As technology advances and the demand for better performance of everything from mobile to apps, business owners constantly need to adapt for digital optimization. Website speed is one such challenge often overlooked until it’s too late.
With that, there are ways in which you can optimize your website to increase its speed while also improving user experience across the board.
We’ll cover some of the different approaches to making your site go faster.
Image Compression
Image compression is one of the most straightforward ways to optimize your website without making significant upgrades or changes. In addition, image compression is beneficial for reducing the load time on mobile devices, as images are often the most critical factor in slowing down a website.
WebP Image Format
The WebP image format, developed by Google, allows website owners to compress image sizes without negatively affecting picture quality. For example, if you’re currently using JPG, you can convert your images to WebP and see an average reduction of 35% in file size.
AMP Blog
Use AMP for the blog on your website to load faster and more consistently across different platforms, improving the client journey across the board. AMP is an acronym for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It takes the core principles of Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. Then, it puts them into a framework that is easy to implement and can be modified for each blog or website configuration.
Accessibility Controls
It’s logical to conclude that the more people who can use your site, the better. Adding ADA compliance functionality always makes your website accessible to those with disabilities and helps users take advantage of your content.
Accessibility controls provide visitors with granular control over the content they can see or experience on your website. You want to make sure that people can make adjustments that help them navigate and view the site in a way that’s best for them.
An audit is the best way to check for compliance. During the audit, all site aspects, from pictures to text, get analyzed to ensure everything is readable by everyone regardless of their abilities. Other ADA adjustments include:
- Seizure Safe Mode
- Vision Impaired Mode
- Cognitive Disability
- ADHD Friendly
- Blind Users – Screen Reader Support
- Keyboard Navigation
- Content Display Controls
The most excellent news is that adding ADA compliance to your site doesn’t affect your site speed at all. More importantly, having this user control capability available at your site can help lift you in search results. In addition, ADA compliance is compatible with voice search, which means you get perceived as a more progressive website.
Plugin & WordPress Management
Websites that use the WordPress publishing platform rely on various Plugins to support website functionality. As a website owner, you need to make sure that you stay on top of updates to maintain a high user experience and security levels.
Generally, the more Plugins your site has installed, the more resources are required resulting in a slow site. In addition, WordPress Plugins can come from many different publishers and developers, so you must have a solid understanding of your current configuration to ensure they’re all optimized and up-to-date.
Reduce Server Requests
Your page speed is directly proportional to how many server requests are made by a website. Unfortunately, with each new request, more script parsing generates, and the demands can significantly slow down your site’s speed.
Implementing a CDN or Content Delivery Network is one of the most effective ways to speed up your site. The network sends each page request from the visitor directly to the nearest server, which reduces load time and demands by routing it before sending the visitor to your site.
Site Speed Matters!
You must take a proactive approach when it comes to optimizing and maintaining your website’s speed. With the number of people who use smartphones and voice search growing every day, it’s becoming increasingly important that websites can process requests and display content quickly on mobile devices.
Website speed is an essential element of website performance, regardless if it’s a personal WordPress blog or a production-level eCommerce site. Website speed directly impacts traffic and engagement with your content and search result optimization for your published articles.
To avoid getting left behind as technology demands push forward is why it’s critical to keep an observant eye on trends in the technology industry. To stay competitive, you must be ready to adapt to changing environments online.
If you’re interested in a free, no-obligation site speed assessment of your website, we’re here to help! Don’t hesitate to get in touch with an expert from Interactive Palette today!
