How to optimise Website for Speed and Performance?

How to optimise Website for Speed and Performance?

In today’s digital age, where millions of websites are used daily for a range of purposes, businesses are increasingly focused on improving their website’s speed and performance to capitalise on opportunities. Unfortunately, many websites fall short of being user-friendly, even at the first interaction.

The time it takes for your website to fully load for visitors is called the loading time. A website with a slow loading time often results in a high bounce rate, meaning you’re likely losing visitors and conversions. Enhancing your website’s speed and SEO performance can dramatically improve your customer acquisition process.

What Affects Page Speed?

There are numerous reasons why your website may be slow to load. Some common causes include:

• Excessive use of JavaScript and CSS
• Poor hosting/server setup
• Large image file sizes
• Not using browser caching
• Over-reliance on plugins and widgets
• Hotlinking images and other resources from slow servers
• High traffic volume
• Outdated browsers
• Slow mobile network connections

This means you’ve got plenty of ways to boost page speed, which I’ll detail further in this post. But before you dive into optimising, it’s essential to test your current page load time.

Tips to Improve Your Website’s Speed and Performance

Here are some practical tips to help improve your website’s speed and overall performance:

Audit Your Site
Before making changes to your website’s content or loading times, conduct a performance audit. Tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights are great starting points. This free tool assesses your Core Web Vitals on both desktop and mobile (by default) and provides a score that highlights areas for improvement.

Prioritise Fixes for Speed Issues
Once you’ve identified speed-related issues, it’s tempting to try and fix everything immediately. However, a more strategic approach is to prioritise based on user experience. For instance, if your website’s initial load time is slow, it’s essential to focus on server-side issues first, like DNS conflicts or hosting errors. Once these are resolved, you can then optimise other aspects like JavaScript execution and large layout shifts.

Monitor 404 Errors
404 errors, which occur when visitors try to access pages that have been moved or deleted, can negatively impact your user experience. Regularly check for 404 errors and broken links using third-party tools to prevent user frustration and potential loss of business.

Upgrade Your Hosting Plan
Many first-time website owners opt for basic hosting packages, which are cost-effective but can slow down as your site grows. If your site traffic increases, it’s wise to upgrade to a more robust hosting plan to ensure better performance, user satisfaction, and SEO rankings.

Enable Browser Caching
Browser caching helps reduce the load on your server, speeding up your website for returning users. By enabling browser caching, static files like CSS and JavaScript can be stored locally on the user's device, which leads to faster page load times on subsequent visits.

Activate GZIP Compression
Using GZIP to compress your website files can significantly reduce load times. GZIP compresses your website files before sending them to the browser, and they are uncompressed upon arrival. This reduces download times and data usage, making your website more responsive.

Clean Up Excess Plugins
Too many plugins can slow down your website and create potential security risks. It’s a good idea to regularly review your plugins and deactivate or remove any that are no longer necessary.

Reduce HTTP Requests
The more HTTP requests your website makes, the longer it will take to load. You can cut down on these requests by using fewer images, videos, CSS, Flash, and other media resources.

Minify CSS and JavaScript
Minifying your CSS and JavaScript files is a simple yet effective way to reduce code and decrease load times. It helps reduce bandwidth usage and improves the overall speed of your site.

Optimise Your Images
Images play a critical role in user engagement, but large, unoptimised images can slow your site down. Ensure your images are compressed and optimised to reduce loading times without compromising quality.

Use a Lightweight Theme
The theme of your website also impacts load times. A heavily coded theme will slow your site down, no matter how well your server is optimised. Opt for a theme built with a mobile-first approach to ensure speed and efficiency.

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN distributes your website’s static resources across multiple servers globally, ensuring quicker load times and preventing site breakdowns during high traffic periods.

Fix Broken Links
Broken links can harm your site’s SEO and user experience. Regularly check your website for broken links and fix or remove them as needed.

Minimise Redirects
Excessive redirects can slow down page loading times. Use tools like Google Search Console to identify and remove unnecessary redirects that are affecting performance.

Use a Reliable CMS
A reliable Content Management System (CMS) is vital for managing and updating your website. WordPress, for example, is a popular and trusted CMS that allows for easy content updates while maintaining site performance.

Optimise Your Database
If you use WordPress or another CMS, regular database optimisation can improve performance. Use tools to clean up unnecessary data and optimise your MySQL tables.

Eliminate Render-Blocking JavaScript
While JavaScript is essential for modern websites, too much of it can slow down your site. Reducing or deferring non-essential JavaScript can improve load times and page responsiveness.

Write Mobile-First Code
With the growing reliance on mobile devices, it’s essential to optimise your website for mobile-first browsing. Designing for mobile first ensures that your site loads quickly and efficiently on smaller screens, which is key for modern consumers.

If your business relies on its website as a primary channel for customer interaction, optimising your site’s performance is crucial. However, this process can be challenging due to the diversity of devices, browsers, and network conditions.

Remember, optimising your website is an ongoing process. You don’t need to make all the recommended changes at once. Monitor your site’s performance over time, implement adjustments, and measure the results to ensure your website continues to perform well.

Get in touch with us for expert website monitoring and optimisation services. We offer complete visibility into your site’s performance to help you maintain its speed and accessibility.

For more information or enquiries, feel free to contact us!