Improving Web Site Speed for Success
According to a survey half of the web using population expects a site to get loaded in 2 seconds and if it isn’t loaded in 3 seconds 79% indicated they leave the site. If your site has speed problems, you could be losing visitors and potential customers.
Page loading time and conversions are directly related. Slow speed kills conversions. Each second delay reduces conversion by 7%. Web speed has become an integral part of online businesses as enhanced technologies have made people expect a swift user experience and they want all the sites to behave in the same manner
If you want to maximize your sales and increase conversion rates you will need to ensure your web site loads quickly.
Here are a few tips to decrease your web page loading time:
Browser Caching:
While visiting a site for the first time, the user’s web browser needs to request all of the scripts, images and other files from the server.
This process tends to add loading time and will happen every time the site is visited if browser caching isn’t enabled. Implement browser caching so that the information is stored in the browser and your users can bypass this process.
Image Optimization:
Images available on a site are pretty much like weights. The more images there are on your site the greater the loading process. Reduce the size of your images by rescaling and resizing them.
Content Delivery Network:
If your site is popular and has a lot of images, you may want to implement a content delivery network (CDN). CDN’s help by serving web site pages according to the geographic location of the user.
Clarify Browser and Redirects:
Ensure your site does not contain an inordinate amount of 301 redirects as this can confuse the web browser software and slow down the user experience.
Keep the JavaScript below the Fold:
Take advantage of the fact that JavaScript files tend to get loaded after your pages do. If you keep these files above the fold, you are forcing users to wait for them to load before they can interact with your site. If possible, keep them lower on the page to reduce the apparent loading time.
If you would like to speak to one of our consultants about optimizing your web site speed, please contact-us for a free web site speed analysis.