Ecommerce Site speed is an important factor when it comes to user experience. According to data from recent years, more than 30% of visitors will abandon a site if it takes longer to load. Slow loading speeds can be a conversion killer. This should be obvious from this data alone.
See Also: How To Increase Website Speed in WordPress
We are also referring to eCommerce websites. You cannot afford to lose potential customers, especially if it is your first site.
Hence, it’s critical to enhance the speed of your eCommerce site by making some modifications to your website design. However, unless you’re an expert in this field, you may need the assistance of professionals who specialize in eCommerce website design Melbourne or wherever you may be located. They have the knowledge and expertise to help you improve your web design and loading speed. Yet even if seeking professional help is essential for optimizing your eCommerce website, it would still be best to familiarize yourself with how to do it.
Here are some tips and tricks that will help speed up your eCommerce site.
1. Pick a reliable hosting provider
Although it is obvious, cheap or free hosting can affect the speed of your website. Multisites are hosted on one server and all use the same resources, which can lead to slow loading times and other problems.
If you’re looking for a reliable hosting provider, be sure to make sure it supports WooCommerce as well as any other eCommerce add-ons that your store may require. Many hosting providers include security and caching. This could be very beneficial.
So, before choosing a hosting company, ensure to perform proper research. You can do this by checking out their websites or reading online reviews from trustworthy review websites. That way, you can gather information to help you decide whether your prospect is the perfect fit.
2. Avoid using too many redirects
Each redirect adds to the original loading time. Many shop owners forget about the old links they have and move them along with the new ones.
Old links slow down the process, and clog it up even more. Use 301 Redirects plugin or Safe Redirect Manager to ensure that all redirects are in order.
3. Compress Images
You will need many images to properly display your products on your eCommerce website. It is not enough to have many photos. Images must also be high-quality. The majority of well-known shops allow customers to zoom in on any product to see it better. Some even offer videos. If you don’t, your company will not gain trust from new shoppers.
It is good to have many photos to highlight what you offer. However, it can slow down the site. There are many options to compress images in order to optimize their quality for on-site usage. There are many plugins that can optimize your photos depending on the needs of your site. The plugins that you can count upon for image optimization include EWWW Image Optimizer, Compress JPEG and PNG images.
Optimizing the images on your website can ensure the web pages have a faster loading speed, thereby providing the best user experience, which results in improved conversion rates.
4. Choose a theme optimized for WooCommerce
Themes are not universally applicable to online shopping. While one theme might work for a cryptocurrency blog, another theme might not be as well-suited for an online store.
You can either choose a theme with WooCommerce pre-optimized or choose something that is simple to build on.
5. Use a CDN
This tip is applicable to any website that needs speed improvements. They are often not free and may not be easily accessible for everyone. However, if you’ve ever considered a CDN, we strongly encourage it.
CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a way to reduce the distance between your visitor, and the server that your website is hosted on. CDN is important for companies with international customers as it can help improve site speed.
6. Optimize the Database
You’ll probably have noticed that many of these tips involve technical information. If this isn’t something you are skilled in, we’re sorry. Even if your knowledge is not extensive, there are still ways to improve it. You can let your database grow too big with information that you don’t use but have never deleted.
It may seem innocent enough if the store is new, but it can seriously affect your site’s performance if it’s been in operation for more than a year. It is best to install a database optimization plugin so that you can schedule regular cleanups.
WP-Sweep is a plugin we recommend. Advanced Database Cleaner and Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions are also good options.
7. Caching
WordPress allows you to store all of your product information. When a user views a product on your site, the database generates the product page. Your website could be slowened if there are many users doing the same thing at once.
Caching plugins can be a boon. Instead of creating a brand new page each time, your visitors will see a cached version. This supports loading speed.
You don’t have to worry about caching if you are on one of the most popular hosting plans. We recommend that you check out W3 SuperCache and W3 Total Cache if your hosting plan doesn’t include caching.
8. Reduce page size
This refers primarily to minimising JavaScript, HTML, or CSS. All of these elements must be included in your page. The smaller, the better. It is important to keep this in mind when you first create the site. Later, however, you can use file compression tools like G.zip to help.
You can use file compression to help you a lot, and minifying the code can also be helpful. But, this will require that you know how to navigate a few lines.
9. Speed Monitor
Check your site’s load speed using monitoring and analysis tools to ensure that you are proactive in solving problems. These will show you how you are doing and give you suggestions on how to fix the problems that caused your poor score.
Google’s PageSpeed Insights is one of the top tools that you can use to check your site’s speed.
10. Updates are a top priority
You will lose your website if you disregard WordPress, WooCommerce, or plugin updates. When your site isn’t updated, it may cause some loading speed problems, which may drive potential customers away and lose your chances of making a sale and revenue.
To avoid this, Make sure that you are always using the most recent versions of all your software. By making the necessary updates, you can improve the speed of your eCommerce, which is essential for your business.
Get ready to speed
Your products, customer service, and site design are all important, but if visitors don’t open the page, it doesn’t matter. Poor loading times can cause this, so make sure you consider site speed when considering the success of your website.
It’s as important and significant as any other element. Site speed optimization is a practical way to kill two birds: it drastically improves both UX as well as SEO. You must prioritize your site speed and reap all the benefits afterward. These can include making your eCommerce website more attractive and visible and, more importantly, generating more profits in the long run.