I'll Give You 30 Seconds

Home Office Computing, May, 1999 by Sonya Donaldson

How long does it take your business Web site to load? Twenty seconds? A minute? If it takes more than 30 seconds, chances are you're losing potential customers. In a recent survey by P. Zazz Marketing Corp., 62 percent of respondents said they feel frustrated when a site takes more than half a minute to load--and 34.3 percent said they give up and try an alternate site.

If a home page doesn't load within one minute, almost two-thirds said they leave the site--and not return. Respondents also noted a number of design factors that add to their frustration, including frames, sounds, and slow-loading graphics. Sites with fewer, smaller images and gimmicks got high marks--something to consider if you've loaded your site with bells and whistles.