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How to Improve Website Performance the Right Way

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No matter what your website is about, it has to be fast.

How to Improve Website Performance the Right Way

An aesthetically pleasing website means nothing if visitors can’t accomplish what they need to right away – like reading a blog post or making a purchase.

DoubleClick by Google discovered that sites that load in 5 seconds had 70% longer sessions and 35% lower bounce rates.

That said, load time impacts the user experience.

But while you’re trying to achieve your digital marketing goals, you could be unintentionally adding features and elements that slow down your site!

Don’t worry; we’ll fix that!

Today, you’ll learn nine ways on how to improve website performance. These tips should help you:

  • Provide a better user experience
  • Improve your conversions
  • Boost your search engine visibility

Let’s dive in.

How to Improve Website Performance

1. Minimize HTTP requests

HTTP requests occur when a web browser requests a website server to download the different elements of a page. For example, images, text, and multimedia. The more HTTP requests made, the longer the page loading time.

Check how many HTTP requests your page is making. You can use Chrome DevTools. These tools also check for files that take the longest to load.

2. Reduce image sizes

Higher definition images have large file sizes. Since these images matter, removing them isn’t the best solution. Instead, reduce the size of your image files.

If you use WordPress, a plugin like Smush compresses all the images you upload. You can also use Compressor.io before uploading your files on a non-WordPress site.

Another tip is to combine several images on a web page into one image using CSS sprites.

3. Code your website for mobile users first

Fact: Today, most users visit websites using a mobile device.

Therefore, you must optimize your website for mobile viewing. Google rolled out its mobile-first index in 2018. This  means that Google indexes and ranks sites based on their mobile-friendliness.

Not sure whether your site is mobile-friendly?

Check by entering your website URL into Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool. The tool lists all the mobile usability problems that your site has.

google mobile friendly tool

Consider creating a mobile version of your current website. You can do this using Duda Mobile or bMobilized.

4. Use a CDN

A CDN or content delivery network prevents slow loading times, especially when your site is experiencing high traffic levels.

Instead of one server, you’ll be using a network of servers to show your content to visitors from no matter their location. This ensures that your site shows your content faster and more consistently.

5. Use asynchronous loading for JavaScript

It’s no secret that most websites these days use JavaScript – for example, commenting systems and social media.

You can prevent JavaScript from increasing your load times through asynchronous loading. If you do, your scripts will load at the same time, improving your site performance.

6. Enable browser caching

Browser caching allows you to store the cached version of your website in your visitor’s browser. The result? Your website loads faster the next time the same visitor returns.

Make sure to enable caching. If you have a WordPress website, you can use a caching plugin such as WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache.

7. Choose the right hosting plan

Don’t make the mistake of choosing the cheapest hosting option without considering your traffic. A shared hosting plan is perfect if you have a low-traffic website.

But for high-volume and high-traffic sites, shared hosting isn’t the best option. Shared hosting means that you’re sharing the server with other sites. This limits your bandwidth.

The best option for a faster speed would be a dedicated server hosting plan.

wp engine WordPress managed hosting

If you’re looking for a reliable host, one of the best options out there is WPEngine. Ensuring better site performance, it features a global CDN, an advanced caching solution, and threat detection.

To make matters better, you can save 20% from the regular price if you sign up now and use this WPEngine coupon.

8. Offload your website checking to a cloud-based host

Using a cloud-based website monitoring service keeps track of things like your hard drive usage and RAM performance while allowing you to focus on your business.

9. Optimize the delivery of CSS

Un-optimized CSS may lead to slow pages. One method to optimize CSS is to use inlining for small external CSS files. This entails including your CSS into your HTML file.

Another technique is to organize your CSS code by removing duplicates and reducing white space.

Conclusion

You already know how to improve website performance with the tips above. Know that you don’t have to do them all at once.

Start by checking your site speed and determining the factors that impact your site the most. We hope you learned from today’s post!

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Christopher Jan Benitez

Christopher Jan Benitez is a professional content marketer and writer who assists small businesses in achieving their goals by implementing a strong content strategy. He emphasizes their unique selling points and promotes their created content using effective online channels and methods including social media marketing and search engine optimization techniques.
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Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing such useful content. I applied some of these on my website and within few weeks I started getting better results – especially the image optimization techniques.

    They helped me a lot in reducing the load time of my website because it’s an image sharing platform.

    So, load time was a big issue for me. But after applying the above techniques, everything changed. Thanks a lot!
    Shubham would love you to read ..Genesis Vargaz denim, jeans dress for women, legs picMy Profile

    Reply

  7. Great article.
    Would be great if you could cover how small businesses like us can leverage various tools to find areas to improve and use tools (apart from pagespeed) to check how much we have improved over time.

    Reply

  9. As per GT Metrix website my website speed is average, but after reducing my website’s home page image sizes my website loading time performance increased in 48 hours. I would like to follow this article to improve my website performance as much as possible.

    Thank you for sharing such a great article with us. Please keep continue writing this type of posts.

    Reply

  13. Which is the best host provider for ecom website?

    I am planning to do target almost every country in the world and i dont want my website to lag or be slow to load, please suggest best host.

    Reply

  14. Hello, Christopher

    Thanks a lot for sharing such a great information about improve performance, the given tips will defiantly be useful for everyone to increase his web rank and traffic.

    Reply

  16. Hey Christopher,

    I had the good fortune of reading your article regarding The Right way to Improve Website Performance. It was well-written and contained sound, practical advice. You pointed out several things that I will remember for years to come. I look forward to reading your next informative work.

    Thank you.
    Vivek Singh would love you to read ..The Game Awards 2019: List of winnersMy Profile

    Reply

  19. Hi Christopher,

    Improvement should be the habit of every blogger or businessman. Without improving your skills or knowledge you cannot think of getting better results.

    When it comes to website, one should consider working on overall performance boost. Improve website design, speed, content quality, sidebar and ad placement to make sure that your readers or visitors will find his site more appealing than his competitors. If he cannot do it then he should hire a professional.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Gaurav Kumar would love you to read ..Earn Money with eAskme (Write to Earn Program)My Profile

    Reply

  23. 5 seconds are too much if you want to get a good SEO, my website loads in 3 seconds and it’s “slow” in google search console speed inspection! I think the average minimum is 3s, ofc if you can get a lower load time, should be much better and will absolutely have a good impact on SEO.
    However, about image compression, “resmush it” (WP plugin, google it!) is far better than smush, and have the compression of the pro version or better, and that’s for free!
    Good post, keep it up! Sincerely, Cheker

    Reply

  25. Hi admin,

    This blog is best for all website developers because you described the main important for improving website performance. We also working on Web designing and development. Our experts’ team always care about these points for making the website.

    Thanks

    Reply

  26. Hi Christopher,
    .
    I am running my website but performance is that much good , after reading your post feeling comfortable that these tips can help my website performance.
    i will let you know whenever my website performance will increase.
    Thanks for presenting this amazing post, as it it very useful, i agree with your points listed in this article
    Keep updating the good and helpful post.

    Reply

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