Getting your website faster: questions you want answered!

Let's hope your website is a real Usain Bolt: That is, the fastest. If your site is on the somewhat slower side, then of course you want a much faster website cito presto. Improving speed can be done in various - often simple - ways. There are many questions about how to improve the loading speed of your website and why it is so important. And yes, there are questions to ask, but would it not be better to just answer them? Combell's Q&A hour is here.

What should I do if my website is slower than I would like?

Optimize your website to ensure the fastest website possible. There are several options that can and will improve the speed of your website.

Apply compression

A helpful method to improve the performance of your website: opt for compression. Compression, or the compression of files, makes your website faster. It reduces the volume of files. It ensures that all pages and resources are sent compressed.

GZIP, in fact, is the most efficient tool for doing this. With this data compression program you reduce the size of HTML pages, style sheets and scripts, among others. But just as well the corresponding pages as your CSS files and fonts.

GZIP combines those files together and compresses them. It provides you with files that are less than 150 bytes large. Not an unnecessary waste, because files larger than 150 bytes slow down your site.

Keep the number of HTTP requests to a minimum

Did you know that the number of HTTP requests affect the speed of your website? That's because every time a browser fetches a file from a server, it requires an HTTP request.

For example HTML documents, images, external style sheets and JavaScript files. If your website is slow, it is likely that it must be dealing with a lot of HTTP requests. Fortunately, there are a few ways to minimize HTTP requests.

You increase speed, for example, by disabling or - even the better - uninstalling unnecessary plugins. After all, free plugins may be convenient and easy to install, but if you don't put a hold on their quantity, you're slowing down your website by doing so. That is because each plugin adds extra code to your website. Which means extra loading time!

In addition, it is a good idea to start combining HTTP requests. A lot of these requests can be combined into one file. For example, instead of six small CSS files, create one large CSS file. A browser will then have to process fewer requests, resulting in a website that will load faster.

Lazy load

Improving speed is also done by slowing down the loading of images. This is called lazy load. Images are only loaded when your website visitor should see them. For example, the image only appears when scrolling down a web page.

Give your hosting a boost

Make your website load up to six times faster, without digging into your programming code. You can do so by activating Boost on your hosting package from Combell. All you have to do is activate the option through your control panel and install a simple plug-in for your CMS or framework. You can also add it to your shopping cart when placing a new order.

Combell Boost is an easy way to make your website perform better. Our tests show that LiteSpeed (Boost) increases the performance of websites and apps by 20% to even 30%. WordPress websites in particular benefit significantly.

The main benefits of Boost listed:

• You lean on more advanced LiteSpeed technology
• Up to 6x faster loading time for static content (images, css, JavaScript ...)
• Extra DDoS protection
• Your website is more resistant to sudden visitor spikes
• And can handle more simultaneous visitors without speed loss
• The code of your website does not need to be adjusted

Apply caching

Believe it from us: browser caching is an efficient way to use your server and your network as efficiently as possible and maintain the speed of your website. Therefore, choose a good cache plugin. Consider W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket or another caching plugin if you have a WordPress website. If you work with another CMS, then the Varnish plugin is a good solution. No worries, as our customer, Combell gives you the best advice on caching. 🙂

But what is caching? It is the temporary storage of certain data in order to reach them faster. By using a cache plugin to store temporary copies of a website, your computer does not have to reload the data. So they load much faster.

By the way, you can rely on Combell for the best server caching. This way, you can discover, among other things, Varnish, the number one caching technology for super fast websites and applications!

Opt for CDN

Maximize the speed and stability of your website and online applications with the Content Delivery Network (CDN). Aren't you familiar with CDN? CDN is a network of proxy servers distributed worldwide, with the goal of getting your web content to your visitors as quickly as possible thanks to immediately choosing the closest server.

A Content Delivery Network offers many advantages. Such as - of course, what else? - faster loading times, much better stability, ease of use and therefore ... satisfied customers.

Want to know more about the operation and advantages of CDN as a network? Let our specialists help you.

Can I increase the speed of my website by choosing a different CMS (Content Management System)?

Yes, because some CMSs are actually faster. This was shown in a survey by SEO tool Sistrix, among others. Systems such as Joomla, Drupal but also WordPress all show different speeds measured. The more basic your website, the less a particular CMS system will affect the loading speed. If you develop your website in more detail, if you make it more 'heavy' ... then it's interesting to review your current CMS. These tips will make your WordPress site much faster.

So in some cases another CMS will increase the loading speed of your website. In any case, you can improve speed by making a logical consideration: which CMS suits your website best and what is easiest for you to use?

Can I increase the speed of my website by choosing a different theme or custom design?

