A website is the face of the business. To make sure that it leaves the best impression, website performance optimization is the key.  To achieve it you need to implement web performance optimization techniques. 

So, what is web performance optimization, and how does it make a difference? Website optimization is concerned with the overall performance of the website. This includes the loading time, website image optimization, minimizing HTTP requests, etc. At Provis Technologies, we understand that users expect a website to load in under 3 seconds—making website performance optimization a critical factor that can make or break things for your business.

Web Optimization and Sales Growth

Website optimization has a direct impact on the sales performance of the business. A quick-loading and responsive website makes the user experience smooth. It allows users to quickly navigate through the web pages and complete the transaction. Research found that web optimization has the potential to boost sales by up to 30%. 

If you are running a business online, then web performance optimization should be on top of the ‘to-do list’. This is because web optimization would offer:

  • Quick response time at the user end
  • Smooth navigation experience on the website
  • Builds a reputation for the brand 
  • Few dropouts at the checkout page
  • Recognition by Google’s algorithm 

So, you see how much significance web optimization carries. A well-optimized website brings in credibility and users’ trust. In the long run, this would translate into growth in conversions and sales.

The question now is how to optimize the website’s performance? Here are the top 10 web performance optimization techniques that you should know and put into practice. 

Top 10 Web Performance Optimization Techniques

  • Image optimization: Images put life into your website, however, they can also spoil things. Images take up a significant portion of web pages and can increase the website’s loading time. Compression of images is one of the ways to optimize web performance.  With image compression, you can maintain a fine balance of having those images without affecting the website’s performance. 
  • Smartphone-friendly website: Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets drive over 60% of traffic to websites. Therefore, it’s important to optimize the performance of your website as per the needs of smartphone users. The website should be responsive enough to fit the size of the mobile screen. Test the website design for various screen sizes and adjust the responsiveness accordingly. 
  • Host it well: Hosting services matter a lot when we talk of web optimization.  A hosting service provider may offer a cheaper plan, but it can turn expensive for you later on. A slow host server can significantly increase the loading time of your website. Opt for quality service providers like AWS or Hostinger.
  • HTTP request reduction: The HTTP requests are used to load the content on the website by the search engine. Each of these requests takes time to build a connection with the server. Thus, the more HTTP requests more would be the loading time of the website will be. Further, too many requests can get stuck in the queue and even get blocked. Cutting unnecessary elements and content can help.
  • SEO Optimization: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key to ranking on top in search results. This involves both on-page and off-page SEO.
  • On-page SEO:  This involves improving the quality of content on the website. Keyword research, inter-linking, content optimization, mobile-responsive web pages, etc, are some of the things that are done as a part of the on-page SEO.
  • Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO is concerned with things outside the website. It involves creating credible backlinks, social media engagement, guest blogging, and user engagement via media content sharing. Performance marketing, collaboration, link sharing, etc are other ways to get the off-page SEO right.
  • Technical SEO: As the name suggests, this part of SEO focuses on technical details. Technical aspects like the website’s architecture and design, the URL, and the backend of the website. There is a lot at the backend of the website, like its front end. Technical SEO is all about getting that backend right. 
  • Light Theme: Opt for a light-themed website as you get it designed. Heavy themes with high-end features can put a lot of load on servers. Which means the loading time would be high and the website would load slowly. Users would not like to wait long, and even if you have chosen an impressive high-end theme, the visitor would not be there to see it.
  • Browser Caching: Make sure that browser caching is enabled for your website. Caching makes sure that certain things, like the images, CSS, and JavaScript, get saved on the user’s device. This means that next time when they load the website, these things will not be loaded again. Browser Caching thus optimizes a website by reducing the load time. 
  • Utilize the CDN: Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a technology that fetches the content from a server closer to the user. This helps in loading the website faster. When a user clicks on the website CDN makes sure that it fetches the content from a server that is geographically closest to the user’s location. 
  • AMP pages for mobile: AMP, or the Accelerated Mobile Page, enhances the user experience of a website on mobile. Since a major chunk of traffic is driven by smartphones and tablets, AMP can help in rapid website loading, making the user experience smooth. Being a Google-designed framework, AMP also helps with SEO.        
  • Performance Tracking:   Tracking the website’s performance regularly is one of the most useful web performance optimization techniques that one can implement.  This involves observing the change in traffic as you adopt the techniques that are listed above. Checking the bounce rate, looking for broken links, and fixing them. Taking a check of loading time across different screen sizes. 

Conclusion

Web performance optimization is key for growing a business online. The web performance optimization techniques that we discussed, if put into practice, can deliver the desired results. Careful implementation of these optimization techniques, backed by regular follow-ups and course correction, is the way.

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