-to-action per page. This will help you reduce the amount of code you use, and it’ll also improve your site’s user experience.

You might also want to consider a more simplistic design like this one from Rug Doctor:

It’s not flashy, but it catches your attention with its sleek style.

You don’t need lots of bright colors and photos to make your site stand out. When it comes to mobile design, less is often more.

Eliminate Steps

The less your users have to do, the better.

Think about it. Why should there be seven steps between a customer and a sale when there could be only 3?

This effectively shortens your sales funnel, but it also makes the user experience even simpler.

Lots of ecommerce sites use this strategy to increase their sales.

On Boden’s mobile site, it’s super easy to buy a product. You add it to your cart, click checkout, and pay.

It’s straightforward and to the point. There are no unnecessary steps.

This also naturally helps relieve code bloat. It’s hard to go overboard with code if you don’t have tons of pages on your site.

Cutting out unneeded steps is one of the best things you can do for your visitors. Mobile users are much more likely to stay on your site if they don’t have to do much.

Save your users a few clicks, and you’ll reap gigantic rewards.

Use Fewer Images 

Before I get into this, I want to say that good images are definitely important for any site, and they also have SEO benefits.

However, you can have too much of a good thing.

In this case, you can go crazy with images and slow down your site in the process.

You may not think this is a big deal, but images make up roughly 63 percent of a page’s “weight.”

From 2011 to 2015, the size of the average mobile page tripled.

make your site load faster use fewer images

That means images are some of the most demanding elements on your site. They take up a lot of space, so having too many is not good.

One solution is to simply cut back on images.

Another (probably more practical) solution is to compress your images and reduce their file sizes.

Compression basically makes your images smaller without degrading the quality. This reduces the amount of time it takes for your site to load.

As a bonus, it also reduces the amount of time it takes for search engine bots to crawl and index your site.

Sites like Compressor.io can do this in a snap.

make your site load faster compress images

In fact, this is a best practice you should adopt even if your site is already blazing fast.

Don’t Use Custom Fonts

 I like a nice custom font as much as anyone else, but some of them are really high maintenance.

Some fonts use tons of CSS, while others go heavy on JavaScript. Either way, you’re looking at a ton of code.

If you want a really deep read on this subject, check out this post on Google’s Web Fundamentals site.

If you want the short version, here it is: Only use custom fonts when they’re absolutely necessary.

Step 4: Minify Your Code

Minification is a super useful technique for streamlining your code.

Here’s a quick definition of what it means to “minify” code:

make site load faster minify code definition

Essentially, minifying your code takes out everything that’s redundant and unnecessary. It makes sure your site is only using the code it needs.

This goes a long way toward making your site lightweight.

You can minify code manually (instructions here), but if you don’t have any coding experience, it can be a little bit intimidating.

Thankfully, there are several free tools you can use to minify your code in no time at all.

Minifycode.com offers several minifying tools to let you simplify your HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more.

minify code tool make site load faster

If your site runs on WordPress, you have even more options thanks to plugins like Better WordPress Minify:

minify code wp plugin make site load faster

By using these tools, you can minify your code with just a few clicks, and you’ll be well on your way to a speedier site.

Of course, you should do all that you can to make sure there’s no unnecessary code, but mistakes happen. These tools let you fix those mistakes and improve your site at the same time.

Step 5: Cut Down on Redirects

I love redirects. They can be really useful for SEO and user experience.

But just like code, redirects have limited uses. You can’t use redirects all over the place and expect your site to perform well.

That’s because redirects inherently slow down your site.

When you click on a normal mobile link, the server provides the document found at that link.

But a redirect means there’s no document at that particular link. Because of that, the server has to go to the page where the document lives and retrieve it.

make site load faster reduce redirects.

This process has to happen with each file on a web page. That means every image, CSS file, and JavaScript file will go through the redirect.

As a result, it could be several seconds before the right page loads. By that time, your users could be long gone.

I recommend using Screaming Frog to check for redirects.

Then you can trace the roots of your redirects and change any that aren’t completely necessary.

The less work your site has to do, the faster it’ll go. While redirects have a time and a place, don’t overuse them or grow dependent on them.

Step 6: Load Above The Fold First

It’s obvious that users see above the fold content before they see anything else.

So why load your entire page all at once?

Why not load only the above the fold content at first and then load the rest as needed?

This is a concept referred to as “lazy loading,” and it can work wonders for site speed.

I bet that if you had the choice, you’d rather lift three pounds than 30. Am I right?

Lazy loading is that exact same concept applied to websites.

By implementing lazy loading, you’re asking your site to do only as much work as it needs to do and no more.

If you’re comfortable with code, you can use this jQuery plugin.

