Time waits for no man…
And it’s all about time and speed these days. How fast can a vehicle go? How fast is your internet? Does that website load fast? People feel rushed and stressed, and are struggling to keep up with day-to-day activities. It’s no wonder why they prefer something to be done faster just to save time. They fill their lives with smartphones, laptops, and handheld devices for faster shopping, to manage schedules, and even to arrange for cabs to pick them up the moment they leave office.
This speed orientated culture is common across the globe. The faster things are done, the happier people become. This is also the reason why people become quickly frustrated with slow-loading websites. They expect a website to load quickly when they visit.
Website loading time has to do with many other things, according to research. Consider an online shopping website. Every time it loads slowly, conversion rates decline consequently reducing profit.
A few other facts:
- A delay in loading considerably decreases customer satisfaction
- Search engines like Google don’t appreciate slow loading sites. Such sites will have a comparatively lower rank in search engine results
- The faster the site loads, the more likely it is for the user to recommend it to others.
There are proven facts about the potential of a fast-loading website. But that’s not our topic at hand. Basically, a fast loading website plays a part in the success of your business.
So how can one speed up a website?
There are a lot of ways. But before you begin the optimization process, first make sure you have an analysis of the current loading speed of your website. You can use Google PageSpeed Insights for that. This can help you compare the change in speed post optimization. The next important step is to back up your site just in case.
Here are a few ways you can speed up your website without hassle.
A New Web Host
Your web hosting solution could be one of the biggest reasons why your website is slow. So the first thing to do is to analyze your web host to determine if it’s the reason. If it is, you can shift to a different, reliable web hosting provider. Additionally, you can also use services from a web security provider that essentially reduces the load on your web host. Loading files from CDN would become easier as it will bypass the server you use, effectively speeding up the website.
Bonus tip: A good hosting provider will have invested in giving you a great experience by leveraging server-side tools to give your website enhanced performance and security. They will always be available for support 24×7.
Unnecessary Add-ons and Plugins
These two significantly reduces your website speed. You will have to pay more attention to them if you are using open source cms platforms like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal. The number of plugins you use is not necessarily the important factor always. The quality of the plugins you use matter a lot. Plugins that load a lot of scripts or that operates with remote requests should be avoided.
So basically, use plugins only if they are absolutely necessary. If it seems like they are slowing the website down, you will have to either remove them or replace them with better ones that won’t tax your website.
Enable Caching
Active caching boosts considerably boosts the speed of your website. This is because it will store a version of your website on the browser, and serves you that version till you choose to update the website or refresh the version. There are many ways to enable website caching. Your hosting provider might also assist you in determining one.
Content Delivery Networks (CDN)
Make sure your website is hosted in a server that is close to or at the same location you operate from. For instance, some providers host websites in servers located in the US. The owners of those websites in the US will have an advantage here with faster websites. But people from other parts of the world, say from Asia, will not have the same advantage.
This is where CDN comes in. A CDN essentially distributes your website files across interconnected servers in different locations of the world. So the server closest to the visitor’s geographic location will be serving the website to the visitor, accounting for a faster website performance.
Website Theme
Even the website theme impacts the speed of a website. Even if the speed difference is in milliseconds, it is still not something to neglect. It has been proven that changing the theme alone consequently boosts website speed. A theme with a cumbersome code can degrade site performance so much that even a good server configuration won’t be of help.
Optimize Images
Images in your website that aren’t optimized utilize more server resources than optimized images. Because of this reason, the website takes longer to load. There are ways to reduce the size of the image without compromising image quality. This optimization requires you to use a specific set of tools. For WordPress websites, you can use Kraken or EWWW Image Optimizer.
Optimize Database
CMSs that rely a lot on database usage will find this very effective in boosting their website’s speed. However, in most other cases, this is mostly neglected. Plugins that keep increasing data in the database consequently slows down the website. By regularly optimizing your database, and cleaning up the junk files, your website will show signs of better performance.
For WordPress websites, you can use the WP-Optimize plugin. For other websites, you can find manual tutorials in the internet. It can be a bit tedious, but the results are invaluable.
Others Hotlinking Images in Your Website
Each time someone hotlinks the images in your website, you will be losing a portion of your bandwidth since the request is processed by your server every time that someone’s visitors try to view those images. So it’s best to disable hotlinking images hosted by your server.
Conclusion
Assuming you have backed up your website, compare the speed of your website post implementing the suggestions above. Remember that this is not a one-time deal. Owners of websites should be vigilant at all times, and monitor their website activities closely to detect performance drops and rectify them.
