Video: Users won't tolerate slow websites

A slow-loading website could be the death of your business as disgruntled users click off your site and onto a competitors.

So says, Google who claims that just a half second additional page loading time can have dramatic consequences to the tube of a 20 per cent drop in traffic.

In addition to peeving users and turning them off and away, a slower website could also cost you dear when it comes to advertising. For example. Google now scores keywords based on landing page loading times. So you could be paying more than a rival but actually end up ranking below them, which doesn't really make much business or financial sense.

"With Google now rewarding sites on faster networks, any business residing on a shared platform or hosting away from the hub of the internet will suffer. There has never been a bigger need for speed," said Lawrence Jones, managing director of UKFast, who carried out the below vox pop video.

Maggie has been a journalist since 1999, starting her career as an editorial assistant on then-weekly magazine Computing, before working her way up to senior reporter level. In 2006, just weeks before ITPro was launched, Maggie joined Dennis Publishing as a reporter. Having worked her way up to editor of ITPro, she was appointed group editor of CloudPro and ITPro in April 2012. She became the editorial director and took responsibility for ChannelPro, in 2016.

Her areas of particular interest, aside from cloud, include management and C-level issues, the business value of technology, green and environmental issues and careers to name but a few.