There are a number of reasons why it's important to improve your website's performance. There are many functionalities that can help with this. With a variety to choose from, it's essential you find the one that best suits your goals as a business. So, what type of functionalities are available to improve website performance? Let's take a closer look, below.
Importance of website performance
Whether you have a developer in-house or you use a web development agency to enhance your site's performance, it's important for improving your user experience and thus your conversion rate. Your site speed reflects how quickly your website responds to web requests; it's vital for not only site owners, but for all internet users too. If you have a faster site, you're more likely to have happy customers and provide a better user experience. In turn, helps increase conversion rates. A slow site will increase bounce rates and could result in lost business. So, how can you increase site speed and the performance of your site?
Improve your coding
You can improve your coding by writing cleaner code. This can be achieved by reducing the lines of coding, optimising database queries, avoiding recursion and using pattern designs. Having readable and structured code pays off as it improves maintainability and decreases HTTP overload. This can help enhance performance significantly.
Remember your server
You must make sure that your server administrator tunes the server regularly. This will help your website to accommodate increased traffic when needed. Optimal server performance ensures that you offer a better user experience.
Optimise JavaScript and CSS
By writing clean and well-structured CSS code you can improve your websites' performance. This is because poorly structured CSS increases page loading time, resulting in poor user experience. Additionally, if your JavaScript is too complex or badly structured it can also have an impact on the performance of your website. For example, users may experience a blank screen when they click on your site and a page doesn't load correctly because of JavaScript problems.
Optimise images
Many websites rely heavily on graphics. If your site contains lots of images, you must optimise them. Photos that are not compressed will slow the performance of the site. When we say optimising your images, it means saving them in a web-friendly format.
Use fewer redirects
Redirecting to another page creates an additional HTTP request, which increases page loading time. Having lots of redirects on your site can slow your site down, impacting the user experience and reducing your conversion rate. Try to use as few redirects as possible.
Make the most of browser caching
Cache mechanisms operate either on the user's browser or on the server-side. By storing your website's static files locally (such as banner art and logo), you can speed up the loading time of site user's future visits. This is because when your user revisits the web page, they already have some of the web page stored on their local computer. This improves the website performance, as data stored in the browser doesn't have to be downloaded again meaning fewer server requests have to be made.
Hopefully, these tips will help you to improve the performance of your website. If you would like to find out more, speak to a professional web developer or agency, who will be able to give you advice and help.
Copyright 2020. Featured post made possible by Tom Welbourne of The Good Marketer, a marketing agency in London which drives more traffic, generates conversions and increases sales for small- to medium-sized businesses