Looking for lightning speed? Get yourself a STORM.
When it comes to websites, speed is everything. It’s the secret to great SEO, higher rankings and increased traffic. Not to mention happy customers who’ll spend more, recommend more and come back for more. So it’s a pretty big deal.
Which is why we created a hosting platform for creatives that works as fast as you do. After a whole load of coffee. And then some more coffee. And maybe another coffee. We’re talking super fast. Crazy fast. Lightning fast. So fast, in fact, we called it STORM.
82%
of STORM users say we've sped up their sites. Hold on tight.
Nippy websites = Happy customers.
It’s simple. The faster your website, the longer people will stick around. They’ll be happier navigating, spend more time exploring and ultimately buy more stuff. Bingo.
On the other hand, slow speeds make a terrible first impression. Around 40% of people abandon. website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. Three seconds. They won’t wait to see all the hard work you’ve poured into the brand. And they probably won’t be back either.
But here’s the good bit. Speeding up your site is pretty simple. And we’re here to help.
Test your speed...
Here’s the thing about site speed. It’s really easy to measure. No guessing, no wondering. Just a simple, no-nonsense result you can use as a great starting point for stepping things up.
In fact, there are a whole load of nifty tools out there for testing your website speed, and we’ve picked out a few favourites. Give them a whirl and see how you score.
...then test it on STORM
Got a better picture of your website speed? Great. Want to see how much faster you’d be on STORM? We’d love to show you.
With a free 14-day trial and super simple site staging, it’s easy to test your speed with us, without even moving your live site. No strings attached. And if you like what you find, it’s easy to make the move for good. Migrations are free, supported and unlimited in your first 30 days.
Serious security.
It’s not just our speed we’re serious about. It’s our security too. We’ve built STORM right here in the UK using the very latest technology to make sure it’s snug-as-a-bug, super secure, 24/7. It even makes your websites HTTPS as standard, for added customer peace of mind and a pretty handy SEO boost.
Radical reliability.
It’s no good running fast if you keep falling over. Which is why really nippy websites need the right tech behind them to keep them online, on track and glitch-free. We’re proud to have made STORM one for he most reliable platforms on the market – built, run and fully supported in the UK.
Your site speed checklist.
The right host plays a huge part in boosting your website’s speed. But there are lots more small changes you can make to pick up the pace…
Be brutal with plugins
Every plugin you add increases page loading time. Toot out any you’re not using, check you’re not duplicating functions and keep things minimal. If you’re using Google Analytics, you can even add Javascript into templates, skipping the need for a plugin altogether.
Get ruthless with content
Take a good look at the content hiding on your site. That tracking code you installed for HotJar, Facebook or Google Analytics – do you use the results? That CSS lurking in a dark corner – could you cut it? By stripping things back to what you need, you’ll free up memory fast.
Pick up your PHP
If you’re using an old version of PHP (5.6 or earlier), you’re slowing yourself down. Upgrade to the latest version (7.3 folks) and you’ll drastically improve speed and security. In STORM you can do it in seconds and even set up as staging site to check compatibility.
