In our fast paced world the patience of the average person is tinner than ever. Your website’s speed is more than an afterthought, it’s a mega important element of your customers experience and a critical factor in your websites success.
Gone are the days we wait for that dial-up internet and the snail speeds that go with it. Your customers aren’t going to patiently wait there for your photos or videos to buffer, they want that instant ‘must be at my finger tips now’ outcome – it’s expected, a necessity. A website that stutters will not only test their limited patience but also drive them straight into to your competitors awaiting arms.
Your website is the digital front door to your business and in an era where every second matters, your website needs to live up to that standard. But how do we live up to this expectation? This lightning fast performance? I shall tell you – optimising your website.
This can be a daunting task but below is an easy-to-follow guide to ensure your website is up to scratch, meeting customers’ expectations right off the bat.
Check whats going on
- Why it matters: Knowledge is power. Understanding the current performance of your website is the first step in fixing your websites speed
- What to do:
Optimise Your Images
- Why it matters: Large, unoptimised images are one of the most common culprits of slow loading times.
- What to do:
- Compress and resize images without sacrificing quality. Tools like Photoshop or online compressors work wonders. An online compression tool I use all the time is ImageReseizer.com. It’s free and gives you so many options to resize your images. If you have already uploaded all your images and want a plugin that will do the resizing for you, ShortPixel is my go to but you can also use caching plugins like WPRocket or JetPack which have image compression included
- Automate the process with plugins (above) specifically designed for image optimisation if you prefer a hands-off approach.
Video Optimisation
- Why it matters: Videos are huge resources and can significantly slow down your site if not managed correctly.
- What to do:
- Host videos externally (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo) to reduce your site’s load. You then embed the videos into your website.
- Enable “lazy load” for videos, ensuring they only load when a user interacts with them, preserving your site’s speed.
Check Your Hosting
- Why it matters: The quality of your web hosting directly influences your website’s speed.
- What to do:
- Consider investing in a hosting provider known for its speed and reliability (like SiteGround, VentraIP, or one of my Care Plans) or one that focuses on optimised server performance.
- Cheap shared hosting might save you money, but at the cost of your website’s speed and performance.
Clean Up Your Site
- Why it matters: Overloading your website with unnecessary plugins and extensions can bog down its speed.
- What to do:
- Audit your current plugins and extensions. Remove or replace those that are not critical to your website’s functionality.
- Streamline your website’s backend to ensure faster loading times for your visitors.
Implementing the Checklist
- Start small: Begin with one area at a time, perhaps with optimising your images, and work your way through the list.
- Use tools: Leverage available tools and plugins designed for specific optimisation tasks to make the process more efficient.
- Monitor regularly: Website speed optimisation is an ongoing process. Regularly check your website’s speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or the tools at the top of this checklist to keep track of your progress.
With just a handful of strategic adjustments, you can dramatically reduce your site’s loading times, improve user engagement, and set your website on the fast track to success.
