Page load time - optimization

[TrafficKitty]

After the latest Google update I decided to come with a fresh domain and start optimizing my site (errors, load time, etc).

I tried to compare with other people from the industry and I'm amazed. Some of the websites are really great in terms of graphics, plugins, etc. and their page load time is really low.

Would you mind sharing your optimization secrets? if using plugins, services, etc. I've been working hard but still cannot make it to that "Guru optimization level"

hahahaha thanks for sharing!

 

[Online18Casino]

Are you using wordpress? If so check out: codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Optimization/WordPress_Performance as It provides some great tips for getting started. On top of what that page recommends I also use Super WP Cache. You can even combine that with a content delivery network to serve your images faster off site.

Also don't forget the basics.. If your site is running on a slow web host, that can be some of the problem. Also make sure your using a well coded theme.

 

[edgarf76]

that is useful. I have a lot of plugins that I deactivated but did not delete. Regarding the plugin smush it. Is that the same thing as compression? I am not sure if it is a jpeg or gif but i believe when one of them gets compressed they loose quality. Does any one have experiance with this?

 

[mattsgame]

I use this site GTmetrix to test my speed performance, not sure if its a good indicator but I have improved my speed significantly.

I currently use the following plugins.

• WP Smush.it
• Better WordPress Minify
• WP Super Cache
• CloudFlare (not essential but helps)

The other thing I do is try to never use more than 4 flash banners (.GiF) per page. These tend to load slowly, instead I grab a single GIF image from the banners available at the affiliate program and open them in Photoshop to extract just the 1 image. If you do not have Photoshop or feel lazy (I do sometimes) then use this site Gif Extract to extract single images form a .GIF.

that is useful. I have a lot of plugins that I deactivated but did not delete. Regarding the plugin smush it. Is that the same thing as compression? I am not sure if it is a jpeg or gif but i believe when one of them gets compressed they loose quality. Does any one have experiance with this?

I love smush.it and have not seen any loss of quality, I try and have all my images either .PNG or .GIF. The plugin just uses Yahoo's APIYslow/SmushIT. You can do images directly from the Yahoo site, also remember the maximum upload size is 1mb.

I do not use the Bulk or Auto smush feature as these seem to hang and if the servers are under load it can stuff up.

 

[edgarf76]

I use this site GTmetrix to test my speed performance, not sure if its a good indicator but I have improved my speed significantly.

I currently use the following plugins.

• WP Smush.it
• Better WordPress Minify
• WP Super Cache
• CloudFlare (not essential but helps)

The other thing I do is try to never use more than 4 flash banners (.GiF) per page. These tend to load slowly, instead I grab a single GIF image from the banners available at the affiliate program and open them in Photoshop to extract just the 1 image. If you do not have Photoshop or feel lazy (I do sometimes) then use this site Gif Extract to extract single images form a .GIF.



I love smush.it and have not seen any loss of quality, I try and have all my images either .PNG or .GIF. The plugin just uses Yahoo's APIYslow/SmushIT. You can do images directly from the Yahoo site, also remember the maximum upload size is 1mb.

I do not use the Bulk or Auto smush feature as these seem to hang and if the servers are under load it can stuff up.

Awesome information, thank you. Do you know besides my own computers, how can i test my website speed for deskop, mobile, tablet, ext..?

 

[Online18Casino]

Try gtmetrix.com as it will tell you what you can improve on and give each area of your site a score.. I had a better one bookmarked somewhere just for wordpress, but I can't find it of course. For mobile, tablet and such their are a lot of tools, just Google them.

 

[winnersmedia]

If you really want to speed up page rendering time for the user consider also looking at the following:

- Setting up expires headers on your server for images and other files that very rarely change e.g in your template
- try not to have too many javascript and css includes in between your head tags. preferably you want to have a maximum of 2. If you cannot get round this then serving those files from different URL's will increase the page rendering time.
- try serving up files from a CDN, if not try setting up multiple sub-domains with the purpose of serving just images or css. e.g myjs.mysite.com/jsinclude.js mybanners.mysite.com/casino-site.gif
- in css make sure you dont call too many images try using CSS sprites to minimise on requests.

 

[mikebuchanan12]

1. having 1 CSS would be best
2. Using CDN for your pictures would speed up a lot
3. Get a VPS and use cach modules
4. Use wordpress caching plugins like those advised above.
5. Anything flash and blinking and etc, is nice but bad for SEO and user experience if you ask me, in this business clear design, smart positioning of call to actions, proper UX targeted design would do miracles+the speed.

 

[edgarf76]

Thank you guys, @mike I spoke to my hosting company about a vps, currently all of my sites are on the same hosting plan except one. They told me that I would get three unique ip address. Do you think that is a better option? Will Having a different IP affect my currently rankings?

 

[mikebuchanan12]

Thank you guys, @mike I spoke to my hosting company about a vps, currently all of my sites are on the same hosting plan except one. They told me that I would get three unique ip address. Do you think that is a better option? Will Having a different IP affect my currently rankings?

Different IPs wont affect your ranks, but will help you to get rid of bad neighborhood when you use shared IPs, if you intend to link between your websites different IP is a must with different C class of it. The goal of VPS - preferably fully managed by the provider is to speed up the websites hosted with cach modules and etc. the dedicated IPs are a bonus

 

[TrafficKitty]

Wow such cool tips! thanks for the info!!!!