Part of my job as a digital marketer is to use my skills to help my various clients to leverage on their websites in order to increase their conversion rates.
Nowadays, users expect websites to be fast. Slow-loading websites negatively impact user experience (UX) which in turn affects a business’ conversion rate. If your site takes longer than expected to load, you’re also likely to see a higher bounce and page abandonment rate as well.
Given that even milliseconds count when it comes to loading time, it’s crucial to optimize your site’s performance as much as you can. You can carry out a site speed audit to find out your website’s speed. However, these can be quite narrow in focus so it’s usually helpful to also think outside the box and make several other changes that might not have been apparent from the site speed audit.
Here are some ideas that are often overlooked but can help boost your site speed:
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Image optimization
Most websites use PNG images which work well, but in order to optimize website speed, these images should be swapped with SVGs were possible. SVG images are quite small and are best suited for icons on sites. They can also be optimized, compressed and inlined if you want to increase your site’s loading speed.
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Making use of HTML’s inbuilt functions instead of JavaScript where possible
The use of JavaScript is prevalent. In some cases, however, it is used for functionalities that could well be achieved without it which only ends up slowing down sites. Yet, HTML has some in-built functions that work just the same, or even better than, JS. While HTML can help you achieve more functionality, it’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether you want to use it to reduce reliance on JavaScript.
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Fine-tuning your networking
Once a browser receives a query from the user, it collects resources from a server and then sends a message across the network and back. This means that even small requests can slow down site speed. To significantly improve loading speeds, you can migrate to TLS 1.3 or just turn on a CDN if you’re using one. Alternatively, you can choose to upgrade to QUIC+HTTP/3 to optimize contact between your server and browser.
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Doing more with CSS
Using some CSS’ in-built functionalities can really boost site speed. For instance, when using CSS, you can opt to reuse similar images instead of posting new ones all the time. You can also use CSS animations which are faster and smoother than JavaScript. They also don’t drag down site speed and performance.
User experience is integrally linked to your conversion rate and what affects one ends up affecting the other. I can help you improve user experience on your site and give your business a much-needed boost. Schedule a consultation today and let’s see how we can work together.