Is your website not performing as you wish, but you don't want to go through the expense of rebuilding it? The good news is that you don't always need to rebuild your site to see improved results. Many websites benefit from strategic updates designed to improve user engagement, usability, and speed.
At Grapelight, we have put together five ways to improve your website performance without rebuilding it:
When your images are large and uncompressed, they slow down your website. These are large files that require more data to be transferred, delaying loading, while draining bandwidth.
This is a relatively easy fix. You start by using an image compression tool, reducing the images file size, helping them load faster without negatively impacting visual quality. We also recommend using formats such as AVID or WebP, which are smaller, offering faster loading.
Plugins are what makes WordPress a strong choice, but at the same time, they slow down your website, and can cause conflicts. You want to remove any unused or outdated plugins. Your installed plugins are marked in yellow, telling you if they are outdated or a new update is available.
Look for any plugins that state they are inactive. This means you are not using them, yet they can still slow down your website, while posing security risks. Consider replacing any bulky plugins with lightweight alternatives, these should be reputable plugins from trusted sources.
Speed is an important factor when it comes to user experience. A one second delay can increase your bounce rates. When you install a caching plugin, minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files, you can improve your page speed considerably.
We also recommend lazy loading for images and videos. This delays loading on certain elements, until they are needed. For the user, images load as they scroll, as they need to see them. At the same time, a content delivery network can help pages load quickly, encouraging users to stick around and explore your site further.
When you improve your website structure, you can improve your rankings in search results, while providing seamless navigation for your visitors. This involves cleaning up your URL's, ensuring they are concise, descriptive, and keyword rich. Ensure you always use proper heading tags (H1,H2, etc) to organise your content, while helping your readers skim through the content easily.
Take the time to improve your internal links, helping to guide users and search engines effectively. Add Alt text to your images, and use descriptive meta tags helping to improve accessibility.
Outdated content, along with unclear calls to action can dramatically reduce your website performance. A few simple updates can make a major difference. Reviewing and refreshing content on your key pages with new headings, subheadings, keywords, and images can make a big difference. Ensure your CTAs are clear and compelling, encouraging users to take the next step.
Go through your content, ensuring your content reflects your current services, pricing, and contact information. This is also an importuning to add new and fresh customer testimonials, case studies, and blog content.
The good thing is that most of the time you can improve website performance without having to build your website from scratch. Yes, there are times when your site may need an overhaul, but this is not a regular thing. Rather focus on optimising your images, adding new content, and cleaning up your site. If you need assistance, the Grapelight team are standing by to assist. Contact us today to find out how.
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