Whether your website has an attractive design or great promotions for users, if loading time takes too long, they will leave, and maybe, they won’t get back.
Speed has become a critical factor in guaranteeing a satisfactory user experience and better ranking on the search engines.
If you really want to compete on Internet, speed must be a priority. Check out the following hints, fasten your belt and leave your competitors eating your dust!
Use a managed DNS service
This will help you with the first step, resolving the domain name. When somebody writes your site name, the request travels all the way to the name servers where your domain is registered. This can take a long time. You can have name servers closer to your clients with a managed DNS provider. That way, your domain will get answered faster.
Cache your website
Saving non-dynamic website elements to use later really reduces loading time. This means users’ requests will be served faster because a cached version will be displayed quicker. Of course, there can be changes from time to time, but in such a case, to load them will take just a little more, with the advantage, an updated version will be cached again.
The variety of cache plugins that can give you a hand with this task is wide. From paid and easy to use, to a bit harder to set up, but free, you decide.
Choose a proper web hosting service
There are many web hosting providers. You should look for modern server technologies, SSD, and the availability of resources for your website’s future growth. Servers’ location is a factor to be considered, especially if your site targets just a local audience or users from specific countries. Choose to be closer to your potential clients.
Pay for CDN
CDN means Content Delivery Network, the gold possibility for your website to be strategically present in many points, through servers located around the world. A copy of your site is saved in those servers, so your users’ requests will be redirected to the nearest one.
This is an expensive but very efficient alternative. If it suits your budget and business needs, it’s worth trying.
Don’t use heavy scripts
Offering an attractive and modern site is good, but consider that, when you open a page, the browser will load all kinds of scripts for appearance, functionality, security, etc. Better try to keep them simple and not too many.
Lighter themes are better
The priority must be not to add too heavy stuff to be loaded. You want users to stay and visit your site as deeply as possible, so you can rank better on the search results. Keep it light and simple.
Optimize every image and video
Images can be a double-edged tool. They give a nice look, but heavy formats and resolutions can make your site so slow. Compress the resolution and prefer light formats, like the popular .JPG. Lower the quality. It’s a website, not a printed magazine.
By default, videos are heavier than images. If you include them, optimizing is a must.
Leave ads out
The basic text ads are gone already. The current are media files (images, videos, scripts…). Better not to have them or to reduce them to the minimum.
Conclusion
You can really speed your website. Always try the rule, “simple is better”. The fewer things on every page, the faster your site will perform.