Previously, enormous emphasis were given on the fact that fast websites can bring more profit. It is a fact that is quite well known to all, instead of that the fact is constantly overlooked. There are many people who focuses much on the functionality or the design of the website so much so that they forget the websites major influence on the conversion rates. When it comes to improving the speed of your website, it can be a daunting task. You need to determine different page speed sucking areas and cut them down at the same time. However, thanks to some web page optimization tools out there that can help us out in these endeavour.
When website’s page speed is improved it helps in the conversion rate. Also, it can have a huge positive on the search engine as well. There are many websites out there which totally neglect the initiatives which can improve page speed and thus help in increasing the site quality, for example security audits and routine website maintenance. If the page speed can be improved overall it can help in increasing the amount of search traffic that is coming to your site and in the process the chances of traffic converting into paying customers also increase. When you are creating content for your website make sure that you consider the load time. Here we have come up with a list of few tools that can help you in website performance optimisation.
Tools for measuring page speed
It is not possible to know how to improve your website speed until and unless you start measuring the website’s load time. There are numerous tools available. Here we have come up with few of them.
Pingdom Website Speed Test
Pingdom can provide a fast and simple measurement of your website’s speed. This tool also helps you determine what all are causing slow load time.
GTmetrix Performance Report
GTmetrix can provide reports on what is contributing to your page loading speed. When you click on each element you will be able to get recommendations on what you need to get improved.
Google Chrome – Inspect Element
If you are willing to see major contributors of your page speed within the browser you are using then opt for Inspect Element tool for Chrome. Although it gives the same waterfall view as that of Pingdom and GTmetrix but it will stay at the bottom of your browser on the page you are analysing instead of visiting a different website.
What can be improved?
These tools basically tell you that your load times are bad but they don’t tell you where you need to go from there. Again, fortunately there are some more tools available that can help you start the process. If you have never looked for improving your website performance yourself, it’s high time you do so. There are some simple fixes which can boost your site. However, few tools can get a bit technical, thus if you are not aware of javascript or how to edit the server setting you are using. It’s best you don’t mess around with them until and unless you are confident enough to make those changes.
Image optimisation Tools
Resizing an image in Photoshop
● Resizing an image in Paint
● Resizing an image in Microsoft Picture Manager
● Pixlr
● Web Resizer
● Shrink Pictures
● Pic Resize
Image Compression Tools
● Kraken.io (pictured above)
● TinyPNG
● An additional way to do this is with the PageSpeed Insights tool within the Google Chrome extension.
CSS Sprite Tools
● Spritecow
● SpritePad
Technical Optimization tools
● W3 Total Cache
● CloudFlare
