No matter what device they’re using, your website visitors expect consistent user experience and site functionality. If a visitor comes to your site and they’re not able to see what they need to see and do what they need to do, it’s likely that they’ll leave and not return. While web design has a lot to do with style, it also has to do with decisions you make on the back end. If you pay attention to several key elements, your site will not only look great but also perform well. Here are several important tips to make that happen.
1. Decide On Your Budget
Ahead of time, decide on your performance budget. That’s a pre-determined limit on the overall size and speed of your site. It caps page “bloat,” much like a financial budget. Then, if you want to add more elements or pages, you’ll have to ensure that there’s enough “budget” beforehand.
2. Select the Right Host
The quality and speed of the servers you’re using will make a dramatic impact on performance. There’s a wide variety of various packages that offer a range of benefits. Invest some time in researching both hosts and your competitors to decide on the best solution for you. Whoishostingthis.com is a good place to start.
3. Optimize Your Images
During the process of web design, one of the biggest contributors to web page bloat is non-optimized images. Better displays mean that visitors expect higher resolution, but you don’t want high definition at the expense of fast loading. Resize or compress your images manually, or try a tool like Adaptive Images for custom optimization.
4. Use Compression
To the degree you can, compress your content to cut down on the number of bytes your website is sending across its network. Your web developer can use gzip or a similar tool. Then, users can navigate more quickly and web server resources will be used more efficiently.
5. Remove Unnecessary Elements
It’s vital that you know how various page elements are being accessed by your users. That makes it easier to decide which elements you want to remove in order to improve overall performance. Use your analytics tools to determine how your visitors are using widgets, signup forms, and other elements that slow down page speed, then act on the data you receive.
Improving website performance requires attention to several key factors. Try these suggestions to improve your web presence.