How to improve page speed to get traffic & conversions?

Traffic & Conversions
How to improve page speed to get traffic & conversions?

In today’s era page speed is one of the important factors in digital marketing. This impacts on:

Unfortunately, there are many websites that struggles with slow page speeds, and consequences are significant. This issue doesn’t just affect user experience, it directly harms their revenue.

As a digital marketer there are infinite number of tasks we perform on daily basis and there is not enough time to perform all of them. One of the most frequently neglected aspects is optimizing page speed. Many of us fail to recognize the immense value of in investing time and resources to shave off even a few seconds. Improving page speed can transform user experience, boost engagement, and ultimately drive greater success.

There are ways that you can improve your website page speed:

1. Reduce HTTP Calls

Each and every file for a webpage HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images and fonts requires a separate HTTP requests, that can slow down loading speeds. Even if you are mindful of website bloat, most sites unintentionally accumulate excess files. Theme often load multiple CSS and JavaScript files, some remotely, and plugins add even more, creating numerous HTTP requests. To improve speed, try merging JavaScript and CSS files, reducing plugins with external files, using sprites for commonly used images and opting for icon fonts like FontAwesome instead of image files. Prioritizing page speed will ensure a faster, smoother user experience for visitors.

2. Include the Trailing Slash

Neglecting the trailing slash on your website links- whether they come from external sites or within your own- is more than just minor oversight, it seriously impacts speed.

When you hit a URL without trailing slash, the web server initially searches for an exact match of a file. If it doesn’t find one, it shifts gears and treats the URL as a directory, seeking out the default file instead. This unnecessary detour forces the server to perform an extra 301 redirect.

It might feel instantaneous from your end, but don’t get fooled. Every second counts in this digital world, and every little delay adds up. Don’t let these small mistakes slow down your website make sure to include the trailing slash.

3. Enable Compression

Enabling GZIP compression is a game changer. It can drastically cut down the time it take for your HTML, CSS and JavaScript files to download. These files can be sent as compact, smaller versions that zip through the internet, only to be effortlessly unpacked in the browser. This not only speeds up your site but also enhances the user experience like never before.

4. Enable Browser Caching

With enabled cache browsing the components of a web page are stored in visitor’s browser so when they come back to explore more or click through to another page, their browser retrieves the cached data without needing to ping the server again for each one.

Once the first page is loaded and its elements are stored in cache, only few elements will be required to be downloaded on subsequent pages. This can highly reduce the number of files that needs to be downloaded during a typical browsing session.

5. Minify Resources

Reducing the size of CSS and JavaScript files decreases unnecessary white space and comments to reduce the file size, and as result the time it takes to download them.

If you are using WordPress, there are plugins designed to replace your regular CSS and JavaScript with their minified counterparts without modifying the original files. Some of the top-notch caching plugins for this includes:

It might take a little bit time since minification can sometimes disrupt your CSS and JavaScript. Once everything is minified be sure to thoroughly test your website.

6. Prioritize above the fold content

To enhance your website’s appearance and keep visitors engaged, it is essential to code it in a way that prioritizes above fold content which means the content is visible before the visitor scrolls. By placing these critical elements in the beginning of your HTML code, you allow the browser to download and display them more quickly. Additionally incorporating any necessary CSS and JavaScript directly within your HTML is crucial for speeding up for rendering times. Taking these steps can significantly improves user experience that leads to lower bounce rate and longer visits.

7. Optimize Media Files:

With the rise of mobile devices boasting high-quality cameras, user-friendly platforms like WordPress making image uploads a breeze, many individuals tend to snap a photo and upload it without considering the consequences. Often, these images are at least four times larger then needed, leading to significant slowdowns on your website-particularly for mobile users.

By optimizing the media files on your website, you can dramatically enhance your page speed. The process is quite simple and straightforward. Investing your time media optimization is not just beneficial it is important for improving user experience and ensuring that your website runs efficiently.

8. Optimizing Images

Choose the perfect format for your images. JPGs are fantastic for photographs, while GIF’s and PNGs are the best formats for images with large areas of solid color. If you want to go a step further, use 8-bit PNG files for images that don’t need transparency and 24-bit files are for images with alpha channel.

Make sure that the images are properly sized. If you are displaying showing an image that’s 800 pixels wide on your website, there’s no point in using a massive 1600-pixel image. Adobe Photoshop is the best for image editing and offers image compression features starting at just $9.99/month. But if you are looking for free options then your can use WordPress plugins like WWW image optimizer, Imsanity, and TinyJPG that will automatically compress your uploaded images.

9. Optimizing Videos

Choose the best format for your videos. MP4 is one of the best format for most cases delivering fantastic quality while keeping file sizes small.

Choosing the right dimensions that fit your visitors screen perfectly.

If you are using video as a background design element , don’t forget to eliminate the audio track.

In order to truly optimize media on your website, you must serve images sized exactly for users screens – not just resized versions. There are two effective approaches for this based on how you implement images.

When it comes to HTML image tags on your website, make sure to use arc set. This allows users to choose and display the perfect size customized for each visitor, its all about making their experience exceptional.

10. Utilize Caching & CDNs

Caching empowers your web server to hold onto a static version of your webpages, ensuring they reach a visitor’s browser at a high speed. After pairing it with CDN, those copies are spread across servers globally. This leads to incredible boost in page speed that transforms user experience.