For WordPress sites, there are plugins like BJ Lazy Load to come to the rescue.

lazy load make site load faster

If neither of those options fit, you may need to hire a developer to help you out.

This is a more advanced technique, but it can save your site from doing a lot of work in the long term.

Conclusion

Speed isn’t just for race cars. It’s one of the most fundamental ingredients of a great mobile site.

A faster mobile-friendly site can increase traffic and bring in a flood of new customers and conversions.

It’s no surprise.

Mobile is here, and it’s here to stay.

Desktop performance still matters, but mobile is the present and the future.

In short, make your site as fast as possible and reduce the amount of weight your site is pulling.

This Think With Google article put it perfectly: “If speed thrills, friction kills.”

Improving your mobile site speed is a one-two punch that will make your site better for your users and for search engines.

If you haven’t focused on mobile yet, I urge you to start today.

Which of these techniques are you going to use to speed up your mobile site?

The 6-Step Guide to Creating a Content Cluster that Ranks

The past few years have witnessed an increase in the evolution of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content marketing. Such a positive change gives you an edge over other professional SEOs out there.  With the exponential increase in competition for high ranking on Google, a number of people are coming up with great content. However, they …

The post The 6-Step Guide to Creating a Content Cluster that Ranks first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

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My 6-Step Content Marketing Formula That Drives 3,549 Visitors

Writing a blog post is easy.

If you don’t write often, you may feel otherwise, but just follow this
and you’ll be good to go when it comes to writing. Or, you can just watch the
video below.

But still, you write a blog post and then what do you do?

Well, I’ll tell you this… most people forget the “marketing” in content marketing. Most people write content but don’t do a great job of promoting it.

Here’s the thing: I figured out the perfect formula to promoting content.

Best of all, it’s not complex. Heck, it doesn’t even take 30 minutes. It’s so easy that I broke it down into 6 steps.

And just to give you an idea before we dive into the formula, it’s so effective here is the traffic to my latest blog post.

35,492 visits in a week isn’t too shabby. The post didn’t do exceptionally well and it didn’t tank. It was just an average post.

Now you probably won’t see the same results as me as I’ve
been doing this for a long time, but your results will be much better than what
you are currently getting. Hence, I used the number of 3,549 in the title as
you should be able to drive 1/10th of what I am generating.

So, let’s dive right into the formula.

Step #1: Optimize your headline

8 out of 10 people will read your headline, but only 2 out of 10 people will click through on your headline to read the rest of your article.

No matter how well written your content is, promoting it won’t
be effective if no one likes your headline.

Now I know what you are thinking… I’ve already published my
article, is it too late to change my headline?

Nope, you can always change your headline, just try not
to change the URL of the article once it is already published. And if you decide
to change the URL, use a
301 redirect.

There’s a really simple way to come up with headlines that work. Heck, it doesn’t even take more than a minute or two.

Just head over to Ubersuggest and type in the main keyword or phrase your article is about.

You’ll see a report that looks something like this:

Now I want you to click on “Content Ideas” in the left-hand navigation.

You should now see a report that looks like this:

This report shows you all of the blog posts around the web
that contain your keyword or phrase within their title. And it breaks it down
by social shares, backlinks, and search traffic.

You can use this to see what is working in your space.

Ideally, you want to look for headlines that have thousands of social shares (or hundreds if you aren’t in a popular industry), at least 10 backlinks, and more than 100 estimated visits. Just like the example below.

Making your headlines similar to ones that meet those 3 criteria
will increase your odds of getting more traffic.

Step #2: Add 3 internal links

The easiest way to get your new content more love is to
build links.

Yes, links are hard to build, but internal links are not…
plus they are still effective.

I rank for competitive terms like “digital marketing”…

A lot of it has to do with internal links. I link to my main
digital marketing page within my sidebar and within my content.

Every time you publish a new blog post, I want you to go into your older content that is relevant to your newly published blog post and add a link to it. Do this to 3 of your older blog posts.

This helps with indexing and it also helps your new
content rank higher on Google.

Step 3: Share your content on the social web carefully

The problem with social media marketing is that people think they can just share their content on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn and it will automatically do well.

Sadly, it won’t because billions of URLs have been shared
already.

In other words, we just tend to ignore most of the links
people share.

But there is a simple way to stand out and get thousands of visitors from the social web, just like I get.

So, what’s my secret?

Well, I will give you a hint. Just look at one of my most
recent posts on LinkedIn:

And here is one from Facebook:

Do you notice a pattern?

I’m evoking curiosity. In other words, I am piquing your
interest and if you want to know the “solution” you have to click through to my
site.

With the LinkedIn post, I tell you that marketing is going
to change next year. I also make a point to say how it is going to change in a
way that nobody is talking about.

