Instant Engagement: How to Drastically Increase Website Speed
Apr 25, 2023
Over 70% of users in the UK and the US would abandon a slow running website. So what is the ideal website speed according to most experts, including Google? Anything under three seconds.
That's a pretty small target to hit!
But it's essential that your great content and services aren't hindered by a slow website loading speed. Not only do your potential customers hate it, but it is a negative ranking factor for Google. This means you are less likely to appear in SERPs.
So, let's increase your site speed and with it, your traffic and customers. This guide will show you how to increase your website speed to under three seconds.
Start With Your Website Hosting
Your website's hosting is the foundation of your site. When a user wants to access your website, the host will process the request. If the host cannot handle the request well, your website speed will be slow.
Here are some hosting features which affect good website speed:
- Server location
- Hard drive speed
- Dedicated or shared server
- Network bandwidth and data transfer
In the best-case scenario, your hosting company has servers located around the world. So potential customers from Brazil to Bulgaria can experience fast website loading speed. If not, consider investing in a separate CDN (content delivery network).
Make sure your website is running from an SSD (solid-state drive) hard drive rather than an HDD (hard disk drive). SSD hard drives are faster.
Sharing servers might not be an issue for small websites. But if you are receiving over 100,000 page views per month, get a dedicated server.
Optimise Your Images
One of the simplest, and most effective, website speed optimisation tips is to compress and resize your images.
Only upload pictures with a pixel width that matches what your website displays. For example, do not upload pictures with 2048 x 576 dimensions if your website only displays images 1024 px wide.
And as a general rule, any picture that has a file size over 1MB is too large. Export the photos from your editing software in a smaller size, or use a free online compressor.
Also, implement lazy loading. This defers loading off-screen images. It allows your website's server to concentrate on loading the top images first which increases site speed.
Concentrate on Caching and Fine Tuning
There are so many other small website speed improvements you can make to ensure proper website speed optimisation.
This list includes some of the top tips:
- Streamlining plugins on WordPress sites
- Enabling browser caching
- Eliminate render-blocking third-party scripts
- Minify JavaScript, CSS and HTML files
- Defer JavaScript loading
Every website is different. Website speed testing tools provide specific feedback on your website's issues. Try GTMetrix or Google's PageSpeed Insights.
To get more accurate feedback, run site speed tests from a server location closest to your customers' location. And run tests of different pages on your site as well as your homepage.
Fix Your Website Speed and Increase Traffic
By implementing all these tips, you should be able to improve your website speed. But it's not a one-and-done task. Run a website speed test every month to check your site speed is still fast.
Site speed is a technical issue and there are lots of elements that affect site speed. This guide can take you 90% of the way, but some websites need professional assistance for the extra 10%.
Contact us today to see how Infinite Design House can help you.
