User’s thirst for finding information on the internet is at a all time high and as this trend increases studies have shown that internet users patient levels have been decreasing.
As websites become more media rich it is important that you optimise your site correctly to ensure that users don’t become frustrated with slow load times. Slow load times can in turn correlate to high bounce rates and lower sales. The report also suggested that a sites performance (sales and returning visitors) can be directly linked with page. There are many more theory’s on how slow loading times can affect your business that I won’t go over , today however I am going to give you a few tips on how to speed up your site.
- Don’t use HTML to resize your media.
Whether it be a photo of you office or the header to your site don’t resize with html, always ensure that the image is correctly size for what you need it for. Use thumbnail sized images for thumbnails. Also make sure that you specify the height and width of you image, this can save valuable calculation time and make your page load faster.
- Use CSS where possible instead of tables.
When designing you site think of a CSS based approach instead of using tables. This will cleanup your site code and makes your pages far more efficient. When using CSS also try not to use inline CSS, the use of external CSS is far more efficient.
- Upgrade your server.
A major cause of your site being slow to load is that your server is outdated or under a high load of visitors. If you have experienced growth in the number of visitors you have been getting and have been noticing slow down, it might be worth looking to upgrade your server. When looking at upgrading your server consider increasing your server’s memory or buying a new hard drive.