How to Optimize Web Assets and Cut Load Times Significantly

For many custom web development services, client requirements pave the way forward. While UI, UX, and navigation are important aspects defining the interactivity of the website, page load times are not something we usually take into consideration or underestimate their importance in the scheme of digital ecosystems. 

Once your website is ready, it takes a lot of patience to ensure that it has been properly tested to make the right first impression to users. As mentioned above, load time is an overlooked aspect that really determines if the user will even head over to your website or not. 

Irrespective of the device with a user, the load time of a website needs to be optimized by the provider of web design and development services to assist the website in fulfilling its bottom line effectively. 

Optimized website speeds help in:

• Improved conversions
• Reducing bounce rates
• Offering a better end-user experience

Importance of Website Load Times

For a user visiting your website, the process should be quick and without any delays whatsoever. This keeps the users interested in your website and browsing through the products or services you have on offer. This is why developers try to do everything in their capacity to create a swift website that balances its intuitive nature with quick loads across devices. 

Another scenario where load times are important is when users connect to Virtual Private Networks (VPN) because the encryption and decryption processes make the website respond slowly when accessing it. As the number of VPN users increases due to their need for increased privacy, it’s becoming more important to ensure that websites can ensure the same level of responsiveness and functionality on encrypted networks as well. 

How Custom Web Development Services Can Improve Website Page Load Times?

For service providers, delivering a great website is part of the complete package, and optimized load times come with that. 

In case you are looking to facilitate quick loading times for your website, here are a few tips that can help your users make the most of a nicely crafted website:

1. Make Use of a Robust Content Delivery Network

Storing all the media of your website on a single server can have a huge impact on the loading times, which is where using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can help. CDNs store multiple copies of the website media files on servers around the world. It makes the data transfer significantly quick by caching relevant content at the end of one network. 

In recent times, edge computing has also emerged as a prominent approach to reducing latency. It allows the processing of data at a location much closer to the end user and does not rely on a centralized data center. Close proximity not only reduces the overall distance of data travel but also significantly reduces data transmission delays.  

2. Using a More Mature and Better Web Host

Web development services offer web hosts at varying prices to users for hosting their sites, but this is a good option only when you are starting out. Cheaper web hosts tend to place websites in a clutter, which increases the load on their servers. This negatively impacts the load time of your website pages. 

While anywhere between 0-4 seconds is a good loading time, there are web hosts that offer even lesser load times, such as WP Engine for instance. Having the right web host can really take those load times down. 

Here are some critical factors to consider when choosing a web host:

1. Uptime Guarantee: The uptime of a website is crucial for maintaining its accessibility and user satisfaction. Find a web host that promises 99.9% uptime or more. This means that your website will be down for no more than 8.76 hours annually. An uptime guarantee also reflects the host’s commitment to reliability and continuous service.
2. Scalability: Your growing business will continuously reshape its web hosting needs. Choose a host that offers easy scalability options so that you can upgrade your resources without significant downtime or hassle.
3. Customer Support: Reliable customer support is indispensable, especially if you are not technically inclined. Opt for hosts that provide 24/7 support via multiple channels like phone, email, and live chat.
4. Security Features: Ensure that your web host provides robust security measures, including regular backups, malware scanning, firewalls, and SSL certificates.
5. Performance Optimization: Some hosts offer additional performance optimization tools like content delivery networks (CDNs), caching solutions, and data optimization services that can further reduce load times.

Examples of Web Hosts Excelling in Specific Categories:

• Best for Startups: Bluehost is widely recognized for its user-friendly interface and affordability, making it ideal for startups that need cost-effective, reliable hosting with room to grow.
• Best for High-Traffic Sites: WP Engine offers managed WordPress hosting with powerful tools and superior performance capabilities, suitable for high-traffic sites requiring robust service and minimal downtime.
• Best for Budget-Conscious Businesses: HostGator provides a variety of hosting plans that can fit small budgets while still offering good performance and an excellent uptime guarantee. They are known for their comprehensive hosting solutions that do not compromise on essential features.

3. Try to Use Static HTML Instead of PHP When Possible

As a scripting language, PHP has been useful for a long time for web development. Because the code in PHP is executed via the server, it generates HTML code that reaches the client. 

