10 Ways to Speed Up Your Website in 2020
Do you need advice to improve the loading speed of your website? Or, conversely, you have already taken the appropriate steps to make your website work perfectly. Although it is not the most important part when it comes to optimizing a website, loading speed is an aspect to consider if you want the user to stay and not leave the page .
Do you want to get the most out of your website and get the most profitability? For this you need your website to be correctly generated. And facilitate the user experience of visitors. Something that will come in handy for incorporating these tips to improve loading speed in your web development process. Only then will you lay the groundwork for increasing conversions.
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Tips to improve loading speed
1.- Choose a professional platform
When deciding the platform to work with, it is better to select a professional tool. Bet on your own developments only if you have an experienced team that knows the keys to improve the performance of websites.
However, to avoid problems, one of the main tips to improve the loading speed you can receive is to use professional platforms. Among them are WordPress , Joomla , or Prestashop , if it is to create an ecommerce.
2.- Plugins and applications that do not serve you, uninstall them!
It’s basic. Deleting all the plugins that do not contribute anything and are not going to be used will make your website go faster . It is recommended not to use more than 10 plugins for each installation of wordpress. And try to make them plugins with simple and clear codes. Therefore, analyze how many you have installed on your website, even if they are not in use. And which are they. And investigate if there are others that help improve the performance of your website.
As you can see, the main professional platforms have applications and plugins that will help you know if the website is optimized or not. Some of the plugins that it is recommended that you install are:
a.- WP Optimize
tips to improve loading speed. Install plugins like WP Optimize
Documents that are created on platforms like WordPress, whether they are drafts, publications, etc. They are ballasting the database. To prevent this from happening, it is advisable to install this plugin whose purpose is to clean precisely that database .
b.- W3 Total Cache
tips to improve loading speed. Install plugins like W3 Total Cache
At this point there is room for the cache memory. To ensure that there is a good user experience if you return a second time, W3 Total Cache allows you to have a copy of the web stored so that repeat visitors do not always have to load it from scratch . In addition, with this plugin you will have a copy of your website ready and optimized.
c.- Autoptomize
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As you can see in the video above, Autoptomize is used to reduce CSS, Javascript and HTML files and files .
3.- Optimize the images
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This is another of the tips to improve the loading speed that are not usually taken into account but it is essential. For this, in the first place it is recommended to export the images using some web optimization tools. You must choose a good file format, the most advisable is JPEG and optimize your HTML code.
On the other hand, the weight of the images is a very important factor for fast loading. There are image compression and optimization plugins like Smush that will help you in this work.
However, the logical thing is that you upload images with normal dimensions, which is something that changes according to technical advances. The normal thing today is that they do not exceed 1000 pixels and that they allow the page to be kept below 400kb. Slow connections and browsing from mobile devices will thank you.
4.- More HTML and CSS codes and less CMS platforms
It is better to use HTML and CSS codes for a faster page load speed . To do this, write only the absolutely necessary lines of code. It is something that will not only improve this aspect but also Google will appreciate it. And it will influence an improvement in positioning.
However, a huge percentage of web pages are currently generated with content managers, CMS, like wordpress. If this is your case, again, you should pay attention to eliminate, as much as possible, the superfluous code that is generated with these platforms. The CMS you use must guarantee that your website is optimal.
5.- Hire a good server
VPN network
Choosing a good web hosting is another significant factor if you want to quickly access a website. A server does not offer a good service when the hosting that has been contracted is not of quality . It must be well configured and the server must be where you want to position your website.
6.- Place the CSS and JavaScript correctly
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When a user accesses a web page, the first thing that can be found is that it is blank. Here the CSS style sheets come into play , which are in charge of drawing the document and giving it a design.
If you put the CSS at the top of the page and the JavaScript at the bottom, what you will get is that the browser prohibits progressive processing. This will cause browsers to block rendering to avoid having to redraw elements on the page.
Similarly, if you do not take care of the way of organizing web codes according to W3 standards, the website will not work correctly .
7.- Enable GZIP for code compression
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By enabling GZIP, the HTML and CSS codes are compressed. This compression method allows Google to read the code of your page faster. This type of compression is normally performed only for codes. In other words, for HTML, CSS and JavaScript . Audiovisual content goes apart.
So having GZIP compression enabled can decrease response time by a high percentage . In this way you reduce the weight of the page. Which entails the increase of the loading speed.
8.- Make use of a CDN
CDN
A CDN (Content Delivery Network) or content delivery network consists, as explained in its Wikipedia entry, “ a superimposed network of computers containing copies of data, placed at various points on a network for the purpose of to maximize bandwidth for access to customer data over the network. A client accesses a copy of the information near the client, as opposed to all clients accessing the same central server, in order to avoid funnels near that server . ”
What a CDN does is improve the load of different text and image content . In addition, it minimizes redirects to be able to directly access a page.
9.- Choose a suitable template
In many cases, the aesthetic decision of a website is left to designers who do not take into account the speed of the page load. Hence, decisions are made only for an aesthetic component. Beyond the importance of having a site that follows the latest trends in web design , it is essential that design is accompanied by functionality.
Therefore, before choosing a specific template, make sure that it is well worked and, in addition to being properly displayed on all types of devices, it makes the page load not excessive.
10.- Control the number of posts per page
It is important that the home page of the corporate blog take care of the number of posts that are displayed . If too many are displayed the page will take a long time to load. Therefore, it is important to take care of this page and show only the most important 5 to 10. Something that, on many occasions, also depends on the choice of the template previously discussed.
Tools that will help you optimize the speed of your website
All in all, one of the best tips to improve loading speed is to do a constant review using tools such as:
1.- Pingdom Website Speed Test
Pingdom Website Speed Test
Inserting the url will give you the option to choose to perform a speed test, regardless of where you are. The result will tell you exactly which pages are slow loading and the reasons why .
2.- Google Page Insight
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It is a Google tool that, just like the previous one, just by entering the url, it will analyze the page and expose you which are the design elements that are not working and that are overloading the page making it slower for the user.
Even if it were a problem with CSS or JavaScript, this tool explains the reason for the slowdown in order to improve the performance of your page.
With all the information mentioned, it is time to reflect on your page, since if it takes more than 2 seconds to load, you should start worrying. More if your competition is doing the job correctly.
So another tip to improve loading speed is to do a speed test on other websites . In Coobis you will find a directory of digital media from all sectors. Choose the one that interests you the most and start analyzing the loading speed of your competitor’s websites.
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