A staggering 97% of newly established eCommerce websites fall short of achieving their business objectives, and poor website performance is often a major culprit. With approximately 954 million online websites and 3.246 billion internet users, the digital landscape is evolving rapidly. To stand out in this vast ecosystem, it's crucial to optimize your website for top-notch performance.
The eCommerce market, estimated at $1.6 trillion in 2015, constitutes about 10-12% of all websites. The sector's annual growth surpasses 20%, underlining its vast potential. With medium-sized websites costing $8,000 to $18,000 to create and $1,200 to $1,500 annually to maintain, the impact of poor performance can be significant.
Over 80% of users who encounter a bad online experience won't return, and more than 50% share their negative experiences through various media channels. A study by Load Impact indicates that 53% of eCommerce professionals believe they lost revenue due to poor website performance in 2013. Additionally, 18% of online shoppers abandon carts due to slow performance.
To safeguard your online business from these pitfalls, consider the following top 10 tips to enhance your website's performance.
While redirects serve various purposes in the web environment, extensive use, especially of 301 and 302 status codes, can adversely affect performance and SEO. Minimize the use of redirects and avoid bad requests like HTTP 404 errors.
Decrease the number of HTTP requests and speed up DNS look-ups to enhance website speed. Utilize caching options on dedicated servers to minimize delays.
Harness the power of CDN services to deliver static content efficiently. CDN providers offer fast and reliable content delivery from the nearest server, improving website speed.
Configure your web server to compress content using Gzip, decreasing bandwidth usage and boosting website speed.
Optimize website speed by minimizing CSS and JavaScript code. Avoid CSS expressions, which are resource-intensive and not universally supported.
Implement caching options at both the server and browser ends to reduce processing time and enhance response against HTTP requests.
Invest in a robust IT infrastructure to increase website performance, reliability, and customer satisfaction. Dedicated servers and advanced technologies are recommended for optimal results.
Follow the principle of "Style Sheet at Top & Scripts at Bottom" to achieve better website performance. This approach supports progressive rendering and enhances the overall user experience.
Simplify HTML code structure for faster browser parsing. Optimize images by considering format, resolution, size, quality, and SEO features.
After implementing the above tips, ensure everything functions correctly with an enterprise-level website monitoring service like eXpertStack. This service provides powerful options for tracking and resolving performance issues, including drill-down features, timely alerts, detailed reports, and root cause analysis support.
By incorporating these tips, you can significantly improve your website's performance and provide a seamless experience for users, ultimately boosting your online business success.
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