Male web users 'want speedy websites'

A new study has suggested that website owners could do well to ramp up the quality of their web hosting packages in order to attract males who favour fast-loading sites.

The research by Southern Illinois University found that while females tend to opt for sites with easy navigation and accessibility, males look to websites that can give them the information they want quickly.

Both genders were found to rate website usability over all other factors, WebsiteOptimization reports.

This may be particularly relevant research for the UK where male web users will number 22.1 million by 2013, according to eMarketer. This is compared with a prediction of 21.6 million female internet users for the same year.

Southern Illinois University researchers said that one of the reasons why males and females look for different things when surfing the web is that women tend to use the internet for relationship development while men mainly use it to gather information.

Written by Dipika Patel