All the discussion about short attention spans caused by people raised on video games, fast food and quick-cut-edited music videos is very misleading.
The reality is that genuine web searchers are not randomly flicking from site to site to find some entertaining presentation to keep them happy - they are actually looking for information to meet a need or solve a problem.
The goal of a marketer then is not to speed things up and add lots of bells and whistles to keep the action happening, but rather to slow things down so the visitor has time to hear the marketing message that describes the product or service you are providing and how it will benefit them.
What website visitors won't tolerate are websites that waste their time, and many websites are guilty of doing just that.
A fast loading page is great (but not if it's loaded with nothing more than ads, links and useless information).
Compare this to a site that might take a little longer to load but is full of concise, easy to understand material, useful articles, video testimonials and so on, and you'll have something that will not only capture the attention of your visitor but entice them to return.
It isn't necessarily all about how fast a page loads; it's about delivering an appropriate reward for the wait.
