WooCommerce Page Speed Optimization to Prevent Store Crashes

A sale is an important event for an e-commerce store, an event that it wants to maximize. However, what if it crashes down on the day of the sale? Disaster right. Many WooCommerce stores have faced this harsh reality in the past. WooCommerce stores are the most popular online stores in the e-commerce domain. Around 1/3rd of all e-commerce websites online are based on WooCommerce.  The common issue these WooCommerce websites face is of crash down due to high traffic. Answer to which likes in WooComerce page speed optimization. 

WooCommerce page speed optimization refers to the set of activities that are taken to make the website load faster. So, rather than crashing in events of high traffic, your website would speed up. 

To speed up your WooCommerce website and to maximize your sales day events, here we will discuss some effective ways. Before moving towards WooCommerce page speed optimization, it’s important to understand why the crash happens.

WooCommerce Store Crash: Reasons 

The crash of your WooCommerce store due to high traffic during sales shows underpreparedness. That is, the WooCommerce page speed optimization measures were not taken. On the day of the  traffic, the website collapses due to:

• Overload on the server: Server overload is a common reason why your WooCommerce website might have crashed. It is advised to have hosting services from a brand that suits future scalability. If your website has been running on usual traffic and has not been tested for a sales day kind of traffic rush, then it’s bound to collapse that day. Test runs are crucial for getting the adaptability of the website for high-traffic events.

• Heavy theme and images: If your website has a highly artistic or live theme along with HD images and graphics, then it can cause crashes. These elements increase the load time of the website. That is why it is advised to opt for compression for images to speed up the WooCommerce website. 

• Incompatible Plugins: Many times, WooCommerce website owners install incompatible plugins to enhance the look of the store. However, installing plugins without going through the details and compatibility can cause the store to crash. 

•  Bugs and coding errors: Bugs in coding and errors in the back or front end programming of the website can cause the collapse. Regular maintenance and updates of the website are necessary to surface out such errors. 

• Broken links: Broken links are a common issue that we know in regards to SEO. However, it’s not only related to SEO, as the concentration of broken and obsolete links on the website can trigger the crash of the website.

These common reasons can ruin the sales day of any WooCommerce website and invite heavy losses. To avoid these things, WooCommerce page speed optimization is an effective solution. With an optimized WooCommerce website page, you can very much avoid the possibility of a crash during high traffic event like sales.

WooCommerce Page Speed Optimization: To avoid crashes 

• HTTP Request Minimization: HTTP requests are generated when the website connects with a server in the process of loading. These requests are generated to load various elements like images, videos, graphics, etc. High HTTP requests can put a load on the server, and the website loads slowly.

• Using image compression
• Combining CSS and JavaScript files into a single file 
• Deleting unnecessary data from the website 

               These are some effective ways to minimize HTTP requests.

• Utilize CDN: Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps load the website faster by fetching elements of the website from a server near the user. It utilizes the power of the geographical proximity of the server to the user. During the sales day, traffic CDN ensures that each user gets an optimized experience. It avoids severe load and website crash down.

• Caching: For WooCommerce page speed optimization, this is one of the easiest and most effective solutions. It involves storing the copies of the website’s data on the user’s device. So, next time they access the website it loads faster using the saved data. Caching generally involves:

• Storing the static version of the web pages
• Results of database queries
• Saving cookies (files containing website information) in the browser

• Lazy Loading: It is effective in case your website has lots of images or videos. Lazy loading technique simply means that the essential content of the website would load first, and images and videos would load last. In many cases, the image and video content loads as you scroll down the page. This saves time on loading all the content at once and decreases the website’s load time.

• Mobile responsive: Over 70% of the users on your website would be coming from their mobile. Thus, an important step in WooCommerce Page speed optimization is to ensure the mobile readiness of your website. Check for the mobile friendliness of your website by checking:

• Ease of loading on mobile and tablets
• User experience across different screen sizes
• Ease of navigation across the website 
• Visible and well-placed CTA (Call to action buttons)

• Good Hosting services: A Hosting services provider can be a main villain if you opt for the services of an unreliable hosting services provider. To handle the scalability and expansion of your WooCommerce store, you need a hosting services provider that has adequate infrastructure. Choose the one that has:
  • A reputation for reliability 
  • Quick customer support mechanism 
  • Positive reviews for their service delivery

• Secure your website: Make sure your website is secure from all kinds of cyber threats. Google also ranks websites with a cyber secure feature higher in SEO rankings. To make your website secure:

• Install the SSL certificate 
• Update all the security patches to the latest version
• Regularly update plugins
• Keep a strong password

Conclusion

A user on your website would wait for just 3 seconds for it to load. Thus, you have a 3-second window to get your website loaded and convert the user. Given the situation, it becomes important that your WooCommerce page speed optimization is done in advance. With the above-discussed techniques, Provis Technologies ensures your WooCommerce store is fully optimized and ready for the upcoming sales—without the fear of crashes or slowdowns.