However, the fundamental nature of PHP and its operation tend to increase processing times for dynamic content. Here are a few reasons why:

• Because PHP is an interpreted language, the script gets executed on the fly every time, which is not the case with compiled languages. The interpretation step adds an overhead, leading to more time. 
• Generating dynamic content with PHP involves a lot of steps, with each one requiring added resources and time in the process, leading to extended processing times. 
• Interaction with databases is what PHP does to store data for dynamic content. The latency involved in this database communication adds up more time in the processing of PHP scripts. 

These are some of the reasons that ultimately, will lead the website to load slowly. To add to it, the present web development practices favor dynamic sites, which makes living with PHP cumbersome. This is where static HTML can prove to be a better alternative to it. 

While PHP is inherently slower due to being an interpreted language, this view may not fully account for the significant performance enhancements seen in recent PHP versions. PHP 7 and PHP 8 have introduced optimizations that substantially reduce execution time and memory usage, bringing its performance closer to, or in some cases surpassing, that of many compiled languages.

Key Performance Improvements in Modern PHP:

1. Just-In-Time Compilation (JIT): PHP 8 introduces a JIT compiler that compiles parts of the code at runtime for faster execution. This feature can significantly speed up performance, especially for computationally intensive operations.
2. Preloading: PHP 7.4 introduced preloading, a feature that allows the server to load PHP files into memory on startup, reducing the load time when scripts are run.
3. Optimized Memory Usage: Modern PHP versions have improved memory management, reducing overhead and increasing the efficiency of script execution.
4. Enhanced Opcode Caching: PHP 7 improved its opcode caching mechanism, allowing better optimization of script execution by caching precompiled script bytecode. This significantly reduces the server’s load for repetitive tasks.

It’s important to note that the performance of PHP can also depend on how it's used. PHP can be just as fast as or faster than other languages for many web applications, particularly with proper optimization, caching strategies, and server configuration. Moreover, the choice between PHP and other programming languages should be driven by specific project requirements, not just by general assumptions about performance.

While dynamic content generation with PHP involves some overhead compared to static HTML, PHP provides flexibility and functionality crucial for interactive and frequently updated websites. The decision to use PHP should consider both the nature of the website and the potential benefits of dynamic content, alongside the improved performance capabilities of the latest PHP versions.

4. Utilize Browser Caching

If every element on the website is to be downloaded by users every time they visit a web page, it’s going to increase the load time for sure. Browser caching allows the user to keep some of their data on the user’s computer so that their device does not have to fetch all the data again every time. 

You can tailor different caching strategies for various types of content:

• Static content
• Dynamic content
• API responses
• Personalized content
• Database queries

There are multiple plugins available today that make browser caching effective, and you can figure out which one suits your requirements.

5. Image Optimization

Website images come in a lot of formats, sizes, colors, and a lot of other data that do not add much to the image as a whole. Image optimization is one of the best ways to increase the load times on your website. There are many techniques that help in achieving that. 

Have a look at some of them:

• Image compression with multiple tools like OptiPNG, JPEGoptim, and ImageOptim. This is perfect for images that need to have their high quality but need to be optimized for size. 
• Image resizing that involves adjusting the dimensions to match the website display size. Tools such as GIMP and Cloudinary are effective at it. 
• Switching image formats to make them better suited for the web in formats like AVIF and WebP is also a popular technique to bring load times under control through image optimization.  

JPEG is one of the most convenient image formats for that purpose. 

At the same time, formats such as WebP and AVIF are also finding good preference, offering superior compression and quality attributes compared to the good old JPG and PNG formats.  

Wrapping Up

If you are aware that page load times can influence the visitors on your site and lead them to decide whether or not to keep browsing, the tips we have mentioned above will help you reduce load times significantly. 

Other than that, if you are planning on optimizing your existing website or getting a new one developed, you need custom web development services to look after your specific website requirements. This is where Consagous Technologies can help with its experienced team of developers and awareness about the latest development frameworks for great results. For inquiries, contact us via email at inquiry@consagous.co or call us at +1 (213) 257-8054.