How To Improve Website Performance?
Are you ever wondered about How to improve website performance? Website speed has become a major concern for businesses. If your site isn’t loading quickly enough, customers might leave before they even get to see your page. In other words, slow websites cost companies money.
Google recently announced that mobile searches now account for over 50% of its traffic. This means that if your site isn’t optimized for mobile-friendly devices, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers.
There are several ways to improve your website’s speed. The good news is that these changes don’t require coding or technical expertise. Instead, they focus on improving the way your professional web design pages load.
Here are some simple steps to take to boost your site’s performance
1. Optimize Images:
Using high-resolution images can help make your site faster and more user-friendly. To optimize them, try using an image editor like Photoshop to remove unnecessary elements from the photo (like text). You can also use online tools like Canva to create customized graphic designs instead of uploading stock photos.
2. Remove Unnecessary JavaScript:
One of the most common reasons why sites load slowly is because they contain too much JavaScript code. As a result, users have to wait longer for their service pages to load. Removing all unnecessary scripts will reduce this problem.
3. Reduce Server Response Times:
When it comes to optimizing website performance, server response times are one of the biggest factors. Large files such as CSS, Javascript, and HTML can cause major issues when it comes to downloading speeds. Use HTTP/2 to prevent issues with large file sizes.
4. Implement Progressive Web Apps:
These apps work offline, allowing users to receive content without having Internet access. They also offer easy share options, making them perfect for sharing across social media networks. Another advantage is that they can be installed directly through your browser, meaning there’s no need to go through app online stores.
5. Choose a Hosting Service That Offers CDN Integration:
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) streamlines delivery by moving files to servers closer to where people are accessing them. It does so by caching content in multiple locations so it doesn’t have to travel all over the place. Many hosting services offer CDN integration, but only host providers who have invested heavily into their infrastructure should expect these benefits.
6. Improve Page Speed With Responsive Design:
Not everyone owns a desktop computer anymore, especially those living in smaller towns or rural areas. Most people now rely on phones, tablets, and laptops every day. Unfortunately, not many websites were created with these devices in mind.
But, responsive design was created specifically to address these problems. By designing your site to automatically resize itself based on what device someone is viewing it on, you can ensure your site looks great no matter what type of screen they’re using.
7. Avoid Frameworks:
While frameworks can provide a lot of functionality, their main drawback is how long they can take to load. If you want a quick site, avoid using frameworks. Also, if you want to build something custom, it may be easier to do so without using a framework.
8. Make Mobile First:
Since mobile device usage has been steadily increasing over the past few years, it makes sense to start building a site first for mobiles, and then move up to desktops. This is called “Mobile First” and it helps minimize any layout issues caused by different screen sizes.
9. Keep Your Site Updated:
If you update your site frequently (at least once per month), you can keep outdated information off your server. In addition, your visitors won’t waste valuable bandwidth downloading old versions of your site.
10. Optimize Images:
The images you use on your site can make or break your loading speed. The best way to optimize an image is by keeping its dimensions at 200 pixels wide and 400 pixels tall. In addition, don’t forget about the alt text. For example, if you used an image that had an alt tag, it would be displayed if someone couldn’t see the image.
11. Create a Custom 404 Error Page:
If one of your pages isn’t working properly, instead of taking visitors to a generic error message, show them a customized message. For example, if a visitor clicks on a link that takes them to a page that’s missing, give them a message saying that the page could not be found.
12. Add External Resources:
You can cut down on the number of HTTP requests your site needs by adding external resources such as JavaScript libraries, CSS stylesheets, and fonts. Just remember to reference these resources in a separate file from the HTML code of your site. Doing so will save visitors precious processing power.
13. Use HTTPS Everywhere:
When browsers first started popping up warning messages stating that your site wasn’t encrypted, most people didn’t pay much attention. Nowadays, however, this situation has changed. Since Google analytics has made encryption part of its ranking algorithm, more and more people care about whether or not their connections are secure. So, even if you aren’t planning on selling anything online yet, it’s still recommended that you encrypt your connection between you and the browser.
14. Include Keywords:
If you have a business-oriented website, consider including keywords in the title and URL of each page. Search engines like to see this kind of activity because it shows that you know what your customers are looking for. It also gives search engine optimization more information about your website.
15. Don’t Forget About Linking:
When creating content for your website, try to include links back and forth to other relevant sites. Then, when you create new content, share it through social networking sites, forums, and blog posts. You never know who might find it interesting!
16. Minimize Redirections:
As mentioned before, redirections take up valuable bandwidth. Instead of using several redirections, combine all your links into a single URL with one redirect, which will decrease the amount of unnecessary traffic.
17. Limit Redundant Content:
If there are tons of articles on a topic, it’s wise to limit the amount of redundant content on your website. It doesn’t matter how good your article is if it’s already out there somewhere else. Also, avoid writing posts where you copy and paste another person’s work. This type of practice is known as plagiarism, and it can get you banned from many blogging platforms and social networks.
18. Encourage Sharing:
Share your content via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social bookmarking sites. Make sure that your profile picture includes the hashtags #Hashtags are a great way to reach potential clients.
19. Avoid Duplicate Content:
One thing that can distract readers and reduce conversion rates is duplicate content. By having multiple pages with similar information, your audience won’t know where to look. They’ll just end up clicking on the topmost result, which means they won’t see your other home pages! Make sure that every page of your website contains unique information.
20. Keep Your Site Clean:
Having a cluttered website makes it harder for users to navigate. If you receive thousands of e-mails daily, don’t let them pile up. Sort and delete old newsletters, promotions, and press releases.
21. Add Social Media Buttons:
Many popular social networking sites offer an easy way to add a button to your own website so visitors can easily connect with you. There are buttons for Twitter,Facebook,LinkedIn,Google+,YouTube,Pinterest,Tumblr,and StumbleUpon. Just remember that these kinds of tools are only effective if you actually use them yourself.
22. Get Rid of Unnecessary Plugins:
A lot of plugins are designed to make your life easier. However, sometimes plugins cause problems. For example, some plugins slow down your website speed, while others may interfere with essential features.
23. Create Multiple Page Types:
The best way to increase conversions is by allowing your visitors to browse at their own pace. To do this, you should have different types of pages available (articles, newsletters, etc.).
24. Use Landing Pages:
Landing pages are very useful for SEO purposes. They allow you to rank well in search engines, and keep your site clean from spammy content.
25. Offer Free Resources:
Giving away free resources is a great way to attract new customers. In fact, Google rewards free resource pages. If people sign up for your newsletter or download your ebook, you’ll be rewarded with ranking improvements.
26. Optimize Images:
When designing images for your site, try to make them large enough to fill up 100% of the screen, but not too big. Using larger images will decrease page load times, making it less likely that visitors will click away from your site.
27. Consider Mobile Version:
You might want to consider creating mobile versions of your site. These will be smaller than regular ones, and mobile browsers typically support fewer features.
28. Link to Other Sites:
When you link back to other business websites, you’re giving them credit for providing quality content. This improves your chances of being discovered in search results.
29. Write High-Quality Articles:
Writing high-quality articles can lead to higher rankings in search engines. So when adding links to external sources, choose ones that provide value to your visitors and are relevant to what they’re searching for.
30. Focus On Keywords:
Use keyword research tools to find out which keywords your visitors are using most frequently. Once you identify those words, use them in both your title tags and body text throughout your site.