I do this because we all can assume marketing will change. But
by saying it is in a way nobody is talking about, it evokes curiosity. And if
you want to know how it will change you have no choice but to click through
over to my site to read the rest.

With my Facebook post, I also evoke curiosity. I talk about a Google algorithm update, but I hint that I have an answer to leveraging Google’s latest algorithm update. And if you want to know what it is, you have to click through over to my site.

Whenever you post on the social web, evoke curiosity if you want people to head over to your site.

The easiest way to do this is that every time you share one of your articles on the social web, add a few sentences above the link that helps pique peoples’ interest.

Step #4: Message everyone you link out to

It’s common to link out to other sites within your blog
posts.

Heck, sometimes I even link out to my competition.

If you don’t ever link out to other sites, you are making a
big mistake. It helps with authority and trust.

If you are using stats and data within your article, you
want to cite your sources. This brings credibility to you and it helps brand
yourself as an expert which can help with Google’s medic
update.

Now, when you link out to a site, go and search their email
address. You can typically find their email address on their website.

Or if you can’t find their email address, look for a contact
page on their site, you’ll typically see a form that you can fill out.

Whether you find an email address or contact form, I want
you to message each and every single site you link out to with a message that
goes like this:

Hi [insert their first name],

I just wanted to say, I love your content. Especially your article on [insert the name of the article you linked out to].

I linked to it from my latest blog post [insert URL of your blog post]. It would make my day if you checked it out and even shared it on your favorite social network if you enjoyed it.

Cheers,

[insert your name]

When I send out these emails, I am getting 50 to 60% of the people to respond and share my content. But of course, my blog is popular, so for me, it isn’t too hard. But it hasn’t always been that way, and I’ve been leveraging this tactic for ages.

On the flip side, I also use this tactic on a few of my
blogs that are in other niches and don’t use my name (no one knows I own them)
and I am seeing success rates around 20%.

Just make sure you don’t use this tactic to ask for a link back.
Your success rate will be slim.

Step #5: Send an email blast

These last two tactics produce a large portion of my
results, and you shouldn’t take them for granted, no matter how basic they may
seem.

If you already haven’t, start collecting emails from your
site. You can use free tools like Hello Bar
to create popups or sliders.

Hello Bar will plug into whatever email provider you are
currently using.

Once you are up and running, every time you release a new
blog post, send out an email blast.

Here’s an example of one of my email blasts.

It’s so effective it generated 13,544 clicks.

I’ve found that you can drive good traffic from emails as
long as you do the following:

  1. Scrub your list – if someone doesn’t open your emails over the last 30 or 60 days, remove them from your list. It helps keep your emails in people’s inboxes.
  2. Send text-based emails – if you look at the email I sent, I keep it simple. No images, nothing fancy, just text and a link back to my site. It’s that simple.
  3. Evoke curiosity – just like how I explained with the social media posts, your emails won’t do well unless you evoke curiosity.

As you write more content you will get more traffic, which will cause your email list to grow. That will also cause you to get more traffic. 🙂

Step #6: Send a push notification

I don’t know why so few sites are leverage push notifications. It’s so effective I believe I will get more traffic from push notifications in 2020 than I will from email marketing.

To give you an idea, when I analyze my competitors in the
marketing arena, only 3 out of 19 use push notifications.

In other industries, the percentage is far worse, which means there is more opportunity for you.

Here’s how push notifications work….

Someone comes to your site and through their browser, they get a message if they want to subscribe to your site.

A portion of your visitors will click “allow”. With NeilPatel.com, roughly 5.4% of visitors are currently clicking “allow”.

You can send push notifications and get subscribers using a
free tool like Subscribers.com.

And then when you write a new blog post, you log into Subscribers.com and click on the “Create Notification” button. From there you will see a screen where you can enter the title and description of your latest post.

As you can see from the image above, you’ll notice that I use an “icon” image, a “large” image, and I show “custom buttons.”

Using those 3 elements is the key to getting the most
traffic from push notifications. Here are some of my stats from using
Subscribers.

I’m getting roughly 6,000 visits from every push notification
I send. That’s not too bad.

And if you are curious about what a push notification looks like, here’s what people get when I send it out.

What’s cool about push notification is no matter what
website someone is on, they will see a message similar to the one above, which
will bring people back to your site.

No dealing with spam filters or messages not going through. Plus, if someone isn’t online when you send a push notification, the next time they use their web browser they will see your message.

Conclusion

Promoting your content doesn’t have to be hard.

You don’t need “advanced” tactics or anything that is out of
the box. The basics work well, and I have been using the above formula for
years… literally.

Now, I know there are other things you can do to promote your content, but let’s be realistic: we are all strapped for time. And I’ve found the ones I’ve mentioned above to produce the biggest bang for the buck.

So, what other simple ways do you promote your content?

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