How long does the average internet user give a web page to open before ditching it? Statistics say around five seconds. How tolerant are you of web pages that load slowly and keep you from getting what you need and moving on? If you’re like me, you exit quickly and move on to the next solution.
Here are six tips that will ensure a fast-loading website and a pleasant browsing experience for your visitors.
1. Video is a big draw for both desktop and mobile traffic. If your web pages carry videos, then these should load fast. Strike a balance between video quality and upload speed; higher the video quality, the more time it takes for the video to upload. Embedding YouTube or Vimeo videos can help solve this problem.
2. With respect to images, PNG and BMP images take up more space and load slowly. Websites, particularly image-heavy websites, should use compressed JPEGs. Image splitting and image splicing are techniques used to make images load faster.
3. Webhosting matters. Choose a plan that assures you of enough bandwidth for the kind of traffic that your website attracts and also if you’re offering downloads from your site. Consider third party tools like LeadPages.net for delivery of digital downloads. They offer easy to create, high converting landing pages as well.
4. Enable caching. Allow your browser to pull previously visited pages from the cache memory. It facilitates quicker page loading.
5. Condense the code so that only what is absolutely essential remains. You may have to commission the services of a web developer to clean the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript so that these can be pruned for use – the exercise has a name, it is called minification. Along similar lines, you may want to avoid Flash, which is not only painfully slow-loading but also invariably incompatible with mobile devices. Placing stylesheets in the HEAD accelerates page loading as well.
6. One way to make web pages load faster is to minimize the content that a page displays. Consider splitting extensive content across more than one page. A simple “Next” button allows visitors to continue reading.
3 bonus tips for speedy loading of WordPress sites
1. Choose plugins judiciously; add only those that you need. Plugins increase loading time and require regular updating to minimize security threats.
2. You may want to disable trackbacks and pingbacks as these are requests to servers that could delay page loading.
3. When selecting a theme, choose wisely with respect to quick loading and features. You may not need all the bells and whistles that many themes offer. It is worth remembering that loading time is crucial to good SEO.
Page load speed is a major factor for ranking on search engines and the increase in mobile traffic through smartphones and tablets has only made page loading speed even more significant. The adjustments required to boost page load speeds are not complex and the results are worth the effort. Higher rankings and more potential business are huge benefits of having a website that loads fast. Paying attention to these simple details can make a big difference in your success.