Did you know that 45% of your potential USA customers may be abandoning your web site after finding it in a search engine or linked to by another web site because your slow loading web site is unbearable on a dialup Internet connection? The statistics(7/6/2005 - Jupiter Research) show that the USA only has a 55% broadband penetration rate and that 45% of the Internet users in the USA still only have a dial up modem! (A link to those statistics can be found at the end of this article.)

If your web pages load slow on a dialup, then you risk alienating 45% of your potential customers as soon as they try to load your home page. And at the current rate of broadband adoption you can expect significant rates of alienation for slow loading pages for at least 2 or 3 more years.

Studies have shown that web surfers cite slow loading web pages as the #1 reason for web site abandonment. Slow loading web pages were cited even more frequently than unprofessional looking pages! Don't kid yourself, if your web pages load slow on a dial up modem, then web surfers will just abandon your web site in droves! Alienating 45% of your potential customers the very first minute they enter your business establishment is the worst possible business practice no matter if you are a brick business or if you are a click business or if you're selling candles online or if you are FORD motors online.

Should Ford motors theorize that if someone is too cheap to buy broadband then they are too cheap to buy Ford cars and then design their web site accordingly? I'll bet you that many current dialup users drive Fords and some brand new Fords too. Maybe they were able to afford the new Fords by going with dialup instead of broadband!

Always test your web site on a dialup Internet connection. If it loads slowly, then make your web designer do it over, or kiss good-bye to about 45% of your potential customers!

It's no accident that Googles pages load FAST. They did it that way on purpose because they know what they are doing! It's only one part of their winning web design approach but a very key part I assure you. Go with the winners, and make it an important part of your web design specs.

Creating web pages that are branded looking, yet still load fast, now that's tough! It's done using a combination of smart graphic design, HTML TABLE techniques, and CSS stylesheet techniques. Those techniques are the real secrets of fast loading yet branded looking web pages, and you had better find a web designer who knows them or kiss good-bye to about 45% of your potential Internet customers! USA broadband statistics link: http://www.clickz.com/experts/crm/actionable_analysis/article.php/3517561

David Malia is a 20 year computer veteran who's done his road work in business web page usability. He offers fast loading web page design, eye popping graphic design, strong cross browser compatibility coding, and solid web application programming. "Web Pages Designed for the Real Web - Not the Ideal Web, Because That's Where Your Customers Are". http://www.RationalWebDesign.com