how to boost website speed
Many site owners are so focused on design, content and links that they forget one important thing: site speed.

A one-second delay in loading time results in 11% fewer page views, a 7% loss in conversions and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

Think about it: When you click on a site and it takes more than just a few seconds to load, what do you do? If you’re like most people, you probably click off of the site and move on to the next. In fact, 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load.

A quicker load time may also mean better rankings with Google.

If your site is a little on the slow side, here are five ways to speed things up.

1. Optimize Your Images

Images make a website more visually appealing, but they can also lead to slower load times. Reducing the file size of images used in content, blog posts, graphics and logos can greatly improve your site’s load time.

Most people assume that reducing an image’s file size means having to reduce the quality of the image. But with programs like Kraken and EWWW Image Optimizer, you can reduce image file sizes without compromising on quality.

2. Use A CDN

A CDN, or content delivery network, is a network of web servers distributed in multiple locations. These networks deliver content more efficiently to users because it comes from a nearby server.

Website Hosting explains how CDNs boost site speed in a recent blog post:

“By sending content to users from their physically nearest server, site loading times can be greatly decreased. This improves user experience, which in turn can boost time-on-site stats, returning visitor numbers, and ultimately conversion rates for your site.”

faster web load with cdn
Content loads on different servers based on the visitor’s location, improving load speeds and the user experience.

3. Use Gzip Compression

Gzip compression is one of the most effective ways to boost site speed. According to Yahoo, Gzip can reduce response size by 70%.

It works by reducing the size of the HTTP response and reducing response time. It’s a simple, easy way to reduce page weight and speed things up on your site.

Code can be added to your site’s .htaccess file, or you can use a plug-in for your CMS, like WP HTTP Compression Plugin.

4. Minify Your Code

Minifying your website’s code will reduce page size, boost load time and reduce network latency.

If you’re using WordPress, Autoptimize can compress and optimize codes. It also supports CDNs. If you’re not using WordPress, Will Peavy Minifier is an online tool that can minify your code.

5. Eliminate Bad Requests

Use broken line checkers and WordPress link checkers to find broken links and errors that are causing wasteful requests.
error broken link fix
Fixing broken URLs to pages and images can go a long way in boosting your website’s load speed. Broken URLs are just wasting resources and can also frustrate users if they land on a broken page from a search engine.