Speed is the name of the game! When you hop onto your website next, really pay attention to how it loads, how usable it is, and how it reacts to your device and use. A lot of good websites can be bogged down by the excessive use of high quality images and animations. Below I’ve included some helpful tips on how to supercharge your website!
1. Animation:
I wanted to touch on animations: A great way to improve the UI and feel of your website without making drastic changes. Something as simple as a hover effect over a button can help grab attention and increase conversions!
I personally am a big fan of parallax, which means images that move or adjust as you scroll. It can create a more dynamic feel without adding a ton of overhead bogging down your load speeds.
Remember though, not all devices are compatible with some animation effects. Also the more complicated the animations become, the harder it can be for browsers to render them. So always use animations sparingly. Too much of a good thing right?
2. Optimize Images:
Keeping your images crisp and clear can be a huge problem on the web! Why? Because bigger images slow down your load speed. Google is really cracking down on load times with their mid June SEO update.
How do I keep images crisp on higher resolution displays without sacrificing load time?
Lazy Loading: On most modern CRMs you can lazy load images which just means ‘Don’t load the image until it is being looked at’ so your site looks fully loaded super fast! But still contains the crisp high res images you want to display.
New web formats: Newer formats like Webp and improve image size while still maintaining resolution.
Using vector files: SVG or ‘Scalable Vector Files’ can be a great way to display crisp always high resolution (and scalable!) images for text, icons, and clipart! Without costing size and load time.
3. Video Headers:
Who doesn’t love a good video header on a website? They can add so much pizzaz and are a great way to grab users attention. However, they can also increase load times and sometimes they run on too long.
It’s important to:
Host them on a third party streaming service, like Youtube or Vimeo. So you aren’t paying for the bandwidth!
Keep them short and to the point! Videos should loop naturally.
Avoid autoplay when possible, so that users aren’t loading the content without expecting to.
Avoid full width video headers where possible (all though sometimes they just look too good to avoid)
4. WordPress Plugins:
Your monthly reminder to update and purge your plugins! If you are using a CRM like WordPress you need to keep your plugins up to date, so they keep running lightning fast and stay secure. When a developer posts a plugin update, especially for high security plugins like login systems you want to keep it up to date when possible, so that you and your users at risk of data breaches and theft.
It is also important to purge old plugins! Keep stock of what you do and don’t use anymore. I do monthly purges to make sure that when a plugin isn’t used it gets removed. To help improve load times and keep my website secure.
5. Caching:
Do you have a caching plugin setup on your website? Caching plugins help to reduce the load time of website elements, and provide a more seamless experience to users. A good caching plugin can tremendously improve your website’s loading time, especially for repeat users. How often have you left a website because it just wouldn’t load?
My top 3 Caching plugins are:
W3 Total Cache
WP Rocket
Open Lite Speed (If your server is setup for it)
