If you think not speeding up your website is fine, you’re greatly mistaken. Did you know that a mere one-second delay in the loading time of a webpage can cause 11% fewer page views, a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, and a 7% decrease in conversions? Having a slow webpage is, therefore, downright harmful to your business. So what do you do to speed up your site? We have six tips for you!
1. Minimize HTTP requests
According to Yahoo, almost 80% of a page’s loading time is spent downloading various parts of the page, like the images, fonts, etc. For each of these elements, an HTTP request is made. Naturally, the more components a page has, the longer it takes for the page to load.
In order to have a faster loading time, first figure out the number of HTTP requests your page has. You can use the developer tools on Google Chrome to find this out. Try to reduce the number of requests. Remove any unnecessary files to lessen the requests.
2. Combine files
So how do you actually reduce the number of HTTP requests? Start with your HTML, Javascript, and CSS files. These files are very important since your page’s appearance depends on them. Try to minify or combine as many files as possible to lower the HTTP request numbers.
This will not only reduce the number of files but also reduce the size of each file. Minifying a file is nothing but removing unnecessary elements like whitespaces and codes.
3. Defer Javascript loading
Deferring a file means preventing it from loading until other elements have been loaded completely, that is, loading a file one by one.
If you defer large-sized Javascript files, it will ensure that your page gets loaded without delay. If you have a WordPress site, you can use a WP Rocket Plugin. All you have to do is click on the “Load JS files deferred”, and you’re good to go.
If your site is HTML-based, you’ll have to open an external Javascript file. Most of these coding-based functions can require a bit of expertise. In order to learn coding from the best, join TAFE courses in Australia.
4. Reduce the server response time
One important factor that determines your website speed is the amount of time taken by your DNS lookup. DNS, or domain name system, is basically a server that has a database of various IP addresses, as well as their associated hostnames.
When any user types in a URL, a DNS converts that URL into an IP address that shows the online location. If you’re using a slow DNS, the time your site takes to load will also increase. So make sure you use a faster DNS to speed up the website.
5. Choose the right hosting option
Most new website owners often choose the cheapest possible option for hosting. This is fine during the beginning but as your website advances, so will your hosting options. Please don’t get a host that costs less; it might not always provide good services. Instead, get one that is trustworthy.
When you look at hosting, there will be three options- Shared hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated server. Shared hosting costs the least and can cost just $5 a month. It is definitely not advisable for high-traffic sites.
VPS hosting is also a form of sharing but some of the server’s resources can be claimed as your own. It protects your site from other’s servers. A dedicated server means having complete control over your resources without having to share anything.
Related Post: Managed WordPress Hosting vs Shared Hosting
6. Reduce the size of images
Images and pictures can also play an important role in your site’s speed. Most good-resolution images are large files that take a long time to load. Since you cannot altogether remove them, you can compress them.
Run a speed test for your page and see how much content is eaten up by the images.
Reducing their speed can speed up your page loading time greatly. Crop the pictures, if necessary, and avoid empty src codes. The latter can be achieved by removing extra tags or adding the file path of the picture.
Over to you…
These are the six most popular ways to speed up your website and make way for more traffic. It is advisable to run a speed test and see where the problems lie. That way, it will take lesser time to reconfigure the site.
