What is HTTP?
You’ve probably noticed the letters “HTTP” pop up frequently during your time on the internet. Whenever you type in the URL of a website into your web browser, those letters are automatically appended before the full web address. What you may not know is that HTTP is a powerful component of our online world. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to seamlessly browse and access webpages like we do today.
The acronym itself stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol.”
When pages across the internet are linked to each other using hyperlinks, those
pages are considered to be “hypertext.” HTTP allows for the transference of
hypertext from servers to web browsers, allowing us to easily view webpages,
click links, and navigate to other related pages.
HTTP/3 is the next evolution of this protocol. Most web
browsers and companies today support HTTP/2 and HTTP/1.1, prior versions of the
protocol that use a specific way of transferring data between servers and
applications. Although it is not an official internet protocol yet, HTTP/3 will
be a gamechanger for companies and users once fully adopted.
At its core, the internet is a network of information. As a
user of the world wide web, you’re undoubtedly looking to access information
and load data quickly and seamlessly. When you’re accessing hundreds of
interconnected webpages every day, just a second or two of delay when loading a
page can be a frustrating experience, especially on a mobile device. It can
also add up to a significant amount of wasted time when you’re just trying to
find what you’re looking for online.
If you’re an ecommerce business owner, you know that every
second counts in our mobile-first world. If a customer cannot quickly and
easily search your site and complete a transaction, they’ll jump to the next
competitor down in the search engine results page. This problem only magnifies
as websites grow to hold more content, images, animations, and text. Load times
are becoming more and more critical to success.
Unlike its predecessors, HTTP/3 runs on a streamlined
network designed to reduce latency and avoid connection delays as it
communicates and delivers information between servers and users/browsers. If you’re
accessing an HTTP/3-supported webpage on an HTTP/3-supported browser, that
means faster load times and quicker access to information.
For ecommerce businesses, HTTP/3 gives you a critical edge
over competitors. Your customers will be able to find what they’re looking for
more quickly, thereby reducing bounce rates and abandoned carts.
All Webzie Stores
Include HTTP/3 at No Cost
Webzie is an all-in-one website builder that’s designed to
be focused on ecommerce. It’s insanely easy to use and optimized for
performance to deliver lightning-fast websites every time. Compared to
competitors such as Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix, online stores built with
Webzie logged remarkably lower average load times and top Google PageSpeed
Insights scores.
In support of its performance-driven mission, Webzie was one
of the first companies on the internet to implement and fully support HTTP/3.
It joined the likes of Google, Facebook, Cloudflare, and Lightspeed to gives
its users access to this powerful, upgraded protocol.
When choosing where to launch your ecommerce store, speed
should be an important consideration. Consumer research has proven that just a fraction
of a second of delay
in page load speeds can have a significant impact on page views, leads, conversion
rates, engagement, and average order value. As an ecommerce business owner, you
literally cannot afford the delay.
All stores built with Webzie now fully support HTTP/3 (in
addition to HTTP/2 and HTTP/1.1) at no additional cost. Although HTTP/3 is in a
draft phase, most browsers are already supporting it (Chrome has supported it since April 2020, and Firefox has
supported it since April 2021). This means that Webzie’s existing store
owners are already benefiting from its technology and the performance
improvements it provides. For existing Webzie users, no action is required to
receive this valuable add-on.
Don’t lose customers because your online store is slow to
load. Try Webzie for free today.
Several online tools are now available that can easily crawl
your website or online store and determine if it is already built to support
HTTP/3. We recommend:
Once on these sites, simply type in your website URL to
check your results. If HTTP/3 is supported, you should see a message similar to
the ones below.
Final Thoughts
Although not yet formally
released, HTTP/3 is already supported by major websites and web browsers. If
your online store is not HTTP/3 compliant, you’re already missing out. Just a
few milliseconds of lag can turn off customers and cost you sales.
A powerful, performance-driven ecommerce website builder already exists. Webzie not only fully supports HTTP/3, but its users are already enjoying lightning-fast websites and top Google performance scores. Don’t waste your customers’ value time or your own investment by choosing an outdated, lagging ecommerce platform. Upgrade to Webzie today.