Server Response Time vs. Bounce Rate
So how important is a good website host?
Well in my experience, a good host is the difference between a 30% bounce rate and an 80% bounce rate!
How It Happened
I first noticed this when our AdSense income and site registration rates started to drop for no apparent reason. I checked our traffic figures and the number of new daily visitors was the same. It looked as if people just lost interest in RecognizedExpert.com
6 Seconds of Nothing!
It wasn’t until I saw our servers load average that I noticed what was going on. (Ok, that was a bit technical … Server load average shows how many processes are active for a given time span. A number less than 1 is tolerable. Ours was averaging 18!) Basically the hosted server we were using was so overloaded that our average page response time went from 2.2 seconds (still way slow) to 6 seconds overnight. (OMG!!) It was taking six seconds for the server to begin sending our site to a visitor when they tried to load it. And yes, our users were staring at a white screen the whole time.I’m out of here.
Well, what does the average web surfer do when they have to wait more than 3 seconds? *Click* They’re gone! We had the same number of new visitors each day, but now instead of 30% of them leaving immediately, nearly 80% of them were leaving before they saw our site!If a user can’t view your content, it’s impossible to build a relationship and convert them to customers.
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