Yes, because just like CMS software, some themes and custom designs are faster than others. Opting for something different can make your website faster. For example, go for a lightweight among themes, without all kinds of plugins. Themes or designs designed to perfection look cool, but slow down your load time. Learning by measure: you can have demo pages of your chosen theme tested for speed with tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix.

Important: Things have to be fast though, don't make any rushed decisions. Because your website will only flourish if you choose a theme or design that suits your project and that you can work with.

How can one optimize images for faster load times?

By resizing the images on your website. Scale them to a smaller appropriate size that will make your website faster. And of course, don't forget to compress the file size.

The smaller the better. 'Size doesn't matter', on the internet you can trust to this. 😀 Websites full of high-resolution images have a much longer loading time.

You can use several tools to compress and resize a number of images. From Microsoft Paint to TinyPNG over WP Smush.it for WordPress (plugin) and Compressjpeg. Of course, Photoshop is another handy tool you can use to reduce images.

Are there additional tricks to further optimize your website's loading speed?

Of course! Combell has ten ultimate, practical tips ready to make your website faster. This way, your website gets the best performance there is.

Surely, you also want answers to these questions about loading speed:

Why is it important to have a fast website?

Because nobody likes to wait. And certainly not on the internet. Customers want your website to load in no time. Rightfully so! Did you know that 40% of internet users leave a website that takes longer than three seconds to load?

What are the consequences of a slow website?

Visitors to your website dropping out and you losing revenue. With a website that works slowly, you are not activating your customers. So your conversion rate (visitors who proceed to action) is too low, while your bounce rate (visitors who leave your site immediately) is much higher.

Google of major importance

Making your website faster translates to ranking better in Google's search results. You can safely call it a Google ranking factor that should not be underestimated. Fast and technically advanced websites rank better in Google's search results. Slow sites get a lower position from search engines.

A better result in the most used search engine is extremely important. Googling visitors will be able to retrieve your business much faster. A maximum score has a huge impact on your brand awareness and gets you new customers.

Those potential customers surf to your site or webshop via a browser. A Google browser will consider slow websites "down," which is as bad as being completely offline.

Wait, there's more! Google Chrome penalizes slow websites with a warning message. That way, your visitors get thrown right in their faces that your website is running too slow.

What are the main factors that affect the speed of a website?

The heaviness of your web pages, for example. A website loads slowly if you overload it with large files (such as JavaScript), external scripts, video material or high resolution images ... The number of plugins also have their effect. A WordPress site full of plugins will make your website load slower. Remove plugins you no longer need. Just like unnecessary redirects!

Website slow due to HTML

Pages with garbage-filled HTML code will load slower. Therefore, minimize your code before placing it on the server. That way you get clean code with no bytes taking up too much space, no extra spaces, line breaks ...

There are a lot of other reasons that affect the loading speed of your website. In other words, sometimes there is little or nothing you can do about it yourself. Even a visitor's poor internet connection, (weak WiFi) can slow down your website.

What is the optimal loading time for a website?

The faster the load time, the better. A very fast website is one with a load time of 1 second or less. 2 to 5 seconds is an average load time, though even that is on the slow side. Notice that your load time is taking longer? Then get a faster loading time.

Remember that mobile websites should work even faster than the desktop version. The type of website and your target audience are also important when it comes to the ideal loading time.

Can I test the speed of my website?

Yes. There are several online programs that test the load time of your website. Speed testing is done by running a pagespeed test with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom and GTmetrix or by generating a report with Google Search Console. Thanks to these tools, you even get recommendations on how to improve speed.

Is it important to increase the speed of my website if I only have visitors from my home country?

Of course! No matter where your visitors come from, a fast website is always important. Because those who surf to your website all want the same thing: speed. Otherwise, they will drop out. You then not only have a slow website, but one with a poor user experience (customer journey).

Can you increase the speed of your website by choosing a high-speed hosting provider?

Yes, you can. Actually, the choice is entirely in your hands. If a fast load time is essential to you, then you should go with a fast hosting provider. If your priorities are different ( just as your budget?), there are of course other hosting packages to choose from.

At Combell, we offer you the fastest hosting on the market. Indeed, slow web hosting has a major impact on the loading time. A fast and reliable hosting company makes the difference by making extra efforts in terms of performance. So, Combell uses SSD disks by default, an ultra-fast alternative for the storage of important data.

Not only super fast, but also available

At our company, you can not only count on high-speed Belgian servers, but also on fully optimized servers and CMS-optimized hosting. So your WordPress website, other CMS system or application runs on a fully optimized server.

Is the high-speed train known as your super fast website sputtering for one reason or another, or do you have another question? Combell is not only a very fast hosting provider, but also an easy-to-contact one. Our support team helps you day and night. You get a clear explanation in your own language and, of course, the solution you need.