/ Web design
How fast should my website load?
Under 2.5 seconds on mobile 4G. Past 3 seconds you lose roughly half your visitors before the page appears.
/ 01
The short version
Speed is mostly images and scripts. Fixing it rarely needs a rebuild — it needs someone to compress things and delete what isn't used.
/ 02
What actually matters
- • Compress and resize images — a 4MB phone photo should be a 150KB WebP.
- • Lazy-load anything below the fold.
- • Remove unused plugins, chat widgets, tracking scripts and font families.
- • Use decent hosting — £2/month shared hosting shows.
- • Test on Google PageSpeed Insights using the mobile tab, not desktop.
/ 03
The bit most people get wrong
Most people test on desktop office wi-fi and think the site's fine. Your customers are on a phone with two bars in a car park.
/ 04
What to do next
Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. If Largest Contentful Paint is over 2.5s, image compression is almost always the first win.
/ 05
Where RIOT fits in
We're a small Colchester studio helping UK SMBs get site speed right without agency waste or freelancer flake. If you've read this far and you want a second opinion on your specific setup, book a 20-minute call and we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth doing anything at all.
We work with clients across Essex, Suffolk, London and the wider UK — and remotely with brands abroad. No lock-in, no monthly retainer minimums, no pretending your problem is bigger than it is.
/ FAQs
Common questions
Does speed affect Google rankings?
Yes, but indirectly and mildly. It affects conversions a lot more.
Will a CDN fix it?
It helps delivery, but not oversized images or bloated scripts.
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