Next Steps: How to Improve Performance
The ideal load time for both mobile and desktop websites is anywhere from 1-2 seconds, but improving performance is about more than just loading speed! While it's important to keep your site optimized, as a business owner, you also have to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to sales and technology. Your offer(s), the content that you post, the quality of your site (UX/UI), your products and services, customer support or reception—all of these things tie in together to produce a well-performing website.
No matter how good you are at your job, there’s always room for improvement. If you want to succeed, you need to be constantly learning and improving your skills!
Here Are a Few Suggestions
It’s time to start improving your skills as a business owner. Use the tips below to get started, and don’t forget to keep learning new things. The more you know, the better you’ll be at your job.
Stay up to date with the latest trends.
The web development world is constantly changing. New technologies are being developed all the time, and it’s important to stay up to date with the latest trends. You can do this by reading articles, attending conferences, and following thought leaders on social media.
Experiment with new technologies
Don’t be afraid to experiment with new technologies. It’s the only way to really learn about them and see if they’re a good fit for your workflow.
Get feedback from others
Getting feedback from other business owners is a great way to improve your skills. Ask for feedback on your code, your development process, and your overall approach to web development. Of course, it’s not enough to just get feedback from others – you also need to be open to it. Be willing to listen to constructive criticism and use it to improve your work.
Take courses and learn from experts
If you want to improve your skills, there’s no substitute for taking courses and learning from experts. There are plenty of online courses available, as well as in-person courses and bootcamps.
Practice, practice, practice
The best way to improve your skills is to simply practice as much as you can. Build personal projects, contribute to open source projects, and work on real-world projects. The more you code, the better you’ll become.
Never stop learning
The most successful business owners are the ones who never stop learning. They’re always looking for new ways to improve their skills and their workflow. If you want to be successful, you need to do the same.
Using a CDN
A Content Delivery Network (or CDN) like Bunny.net is a great way to get started with cloud-based content delivery! A CDN works by storing your files on a network of servers around the world and then serving those files from the location that is closest to your visitor. Bunny CDN is relatively inexpensive compared to other CDNs and it's super easy to get started!
While Cloudflare indentifies as a CDN, it doesn't work in the way that a traditional CDN works. Cloudflare is more for proxying your site, protecting from DDoS attacks, setting DNS records, and caching your site on a global edge network.
Tip: A traditional CDN like Bunny.net stores your files on a global network and then serves your files to your visitors from the nearest location.
Plug-Ins
IMG Funnels' page builder is designed to output a static page every time you save. So, if you're using the IMG Funnels page builder, you shouldn't have to worry too much about performance. If you're using WordPress, however, there are a few caveats. Try using a plug-in like WP Rocket to improve performance on your WordPress website.
While plug-ins are fun to add, if you don't vet your plug-ins before you use them, they can slow your site down. If your server* can't keep up with the load, or if your plug-ins are full of errors, your visitors will experience degraded performance. If your site seems slow, you may want to consider an alternative. Extracting a plug-in's functionality** can be a tedious process. The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of requests that your site is making to other networks and use only what you need.
* What is a server?
Your website runs on a computer—your server. It's managed by your hosting service provider. You probably noticed when you purchased a hosting plan that the product (or service) details contained specifications for a computer (or a network of computers). If your website is slow, you can purchase a larger server to improve performance on your site.
** What is functionality?
Functionality refers to the range of operations that can be run on your server. While you do need functionality, you don't want to install a bunch of plug-ins that are going to slow down your website.
Tip: Customers don't like slow websites! If you need a functional website, consider building an app or consider offloading your plug-ins to another site (or sub-domain).
Tip: If you have $40 to spend on an annual subscription, WP Rocket is highly recommended! We recommend WP-Optimize as a free WordPress optimization plug-in.
Images
Image Optimization is the process of delivering images that are optimized for use on the web. If not properly optimized, images can slow down your website, making it difficult for visitors to view your content. If you're using WordPress, Imagify is great for image compression, formatting, and overall performance!
There are two main ways to optimize images for the web: file format and size.
File format is the type of image you use. The three most common image file formats are JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks. There are two "next-gen" formats called WEBP and AVIF that have performance benefits and are recommended by Google Lighthouse.
JPEG supports millions of colors and produces a high-quality image. However, JPEG files are large and can slow down your website.
GIF is best for images with few colors, such as line drawings or logos. GIF files are smaller than JPEGs, so they load faster. However, they don't support as many colors, so they can look "blocky."
PNG is a newer format that supports millions of colors and produces a high-quality image. PNG files are smaller than JPEGs, so they load faster.
Tip: Size is the other factor to consider when optimizing images for the web. Image files can be very large, which can slow down your website. To avoid this, make sure your images are the appropriate size for their use. Generically speaking, you should attempt to keep your images under 70KB in size.
Tip: We recommend Imagify for image compression and performance.
Videos
A quick message about videos. If you're just getting started, you may want to go with a streaming service. Another way to add vides to your website is to use a bucket and an HTML 5 <video> element, but that's an advanced topic for another course. The reason we don't recommend uploading the entire video to your site and hosting it statically is because the browser will attempt to download the full video before loading the website. Instead, use a streaming service like YouTube (recommended) or Vimeo.
Tip: We recommend hosting your videos with a streaming service such as YouTube or Vimeo.
Conversion Optimization
Note the difference between a traffic funnel and a sales funnel. Sales funnels are where you collect a payment from your customers. They are supposed to be short and to the point. Traffic funnels, on the other hand, are larger systems that are intended to re-target your audience. Both deal with conversions.
One tip to stay ahead is to use a tool like Geru to help you visualize and plan a campaign before you begin.
Tip: Check industry standard conversion rates, and if you fall below the average for your niche, run an audit to help you increase your conversion rate.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (or SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct or paid traffic*.
When you are optimizing your site for search engines, it's important to remember that most of your SEO (unpaid) traffic is going to consist of first-time visitors!
According to The 3 Second Rule**, you have a maximum of 3 seconds to capture and interest your audience plus leave them with a memory of your brand.
The next lesson is all about Search Engine Optimization, so mark this lesson as complete and I'll see you in the next lesson.
* Paid Traffic
Paid traffic refers to traffic that visits your site from a paid advertisement.
** The 3 Second Rule
The first time that someone sees your brand, that's their first impression of your company. In SEO, you are mainly dealing with first impressions. You have a maximum of 3 seconds to capture your audience's attention and make a lasting first impression. This is why, for small businesses, we recommend focusing on paid and/or direct traffic—because it's easier to make a better first impression with paid ads, topical content, and/or social media.
The Buyer's Journey
The "Buyer's Journey" describes the process a customer goes through to purchase a product or service.
The steps of a buyer's journey typically goes like this:
- Brand Awareness
- During this phase, the customer is seeing your brand for the first time. This is your first impression.
- Consideration
- During the Consideration phase, your potential customer may have responded to a post or contacted you in some form or fashion. Now is your chance to respond!
- Decision
- During the Decision phase, you have responded to your potential customer with an offer or a quote. It's now up to them to either schedule a meeting with you or purchase your product or service directly from your website.
Tip: Search Engine Optimization can be sort of a "rabbit hole" for many startups. If you over-optimize, you can absolutely hurt your own reputation and end up near the bottom of the search results. Follow the instructions in the next post for best practices.
