To ensure your website is getting the attention it deserves, it is crucial that you ensure your site is running at optimal speeds. To do this, it is imperative to work with a top server hosting company.
As internet providers are continuing to up connection speeds, common consumers are becoming less and less tolerant of slow loading times. Additionally, Google’s code is programmed in a manner that rewards fast running websites ranking them higher than slow running websites.
1. Enable Caching
Browser caching is the service that allows users to store a copy of your site on their computer. By storing a copy a website in the computer’s memory, the computer can draw the page from its stored data extremely quickly rather than having to re-download the page from the web.
2. Be Sure your Website Scripts are up to Date
New releases of site-specific scripts are released on a regular basis. Script developers for sites are constantly reviewing their code to look for improvements, particularly in ways to improve site speed. The time frame in which these new scripts are released differs between each service provider, so it is important that you check regularly to make sure your site’s scripts are up to date.
Fortunately, checking in for script updates about once a month is enough to keep your sites code up to date and running at optimal speeds. If your website utilizes WordPress, script updates can be found under the updates tab located in your dashboard.
3. Utilize Content Delivery Networks
Content Delivery Networks (CDN)s are large network servers located in data storage banks throughout the world. If you are running a website without the incorporation of CDN services, often times users will only be able to access your site through your web host’s central server. In most cases, this will cause website speed to drastically decrease. This speed becomes increasingly slower as the geological distance from the central server increases. Additionally, websites run through central web host servers have the potential to crash if too much traffic is directed to the server at a single time.
By utilizing CDNs, users can access a cached version of your site from a local hosting location, drastically increasing speeds. If web traffic is particularly busy, CDNs can transfer access to a nearby location effectively stopping your website from crashing.
4. Get Rid of Unnecessary Plugins
With all the innovation in the industry, many new plugins and scripts provide a wide variety of new and exciting services. Though it may be tempting to add every new plugin to your site, it is important to keep in mind that with every new plugin added to your website, the number of resources needed to run your site increases.
If you feel that your website is running at a slower speed due to overuse of plugins, run through your plugins to check for optimization. This involves disabling all of your plugins one by one and checking for resource usage. This can be accomplished by running your site through a website speed program. If a single plugin is demanding a large number of recourses, compare its usefulness to its recourse cost, and consider deleting the plugin.
5. Keep Your Code Organized
By leaving the majority of your major coding such as your javascript to the end of your website page, it allows the website the load before having to render the entire java code. To increase website speed, even more, be sure to include your CSS files at the top of the page. By including your CSS at the top of your web page, it effectively prevents progressive rendering. What this means is, is it is essentially saving resources that your web browser would normally
