Have you ever clicked away from a website that took too long to load? If so, you’re just like the vast majority of web users. Research shows that slow sites lose visitors fast, and as technology improves, the expectations of users rise accordingly. If your website isn’t functioning at lightning speed, you may be losing customers, and missing out on valuable opportunities to gain leads, sales, and profits.
Shorter loading times and faster performance also improves user experience, which translates into better SEO and higher rankings. In a competitive marketplace, you can’t afford to let your search engine rankings slide. Don’t let site speed ruin your efforts.
Fortunately, improving the speed of your website can be managed with only a few simple fixes. Of course, to get your site working at optimum levels, you’ll need the keen expertise of a professional web developer. But you can start today with these 5 tips to increase your website speed now.
Enable Browser Caching
When a user visits your site for the first time, the files from your page load in their browser from the database. By enabling browser caching, you can speed up the loading time for that user’s future visits; the files are then cached on their browser. With WordPress, a simple caching plug in can do the trick.
Compress Large Images
You can still have beautiful, high quality photos on your website without sacrificing loading time. Compression of your images is one way to achieve this, by making the data storage for each file more efficient. You can also lower the resolution of your photos. In essence, this does decrease their overall quality, but in most cases, the visual results are negligible, and the reduction in file size (and faster site speed) more than makes up for it.
Choose a Lightweight WordPress Theme
When choosing professional website design, a savvy designer will ensure the most lightweight theme possible. But in a DIY web design situation, be sure not to opt for clunky, complicated themes. Most of the time, the included features are excessive and will kill your loading time. With so many incredible themes on the market, a WordPress website is the best choice, and a streamlined theme is easier than ever to find—and it can make all the difference.
Repair Your Broken Links
Broken links, or those that lead to non-existent error pages, will impact your website speed. This is because they interrupt the flow of web crawlers as your site loads. This is an easy fix, and one that can be completed in just a few minutes. A service like Dead Link Checker can quickly find your broken links. Once these have been manually repaired, your site speed will thank you.
Opt for Minimalistic Design
Much like choosing a lightweight WordPress theme, a minimalistic design can zoom your web speed into hyperdrive. With less loading to manage, your user experience will be improved tenfold, and customers will find it even easier to navigate your site and get what they are looking for. Minimalism is on trend, and to increase your website speed, it’s a smart move.
Do you need to speed up your business website? To get more in depth, the web design team at Webics can help. We know the ins and outs of optimising your site for fast loading and exceptional functioning. Want to learn more? Contact us to get started and get a better, speedier site now.
