In 2018, the entire internet buzzed with the news of Google’s speed update. Website owners were frantic about improving their load times. We can notice the overall speed improvement if we look at mobile pages. The average mobile load times went from 22 to 15 seconds in 2018 alone.
This year, websites will get even faster. Forget about the average 9.3 seconds of loading for desktop websites. Soon, there will be no place left for sites that take over 3 seconds to load.
That’s why we bring you three things anyone can do to prevent any unnecessary speed issues.
Pick the Right Hosting Provider
You can’t run a website without adequate hosting just like you can’t build a house without a proper foundation. If you don’t have a good hosting provider and a suitable hosting package, your site is in trouble from the get-go.
So, if your website is slow, it might be time to review your choice of hosting. Make sure your hosting package includes enough resources. Also, check if your provider is doing their job.
A lot of hosting companies promise great conveniences, excellent uptime, and stellar customer support. Sadly, not all of them meet their obligations. If you are a victim of such false promises, do not worry about changing to a better host with better resources and uptime stats. Migrating to a new host is a very easy process.
If you’re looking for a good hosting provider, the lads at the Hosting Tribunal specialize in exhaustive web hosting reviews. They currently rank SiteGround as #1. Besides that, SiteGround also offers affordable packages, great security, awesome customer support, and many other benefits.
Curb Your Plugin Usage
Admittedly, content management systems like Joomla and WordPress are great for people who don’t have the time to learn to code. You can create whatever you want at a click of a button and there is a plugin for just about anything.
This is both a blessing and a curse. Sure, plugins are useful. However, plugins require server resources to work.
I’m sure you see the problem. Too many plugins spend too many resources, leading to poor performance.
Delete all plugins you don’t use and your site speed will improve. There are no drawbacks. You can install the plugins again if you need them.
Optimize Images
Images are usually the largest page element—they add the most bulk to a web page. The problem is larger pages take longer to send.
You want to reduce image size as much as possible without compromising quality. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to get suggestions on how to optimize images.
An image editor with an option to optimize for web, like Adobe Photoshop, usually does the trick. Alternatively, you can upload images on Compressor.io and let it optimize them.
Don’t forget that you should also optimize images for the mobile version of your website. As mobile phones and tablets don’t have large screens like desktop computers, there’s no need for users to waste time downloading large images to view them on a tiny screen.
Conclusion
There are many ways to make your website faster. These are just the three things anyone can do to improve their load times.
If you’re interested in learning more about website speed, don’t miss out on the infographic below. It has everything you need to understand how website speed works.