Page Speed Optimization – Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Website

This post was originally published on PixoLabo

Face it! Nobody Will Wait for Your Slow Website

How fast does your website load? Both search engines and human consumers require websites and e-commerce stores to load in 3 seconds or less. Unfortunately, many consumer websites fall well short of that mark, which leaves you precisely one option: website page speed optimization. Let's take a look at what website page optimization means, how it works, what business and website owners need to consider, and how to get started. The rest is up to you. Better hurry! Consumers are waiting!

Does this sound familiar?

You come across this link to a website that features content that interests you. You can't wait to see more. But the damn site is not loading. Of yes, you get that little spinner thingy! But that's not what you want, is it? You want the actual site content. Somewhat patiently, you wait and wait, and after about 4-8 seconds, you end up leaving. And that website you were trying to open? That just became another victim of lacking website page speed optimization!

The average time it takes to load the average mobile landing page is 22 seconds. However, research also indicates 53% of people will leave a mobile page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Google

Here is what's going on. Google considers page speed as one of its search ranking factors. Simply put, slow websites are going to drop down so far in rankings as to be virtually useless. It does not matter how awesomely cool, super innovative, or fantastically awesome your website and content are. If your site does not load visitors will not see it, will they? That is why website page speed optimization is essential if you want to meet your business objectives.

What Makes a Slow Website?

There are many reasons why a website or page is loading slowly. Among the most common are: 

• Hosting provider
• Server configuration
• Website theme or framework
• Plugins and extensions
• Unoptimized website content
• Unnecessary CSS or JavaScript

Luckily for you, there are several free tools you can use to check on your website page speed and fix any shortcomings and bottlenecks. I recommend any of the following: GTMetrix, Google Pagespeed Insights, and Pingdom.

The Benefits of Website Page Speed Optimization

Boosting website page speed will provide you with two main benefits. What I mean by that is that you can measure the results. For one, improving your website page speed will improve your overall search rankings, and potentially this can be quite a dramatic improvement. The other key benefit of website page speed optimization is improved user experience. A faster site makes it easier for website visitors to consume more content.

Based on the analysis of 150,000 websites, 82.89% have issues that negatively affect page speed. SEMRush

And there is one more benefit of website page speed optimization that many website owners do not realize. By analyzing what exactly is slowing down your website, you can frequently find both outdated content and functionality. Removing the obsolete content will make your site appear fresh and relevant. And by eliminating or updating outdated functionality, you once again provide a better user experience for your website visitors.

How to Start Website Page Speed Optimization

Many website owners and business marketers believe that building and launching their business website is the end of it. It is only the beginning. As I like to say, launching a website is like giving birth to a baby. If you want it to grow, you need to support and maintain it, which is where ongoing website maintenance comes in.

Website page speed optimization can be a lengthy process. There are many different strategies and methods, and not all work equally well for every site or play well together at all. In some cases, website page speed optimization comes at a cost. Here at the innovative web design agency, we were ecstatic when our page load speed dropped to .32 seconds! Until we realized none of our contact forms were loading. Yikes!

My first recommendation for website page speed optimization is to start slowly and to have a plan. The first thing you should do is to make a complete website backup! That way, you are covered in case your contact forms go missing as well. Once you have that initial backup, you can take the first real steps in your website page speed optimization. Yes, this could take a while!

Website Page Speed Optimization Best Practices

You see, there are several different parts to website page speed optimization you need to consider. Many website owners I talk to are not optimizing their website images, and that can drag down your page load speed. Other websites are utilizing outdated templates and frameworks. Many sites do not optimize their hosting environment, and others are simply too bloated to be fast. The list goes on and on!

So, where can the average website or business owner even begin their website page speed optimization? Good question. I took some time to look into this and found this excellent infographic from TechWyse. It shows you the best practices to boost your website page load speed. This cheat sheet is a must for internet marketers or anyone who wants to improve their site’s performance and rankings.

Website Page Speed Optimization

Infographic courtesy of TechWyse

A Few WordPress Tools for Website Page Speed Optimization

Here at the innovative web design agency, we specialize in mobile-first WordPress websites and e-commerce stores. As a result, we have quite a bit of experience in optimizing WordPress page load speed. And over the years, we discovered several WordPress plugins that will make WordPress website page speed optimization easier, if not necessarily a breeze. Here are a few favorites: 

WP Rocket

WordPress experts recognize WP Rocket as the most effective WordPress caching plugin. It provides many advanced features and tools for website page speed optimization. While there are many configuration options for advanced users, it also offers simple setup options for less experienced users.

Autoptimize

Autoptimize makes optimizing your site simple. It can aggregate, minify and cache scripts and styles, injects CSS in the page head by default (but can also defer), moves and defers scripts to the footer, and minifies HTML.

Async Javascript 

Eliminate Render-blocking Javascript in above-the-fold content with Async Javascript. Async JavaScript gives you full control of which scripts to add an 'async' or 'defer' attribute to or to exclude to help increase the performance of your WordPress website.

Autoptimize criticalcss.com power-up

This plugin extends Autoptimize to create critical CSS rules automatically. These rules inject the correct critical CSS in different types of pages to ensure these pages are rendered even before the full CSS is loaded, improving the "start to render time" and user experience.

ShortPixel Image Optimizer

Increase your website's SEO ranking, the number of visitors, and, ultimately, your sales by optimizing any image or PDF document on your website. ShortPixel is an easy to use, lightweight, install-and-forget-about-it image optimization plugin that can compress all your past images and PDF documents with a single click. New photos are automatically resized/rescaled and optimized on the fly, in the background.

Website Hosting

Another aspect of website page speed optimization is your actual website hosting. Especially if you have a WordPress website, you should look into optimized WordPress hosting. Here is a comparison of WordPress website hosting providers to help you decide.

You can also receive two months of free hosting through WPEngine, our preferred WordPress hosting provider. Simply select the appropriate plan for your business, and you are on your way to savings and a faster website. Score!

A Note of Caution 

Before you begin website page speed optimization, you may want to check in with your current or intended hosting provider. Some managed hosting providers place limitations on page speed optimization software or plugins as they can interfere with their optimization protocols. These conflicts can render your site inoperable, so proceed with caution!

Website page speed optimization may seem daunting and overwhelming to many business owners. But it is absolutely essential if you want to provide an acceptable user experience for ever more demanding mobile consumers. If you have any further questions or concerns, I am here to help.

By Gregor Schmidt

Gregor is Co-Founder of PixoLabo, a multilingual WordPress web design studio based in Japan, and has over 25 years of experience in web, UX and information design. Gregor consults and mentors startups in Asia and the US, and is an adjunct professor of design and user experience, as well as a foreign language editor at the Tohoku University School of Medicine. He lives with his wife, an award-winning Japanese designer, and photographer, in Sendai, Japan. When he is not working, he enjoys writing, traveling, gardening, and sampling new street food. You can connect with Gregor on LinkedIn or Twitter