According to Live Internet Statistics 1,986,470, 700+ websites on the Internet. And the number is rising every second. By the time you finish reading this piece, the number of sites will have increased substantially. 

Now if you want web users to visit your website, you need to beat these 1 billion-plus websites. That, in a way, means that your website’s performance should be better than the others. 

Why does website performance matter?
Why is website performance monitoring important?
What metrics should I consider for monitoring website performance?
How to proper web performance monitoring?

Find answers to all these questions right here. Read on. 

Why does website performance matter?

According to the Rational Choice theory, which can be traced back to political economist Adam Smith, individuals weigh their options and choose the one that best serves their interest. 

In the context of websites, it means that people are likely to visit the websites which they think will serve them the best results.

This choice depends on factors like:

If your website does not perform well on these parameters, it is unlikely to be preferred by the users. 

To make sure your target audience converts into your website visitors and ultimately your loyal customers, website performance monitoring is important. 

Why is website performance monitoring important?

“Okay, I understand my website needs to perform well. But why do I need to keep monitoring website performance?”

Your website is one of your most valuable business assets. And just like you need to calculate the ROI of other assets, you should have a website performance monitor too.

This will help you:

  1. Find problem areas
  2. Understand how you can fix the issues and increase ROI on your website
  3. Identify potential areas of improvement to enhance your website’s user experience

But what metrics to consider? 

Simple metrics like traffic and visibility may not be as useful as they are made to be. 

For example, if you have an eCommerce store, a lot of traffic might not be valuable, if it is unqualified. Metrics worth monitoring for you would be how many people add stuff to their carts and how many of them actually buy something from your eStore.

Below we will discuss 5 key metrics to consider for new-age web performance monitoring. 

Monitoring Website Performance – What metrics to consider?

1. Website speed

As mentioned earlier website speed is one thing that matters the most to people. It also affects website SEO and thus, has a direct impact on your rankings too.

Thus, with even the tiniest bit of change on your website, you should check how the site speed is being affected.

Changed an image on the home page and added a video instead? Check the speed.

Created a new page with cool gifs? Check the speed.

And if you notice an increase in the speed of your website, make sure you get it fixed by addressing the underlying factors.

In fact, website speed is more important for people than other factors.

interface features importance

Source

2. Cross-browser performance

There are multiple web browsers available to users today. And these browsers have their own niche and geographical audience. So your website needs to display perfectly on all these browsers.

Is there a difference in web performance monitoring for different browsers?

You’d wish that was not true. But unfortunately, it is. 

According to Gomez data, there is up to an 8-second difference in response times between the fastest and the slowest browsers. 

Thus, your website performance monitor should talk about all browsers that your audience may use and not just the one that you use. 

3. End-user’s experience

Testing your website in lab-like conditions with high-speed Internet and connectivity will eventually go in vain. Why? Because your users don’t access your website in such perfect conditions.

What matters is the actual end-user experience.

Now how can you measure end-user experience?

One simple way is to ask them via feedback surveys on your website.

Another way is for you to leverage session recordings and heatmaps (using tools like Microsoft Clarity).

With these methods, you can understand how your website is actually performing for the end user.

4. Mobile Accessibility

According to a Gomez study, 58% of mobile users expect sites to load as fast (or faster) than they would on desktops.

And with the world going truly mobile, it would be detrimental to your business only if your website is not mobile responsive.

As with browsers, you need to check mobile accessibility on various kinds of devices, including multiple operating systems and screen sizes.

5. Third-party performances

As websites in the 21st century are becoming more feature-loaded, it is obvious that more third-party integrations are being added. 

But are those third-party integrations working perfectly? Are they bringing down your site’s performance? Are they affecting your site’s speed?

You might think you cannot do anything about the performance of third-party integrations, but to your users, the site is yours and you are the one responsible for it. 

Thus, you should make sure that you check, monitor, and optimize the performance of third-party integrations on your website as well. 

6. Quantified business impact

You have done everything that was required on your website. Yet, you cannot see your website generating any leads or revenue. That’s a major red flag for your website’s performance. 

If your website is performing well on all the metrics and still not bringing in money for you, you need to look into the matter seriously. You could be targeting the wrong audience. Or the content might have been outdated or irrelevant. No matter what the issues are, you need to fix the issues. And that will happen only when you see what business impact your site is creating, in monetary terms. 

7. Competitor benchmarking

Just like your business doesn’t operate alone in a void, your website too has competitors. And you need to understand your site’s performance with reference to the performance of your competitor’s site. 

Make sure you are benchmarking competitors’ website metrics and then judging your own website.  

8. Website uptime

What good is a website if it is always down? To make sure that your website actually generates the desired results, you need to have a respectable uptime. Usually, hosting service provider claim to offer 99.9% uptime. But you need to check it for yourself. 

Does that mean you should keep checking your website every minute? No there are third-party tools and services that notify you of website downtimes. With these, you can understand your website’s uptime. 

Getting a high-performing website developed

Most of the factors that we discussed above need to be taken care of during the design and development of the website. Though you should ensure continuous web performance monitoring for the aforementioned metrics, the highest impact is created right in the development phase. 

To help you create a business website that stands strong on all these metrics and yields great ROI, here are a couple of guides you can check out. 

  1. How to create a high-performing and fast-loading business website?
  2. How to boost the ROI of your business website?
  3. 10 ways to make your eCommerce website faster

Need expert one-on-one consultation? Connect with our web design and development experts today!