There are always ways you can work to improve your website optimization. Whether it is making a few tweaks here and there, or do a major overhaul, website optimization is something you should be constantly working to improve and update.
With the amount of competition online, it’s the only way to keep up with fellow business owners and stake out your share of the market. This can be overwhelming at times, or leave you feeling burnt out. But not to worry!
Here are a few website optimization techniques you can try out to hopefully give your website a face-lift, or get you inspired to make other necessary adjustments.
1. Test Loading Speed
As you begin buckling down on site optimization, take a look at your website’s speed. Load your website to see where you might be losing speed or bottle-necking. Next, decide how fast you want your website to load and then make the necessary adjustments. If your website is really behind, you may need to budget more for your connection speed.
2. Reduce HTTP Requests
Besides a better connection speed, you can speed up your loading time by reducing the HTTP requests. It may not seem like much but it really makes a big impact on your web page optimization. In fact, if you can only accomplish one website optimization technique, this should be it.
3. Compress Files
As you went over the results of your website speed, you may have noticed that some files or elements of your website are really slowing down the speed. One way to combat this is to compress files to reduce code. Your website will be much more responsive, which site visitors always appreciate.
4. Lossy Compression
To go further into file compression, try a lossy compression techniques which will remove non-essential header info. The image quality will also be lowered on high-res pictures. This may sound like a bad thing, but viewers aren’t able to notice the difference. In the end, it’s just helping your site become faster.
5. Optimize Images
While part of lossy compression, don’t forget to focus solely on image optimization as well. Images are a major draw to your website for many visitors, and an important aspect of marketing. However, images can really bog down your website. An important element of website optimization is to also optimize your images. There are many tools available to help cut down on the size of your image while maintaining the quality to a degree that you won’t’ notice much of a difference.
These are just a few website optimization techniques that can help you make the most of your website. If you’re looking to do more there are many free site optimization or other affordable resources online. Yoast Plugin, for example, handles the technical optimization of your site. There are other website optimization services available with more personalized approaches.
One of the best ways to improve your website optimization is by hiring a professional SEO consultant or marketing firm to take on the technical side of website optimization. No matter which option you choose, continue to push your business’ success by optimizing your website regularly.