Three ways to improve website performance

Website performance is critical if you want to succeed online. Google ranks websites with website performance in mind; if your site isn’t fast enough, then it won’t rank highly on result pages and you can see a significant drop in traffic.

Likewise, you can expect to lose some sales from a slow website. Particularly for eCommerce companies, for every second it takes your site to load, you’re losing 7% revenue. After just four seconds, most customers will abandon your site.

So, how can you improve website performance? Here are three common ways to speed up your site.

1. Optimise images

Images are often one of the biggest pain points for website speed. When they’re loaded to your site, you need to make sure they are fit for purpose. So, don’t load pictures that are too large. Most images don’t need to be larger than 600 pixels.

You should also try to load jpeg images rather than PNG. The latter are more memory intensive and therefore add to loading times. You can also run images through optimising programs like RIOT that will further reduce image size.

2. Reduce HTML, JavaScript and CSS

Another key area that often slows down your website is inefficiencies in the coding of your website. Every time there is redundant code within your website, you will have a slower website. Removing unnecessary code, while having a smaller impact on a case-by-case issue, can have a massive impact in the long-term.

There are lots of ways to do this, but to ensure your website works, it is best to get in a professional website development team.

However, if you run a WordPress website, you can start the process by using some plugins and by deleting inactive plugins on your website. Even if a plugin isn’t active, it can still slow down your website.

3. Use a better website hosting platform

Your website hosting platform is a critical part of your website performance. By using shared servers, you can slow down your website significantly. However, you don’t need a dedicated server while starting out. Aim to buy a VPS solution where resources are allocated to your website, to maintain speed, as they are needed.

You should also look to use a hosting package that is local to your customers. If you’re predominately based in the UK, then find a solution that offers UK servers as this speeds up server response time for your website.

Conclusion

Your website performance is important for your business. The faster it is, the more revenue you will generate and the higher the profits will be for your business. The three aspects above can make a huge difference combined and can help you with your SEO and conversions.