Today it's possible to put together a pretty impressive company website, complete with all manner of digital bells and whistles. But in doing so it's important to remember that not all of your customers have access to a high speed broadband connection. When using your 'no-holds-barred' site, users lacking lightning fast connections may suffer long load times. At worst, they may click away in search of your less fancy competitors.
While you should of course incorporate modern design elements into your website, it's important to find a balance between creating a slick website, and one that won't put too much of a demand on slower connections. Here are five tips for reducing page load times:
#1 - Check your speed
When trying to improve load times its important to check your progress along the way and see how much difference your improvements are making. There are many useful online tools which will help you in this, and Google's 'PageSpeed Insights will give you personalised tips on how your site's speed can be improved.
#2 - Find the optimal resolution for images and graphics
Images can increase load times significantly. In order to reduce load times while maintaining the quality of your images, it's essential to use compressed formats (such as.gif,.jpg and.png), and to use the lowest image resolution and size that will still look good. As a general rule, the higher the resolution and the larger the image, the bigger the file will be that is downloaded to the user's computer.
#3 - Don't use Flash
Though it can deliver some attractive and innovative results, Flash can result in long load times on slower connections. On top of this, if the user doesn't have the latest drivers installed this can result in further annoyance and delays.
#4 - Don't use unnecessary code
The leaner the code, the faster the load. Eliminate any unnecessary website code, and use more efficient methods where possible.
#5 - Use browser caching
Changing the 'expires headers' on your web pages can have a substantial impact on load times. These effectively tell Internet browsers such as IE and Chrome whether they can retrieve images and other resources from their own cache, or whether they must be retrieved directly from your website. This is most effective if you have lots of static content.
If you're concerned about your websites load times and your visitors browsing experience, speak to your web design agency to ensure that your website is delivering on all counts.
View Google's 'PageSpeed Insights here: www.pagespeed.googlelabs.com
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