Website Speed Matters: How to Optimize Your Site for Faster Loading Times

Have you ever clicked on a website that felt like it took 10 years to load? After an eternity (5-7 seconds) of waiting for the site to load, you probably decided to search for a new site to get information, right? That’s exactly why it’s important to optimize your website’s loading speed.

The Importance Of Website Speed

Every second counts when it comes to website speed. After only 3 seconds, the bounce rate probability is 32%. And after only 5 seconds, the bounce rate increases to a staggering 90% probability.

In other words, if your site takes more than 1-3 seconds to load, visitors will likely leave your site and find services elsewhere.

Fast loading speeds are important on all the pages of your website, not just the home or landing page. If your website is slow as visitors are navigating the other pages, they’ll likely leave the site too.

One of the biggest goals for your website should be to increase your website’s traffic and engagement while decreasing your bounce rate, or the number of visitors that immediately leave your website after clicking on it.

How To Increase Your Website’s Loading Speed

Decreasing bounce rate and increasing your website’s speed can sound like a difficult task, however, there are many ways to optimize your site for faster loading times that are quite simple.

Let’s take a look at some easy improvements you can make that will increase your engagement and keep people on your site.

Choose A Good Hosting Provider

Your hosting provider plays a large role in your website’s performance and speed. When choosing a hosting provider, it’s important to veer away from choosing the cheapest option.

While these options can be tempting, cheap hosting often results in shared resources between multiple websites leading to slower loading times. 

At 1Eighty Digital, we provide our clients with the best hosting experience possible. Our servers are professionally hosted by companies with secure and reliable infrastructures that offer the best levels of performance, speed, and network availability.

Compress Your Images

Using quality images is important when it comes to making your website visually appealing. However, large images can significantly hurt the speed of your website. 

A great way to avoid this is by compressing your images and reducing the file size. You can do this by simply running your images through an image compression program. 

Enable Caching

One of the most effective ways to speed up your website is through the use of caching. Browser caching is when some of the data from your website is stored on the visitor’s device.

Then, the next time they visit your site, they don’t have to reload the entire website to their device, just new or updated pages.

When your website doesn’t have to completely load onto the user’s device every time, it loads a lot faster. You can often enable caching through the server, then you don’t even have to do anything. They can handle it for you! 

Limit Your Redirects

Having too many redirects on your website can increase the loading time. Whenever a site has to redirect somewhere else, it creates an additional HTTP request, prolonging the response process. 

Some redirects are necessary, especially during the process of rebuilding or refurbishing your website. However, reducing unnecessary redirects can make your website speed much faster.

Eliminate Unnecessary Plugins

Plugins can be a great tool for your website, but it’s important to remember that not all plugins are good. Having too many or unnecessary plugins can cause your site to slow down. Plus, outdated plugins can even make your website less secure and safe for visitors.

To avoid this, make sure all your plugins are well-maintained and up-to-date. If you’re not using certain plugins anymore, consider deleting them from your site. Go through and review the plugins you use and evaluate whether or not they’re all necessary.

Speed Up Your Website

Need to improve your website’s loading speed? At 1Eighty Digital we work with you to figure out how to make your website as user-friendly as possible.

From web hosting services to web design and development, we can help speed up your website loading time and as a result, decrease bounce rate.

To learn more about our process or other services we have to offer, click below to schedule a free consultation with us today.