Creating and running a website is a resource-intensive process. Right from choosing the name of your website, to creating engaging and unique content, to marketing your site, to updating it regularly, to coordinating with your web host for technical glitches – the list of tasks is virtually endless. However, all this effort can be laid to waste if your website does not load fast enough. According to a study by Kissmetrics, nearly 47 per cent of online users expect a website to load within 2 seconds! Also, nearly 40 per cent of visitors abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load! In fact, most search engines include the page load time of a website before ranking it. Hence, a slow-loading site is detrimental to your business and brand reputation. The page load time of a website is directly dependent on the server response time. This is the time between the user requesting information on a webpage and the server responding to the request. In this article, we will walk you through some tips to help you improve the server response time for your website.
Table of Contents
1. Choose the web host and hosting type carefully
The web host needs to invest in a reliable data centre and ensure that it maintains fast server response times. Look for a host that has invested in a state-of-the-art infrastructure that includes a high-performance server and other hardware and software that helps optimize the performance of the server. High-speeds, coupled with reliability, are the basic requirements for a faster server response time. Also, ensure that you choose the right type of hosting plan like Cloud Server Hosting or VPS Server Hosting that is optimized for high-speed performance.
2. Leverage Caching
Caching is basically storing the static files at an intermediate location so that every time a user requests the same information, the server is not brought into action. Instead, the cache fulfils the request. There are different caching solutions available like browser caching, HTTP reverse proxy caching like Varnish Cache, etc. Ensure that you choose the best caching solution for your website.
3. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
This is the time of global businesses with websites receiving audiences and prospective clients from the remotest corners of the world. If your web server is located in Canada and a user from New Zealand visits your site, then the site will take longer to load due to the distance between the two terminals. This is where a CDN is beneficial.
A CDN is a network of servers spread across the globe that carry a copy of your site’s content. Therefore, when a user visits your site, the server closest to the visitor is brought into action, reducing the loading time.
4. Minification
A website, typically, has thousands of lines of code. Of these, there are several unwanted characters, long variables, and redundant parts that can be removed. This is done by the minification of code. When you minify JavaScript, CSS, etc. and compress the scripts, you ensure that the performance of your website is optimized.
Summing Up
Remember, the server response time is one of the most important performance metrics of a website. Follow the tips mentioned above and ensure that your site has a fast server response time. Good Luck!
