Let’s start today’s discussion with some hard-hitting statistics: 

  • 47% of visitors expect a web page to load in 2 seconds 
  • 40% of people may abandon a page if it takes 3 or more seconds
  • One extra second of loading time shows a 25% decrease in conversion rates 

[sources: Neil Patel and CXL]

Worried? Don’t be! We got you the solution! Here is a complete checklist of the things you need to do to enhance your page loading speed. 

Guide to Improving Page Speed 

 

  • Use a Better Hosting  

 

There are three types of hosting – dedicated server, shared hosting, and VPS (virtual private server) hosting.

Among these, shared hosting is a cost-effective way to get your site online. However, with shared hosting, you share disk space, CPU and RAM with other sites that use the server. That’s why shared hosting is not as fast as a VPS or dedicated server. 

In the case of a virtual private server, you share the same server with other users, but you have complete control on your part of the server. Every client of the server has a separate part. Therefore, one’s configuration doesn’t impact others.

If it permits your budget, opting for the dedicated server is the best solution as the entire server will only support your website. Naturally, it will be way faster than the rest. Remember, dedicated hosting service providers offer various packages with different amounts of RAM, storage, and bandwidth. Pay attention to picking the package that meets your requirement so as to ensure that your site has a high loading speed. 

Cloud server also helps a site to load faster by using lightning fast processor, high-performing servers, and high-quality SSD (solid-state drive) storage. A cloud server also allows your hosting to grow with your business and increase your site’s capacity. It ensures an easier load balancing between multiple server environments and thus puts less strain on a single server resource. Look for a cloud host that has premium server hardware, multiple caching layers, and low-density servers.

 

  • Reduce the Number of CSS and JS Files 

 

If a web page contains lots of JavaScript and CSS files, it leads to a massive number of HTTP requests once a visitor loads the webpage. Reducing the number of CSS and JavaScript files will speed up your site.

Try to group all the JavaScript files into one and do the same with all the CSS files. It will reduce the overall number of HTTP requests.

Finally, you should minify HTML, JS and CSS files. You can optimize the code by removing commas, extra spaces, line breaks, indentation, and other irrelevant characters to increase page loading speed. There are various tools to do this, such as Grunt, WillPeavy, Script Minifier, etc. (More on this later!)

 

  • Opt for Asynchronous Loading 

 

JavaScript and CSS can load in two distinct ways – synchronous and asynchronous. If the scripts load synchronously, these load one at a time. On the other hand, asynchronous loading ensures that some of the scripts can load simultaneously. This can speed up your pages. 

When a browser loads a page, it moves from top to bottom. If it comes across a CSS or JS file that loads synchronously, it will stop loading until the particular file is fully loaded. However, if the file is asynchronous, the browser will load other elements on the page at the same time. 

 

  • Leverage Browser Caching 

 

Browser caching is the magic wand that can reduce your page loading time. The browsers can cache various information (images, JS files, content, etc.) so that when a visitor comes back to the site, the browser need not send an HTTP request to the server and the page doesn’t render over and over again.

 

  • Compress Files

 

The smaller your files are, the faster they load – that’s the logic of compression. You can use a tool like GIDNetwork to run a detailed compression audit. Simply enter your page URL and check if your page is compressed or not. It will show you the compression percentage. Depending on the results, you can compress the elements on your page.

According to the experts of website design services, Gzip compression is an ideal way to reduce the size of files. It can reduce the number of HTTP requests and, in turn, minimize the server response time. 

The files are compressed before reaching the browser. When a user accesses a web page, the browser unzips the files and presents the content. 

Quick note: Yahoo points out that Gzipping files can reduce downloading time by 70%!

Remember, though Gzip can work with all the files on your site, we recommend you use a photo editing app to compress images. That way, you can enjoy complete control over the quality of the images. 

 

  • Use a Content Delivery Network 

 

Content Delivery Networks (CDN) are the networks of servers that distribute the load of delivering content. Here, copies of your webpages are stored at various geographical data centres so that the users can enjoy faster access to your site. 

If you host a website on a single server, all user requests lead to the same server. It increases the time of processing each request. With CDN, user requests get redirected to the nearest server. It helps to deliver content in a quicker manner. 

Here’s a curious fact: VentureHarbour noted a 1.5-second reduction in page loading time simply by installing a CDN. 

 

  • Lazy Loading 

 

The experts of any reputed website design company hold lazy loading in great esteem. Lazy loading is an optimization technique that loads only the required sections and delays the remaining. Suppose your webpage has ten images. With lazy loading, you can show three images within the view first (above-the-fold) and then load the remaining pictures. The images will load as they come into view. It significantly reduces loading time. 

 

  • Reduce the Number of Plugins 

 

Plugins can extend the functionalities on your website and offer a great user experience without any hassle. Plus, these are easy to install and integrate. 

This leads many to continue adding plugins to a website without considering the potential downside. Having too many plugins can slow down your site and cause crashes. Therefore, it’s time to evaluate which plugins are useful and which can be deleted. 

You can use a tool like Plugin Performance Profiler to identify the plugins that are causing issues on the site. Depending on the report, consider eliminating ones that show poor performance. 

How to Get Started 

Thinking of taking a step? Let us introduce you to some tools: 

  • Google PageSpeed Insights is a widely popular free tool that tests the performance of your site and also recommends how to enhance performance. 

  • Performance Budget Calculator is a free tool that allows you to figure out what type of content you can use to ensure your site’s optimal performance. 
  • Pingdom is a great tool for testing website speed. It tracks your site’s performance history and offers recommendations on how to improve speed. It has both free and paid monitoring plans.
  • GTmetrix is yet another popular tool that shows how your site performs, reveals why it is slow, and discovers various optimization opportunities. 

Now, implementing these recommendations may not be as easy as it sounds. For that, you may engage a professional website design company. The experts will fix the issues and enhance page loading speed. 

Wrapping Up 

High loading speed greatly enhances user experience and takes them one step closer to conversion. Search engines also consider loading speed as a crucial ranking factor and have a tendency to reward sites that have fast loading speed and follow other SEO best practices with a high rank. Due to the immense importance, it’s time to implement the above-mentioned tips and optimize your web page’s loading speed.