Website Optimisation: 7 Tips to Improve Website Speed
Is your slow website causing you to lose out on customers? Read our best tips to improve website speed in this helpful guide.
40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Slow loading sites can also hurt conversion rates and SEO ranking.
Put simply, if your site is slow to load, you’ll lose out on visitors and revenue.
Luckily, there are things you can do to improve your website speed. Read on for 7 tips you can implement today to optimise page speed and improve your traffic and conversion rates.
1. Minify JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files determine how your site will appear. When a visitor lands on your website, their browser makes HTTP requests to download different parts of the page. These requests make up a bulk of the page load time.
Minifying your code removes the unnecessary parts of the code, such as comments, unused code, white space, and commas. This will make the file containing code that your users download smaller, therefore speeding up the page load process.
There are many tools available to minify your code. Google recommends a few effective ones, such as HTMLMinifier for HTML and CSSnano for CSS files.
2. Enable Compression
Another way to reduce the bulk of your files is to enable compression. Gzip is one of the easiest and most common ways to do this. Most web servers allow you to run your files through Gzip before sending them to the client.
WordPress sites have a couple of plugins available that allow you to enable Gzip, such as WP Rocket and W3 Total Cache.
3. Enable Caching
When a user visits your website for the first time, all of the files have to be downloaded in their browser. This can be somewhat time-consuming. Luckily, the browser can store the files in its cache so that it only has to download a few files on future visits.
Of course, you still need to optimise page load speed for the first visit, but by enabling caching you can improve your page speed even more for frequent website visitors. You can use a plugin like W3 Total Cache to enable caching on your WordPress site.
4. Optimise Images
Images are often large file sizes, which makes your website speed much slower. But since 90% of the information a human’s brain absorbs is visual, you cannot avoid using images on your website altogether.
With a majority of website traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s not always necessary to display full-resolution images. Compressing your image sizes and displaying smaller versions on mobile devices can improve your page load speed significantly.
There are plenty of WordPress plugins that will do this for you automatically. Or, you can use an online image compressor, such as Optimizilla.
5. Use a CDN
With web hosting that is limited to one server, any HTTP requests are sent to the same place. This means if there is a spike in traffic, your site speed may lag.
A CDN is a content delivery network, which improves your website speed. With a CDN, your site is cached on servers all around the world. This means that when there is an increase in traffic, the burden is not on one individual server; rather, it is distributed, making your site load quickly even in times of heavy website traffic.
Plus, visitors who visit your site from places far from your server will benefit from a faster load speed since the data won’t have as far to travel.
6. Reduce Plugin Use
WordPress plugins are very helpful for improving the functionality of your site. They are one of the reasons the WordPress platform is so popular. However, they do have a downside: they can slow down your website significantly.
When it comes to plugins, the fewer you have the better. Ironically, there is a plugin called P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) that can help you minimize your plugin use. It will help you determine if any plugins you are using are slowing down your website speed.
Evaluate your current plugins. Eliminate any that you aren’t using or don’t need. Also, look out for any duplicate plugins that have the same functionality. Being picky with plugins will pay off when it comes to your website speed.
7. Reduce Redirects
Redirects forward one URL to another URL. They allow you to make the same information available on multiple URLs. They are particularly helpful when you move or delete pages as they can help with avoiding broken links.
Of course, they have a downside: every time a page redirects to another page, your website visitor has to wait for another HTTP request. And, as we’ve mentioned before, having more HTTP requests will slow down your website speed.
While it may not be possible to eliminate redirects, you should do all you can to avoid them. A tool like Screaming Frog can help you find any redirects on your website. You can then evaluate whether the redirect is serving a purpose.
Keep an eye out for redirect chains. If any redirects point to other redirects, eliminate the middleman to improve the page load speed.
Improve Website Speed
Whether you realize it or not, your website speed matters. Visitors are more likely to stay on your page and convert into customers if your page loads quickly. Plus, a fast website will make the Google algorithm love you, which is essential for SEO.
These tips can help you optimise your website speed so that you can make more money online. And when it comes to finding website hosting that will impress you and your visitors with its speed, look no further. Learn more about why you should choose JWHost for all your WordPress hosting needs today!
