Why You Should Perform A Website Speed Test Regularly
The are a few important reasons why you should perform a website speed test regularly to make sure your website loads quickly. A slow loading website will surely chase visitors and potential customers away. It can kill your online presence. How many times have you clicked on a link and waited for a website to load? How many times did you impatiently move on to another website instead of waiting?
I am going avoid getting too technical and stick to the basics. A large population of bloggers use the WordPress platform therefore my knowledge, experience and suggestions will focus on WordPress.
When first started building my website, I didn’t really focus on my website load speed. Being a newbie to blogging and the WordPress world, I didn’t understand what I needed to focus on. After a few years of learning, testing and tweaking, I came to realize that my website load speed was one of the most important factors in getting visitors to my website. It isn’t the only factor, but it should be at the top of the list.
As I mention previously, I will avoid getting too technical. I am going to share a few things that you should be aware of and how they can adversely impact your website load speed. I have seen a few articles on Internet that recommend a load time of <2 seconds. Although not the most important ranking factor for Google, it can still impact your ranking and SEO.
>>Affiliate Disclaimer: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link, you will be taken to the merchant’s website. If you decide to purchase that product, I stand to make a commission on the sale.
Plugins, Add-on and Themes Can Impact Your Website Load Speed
Plugins can be very handy, but some can have a negative impact on your website load speed. I recommend using only plugins that add value to the functionality of your website. There are a lot of ‘nice to have’ plugins but many of them require more resources and might not be necessary.
There are plugins that will show you which plugins are using the more resources and can increase your website load speed. One popular plugin is P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler). This plugin will show you which plugins are using the most resources and slow your website load speed.
Once you see which plugins are taking a long time to load, you can decide whether or not to deactivate and uninstall them. You also want to avoid having multiple plugins that serve the same purpose.
Since Social Media plays an important role, carefully choose a social sharing plugin that will serve its purpose without slowing your website load speed.
I want to mention that your theme could have an impact on your website load speed too. When choosing a theme, check the reviews before installing. If a theme is slow, the users are likely to mention it in their feedback.
Advertisements Can Impact Your Website Load Speed
Advertisements are a means to monetize a website however, you need to be aware that some ads can increase your page load speed and your overall website load speed.
I used to have InfoLinks on my website, but after testing my website load speed, I saw a significant increase in my load time. The small amount of income coming from InfoLinks was not worth the adverse affect it had on my site. I made the decision to remove the InfoLinks from my site for the time being. I want to learn more about how I can use InfoLinks and still maintain the <2 second load time target.
Images Can Impact Your Website Load Speed
Pay close attention to the size of your images. It is important to resize your images before adding them to your media library. There are plugins for optimizing your images. WPSmush is one I use but there are several other plugins for optimizing images. I try to keep my images just large enough to pin on Pinterest, but you have to decide what image sizes you want for your website.
Web Hosting Can Impact Your Website Load Speed
You web hosting company can also impact your website load speed. Many of the lower cost web hosting companies use shared servers which can slow your load speed.
What Is Considered Regular Website Load Speed Testing?
Anytime you install and activate a plugin, add images, advertisements, banners, posts or pages to your website you should test your website or page load speed. Getting into the habit of making it part of your normal routine when adding a new element or make changes to your site will be beneficiary.
Websites To Use For Testing Your Website
I free websites listed below to test my website. I must warn you can the results they provide can be very technical and difficult to understand for the normal person. Utilize the tutorials if available on a particular size to better understand the results and feedback they provide.
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
https://gtmetrix.com/
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
https://www.google.com/analytics/
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
>>>Affiliate Disclaimer: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link, you will be taken to the merchant’s website. If you decide to purchase that product, I stand to make a commission on the sale.
Additional Resources
I use YouTube website related video tutorials on a regular basis. They are a fantastic free resource, but you want to make sure the videos provide the most current information. A video made 2-3 years ago may be outdated.
Udemy is another good site for website related tutorials. They offer both free and paid online courses.
You can also contact your hosting company technical department and ask for their assistance. They have visibility to your site on their end and can make suggestions to help you improve your website performance. If they can’t, you might want to consider changing your web hosting.
Outsourcing Your Technical Needs
Konker is a good resource if you need help with some of the more technical aspects of your website. There is no need to spend thousands of dollars for technical assistance.
Conclusion
There are so many websites that get very technical when it comes to website performance so I encourage to learn as much as you can so you understand the functionality of your website. The information can be very dry and boring, but learning a little at time can be extremely helpful.
I use this website as a resource for more technical information and suggestions for increasing my website load speed. It will provide information about caching and other aspects of websites I did not discuss here: https://hostingfacts.com/how-to-speed-up-your-website/