Decrease Web Page Load Time Drastically With These Tips

There is an urgent need to reduce the load time of your webpages because Google doesn’t like it when your site’s performance or load time is below average. Yes, it is true. No matter how well you have designed your website or how much you have spent on its design and development if it doesn’t load up fast or perform optimally, it’s going to be buried under your competition in search engine page ranks. And, this rule applies to all the websites on the planet who wishes to rank high on the search engines, so a site owner/developer must take this as seriously as other parts of website development. Here are the few tips to reduce your page load time –

GZIP Compression

Make sure that you use a web host that provides the feature of GZIP compression as it is known to compress the size of the files, videos, and images by over seventy percent. And, when the data is compressed to that extent, the server response time is automatically reduced. It helps considerably in reducing your page load time.

Load Testing

Taking the time to do load testing is another great way to improve the speed and performance of your website. You might be asking yourself, “what is load testing?” And the answer to that question is that load testing is a way to apply a load to a site and see how it reacts in order to ensure that you’re able to handle a specific visitor load.

Effectively Wrangling Stylesheets and JS

Make sure that you do not cramp up each and every web page on your site, but only load JavaScripts and CSS in external files. So, the file needs to load just once, whenever the site gets a hit. Put external CSS in an isolated part of the site’s location and external JS file near the tag to get better results. It would help the site to take more requests simultaneously without getting affected.

Image Optimization

The best developers around the world agree that images are the primary culprits that slow down the page loading process. If your site is loaded with pictures, make sure to use compressor plug-in on your site or use it before feeding it to the site to compress the picture size. There are many compressor software that is easy to use and doesn’t affect the file size.

Cache Your Site

Platforms like WordPress have plugins that cache the site, and thus, the users can load the site faster. It drastically reduces the page load time while improving visitors’ experience.

These are the few ways you can reduce your web page load time too. There are many other methods you can apply along with the above methods to get better results.

Dedicated Server Maintenance Tips

server chartIf you’re searching for a higher degree of flexibility and website reliability, then you must avoid dealing with shared hosting plans and go straight to a dedicated server; also known as dedicated hosting. This form of hosting offers significantly greater access to various system resources, such as memory capacity, various hardware components and CPU power.

One of the greatest benefits of a dedicated server is its ability to centralize control, which offers administrators much greater access to performance and entire system functionality. If you’re searching for a way to enhance the performance and reliability of your dedicated server, then you should follow these easy, yet powerful, tips.

Verify Server Backup Systems

 Due to the dynamic nature of most digital environments, there are times when an update or alteration to system infrastructure causes critical errors or issues. Because this is a very real threat to the majority of servers, it’s important that you verify your server backup system before enacting any major server changes. The most effective way to ensure your dedicated server retains necessary information is to perform several test recoveries before deleting any information within the actual server.

Monitor Disk Usage

 One of the most common reasons why a dedicated server under-performing is because of a lack of available disk space. A major rule of thumb to remember is to never use your production system within the server as your archival system. In order to keep your system free of previous software limits and various security issues, delete outdated software versions and eliminate outdated emails and logs. If you’ve found that your available disk space is reached or exceeding 90% capacity, you’ll soon find your website and corresponding databases will become sluggish. Moreover, if your disk capacity reaches 100%, the entire server may go down and databases may become corrupted.

Maintain Regular Application Updates

 Another common reason why a dedicated server becomes less responsive is because of an outdated application. In fact, most of the security threats a website may face involve their third party applications. After you’ve updated your servers, it’s essential to review the various applications that are running on these servers and update them as needed. This is one of the most effective ways to prevent malicious attacks or an under-performing website. In order for your website to run efficiently and smoothly, all of its dynamic page elements must work with the server, not against it.

Ensure That You Choose a Quality Host

Picking a low quality hosting company is one way to ensure that your website will be down and that you need to spend too much time maintaining problematic servers. It’s important to understand that in the world of hosting, you really do get what you pay for and there’s no free lunch, so-to-speak. It’s also important to look at a variety of factors when choosing a host instead of just looking at pricing. For example, when trying to decide who’s the best between Bluehost and GoDaddy, it would be a good idea to look at uptime stats as well as features in order to do a comparison that is actually fair and shows the true strengths and weaknesses of both hosts.

Choosing a host isn’t always an easy task, but it can be something that can really make it much easier to maintain your server, or much more difficult, so it’s something that you should really consider spending some time on and doing the proper research.

The Connection Between Online Success and Website Uptime

Regardless of the purpose of your website, all administrators have the same primary goal: to be successful. When you look at the most successful online businesses and websites, they have one thing in common – continual/reliable uptime. If you’re searching for a way to boost the success and authority of your site, then you must actively search for ways to keep your content relevant while simultaneously striving to establish constant and reliable uptime. When accomplished, you’ll soon see your entire enterprise succeed.

The Connection Between Server Type and Website Availability

If you’re relatively new to the world of websites, then you may be surprised to discover that not all hosting servers are the same. In fact, the type of server you choose to adopt will directly determine the availability and uptime of your websites. If you wish to provide your visitors with a stable and reliable experience each time they access your site, then you must choose a server that’s designed for availability, not designed for cost-efficiency. The following are the two most common types of servers.

  • Shared Servers – Just like its name suggests, shared servers are a group of servers that host multiple sites within each one. While this is the most cost-effective option for websites, it’s also the most dangerous. Because your site is hosted on the same server as hundreds of other sites, your site is vulnerable to outages and security issues. Should one of the website be attacked by malicious codes, or should they create a corrupt database, your site could experience unplanned downtime and a lack of performance. This could prove to be detrimental to your overall success.
  • Dedicated Servers – If you’re searching for a stable and wholly protected website server, then you must go with a dedicated server. Just as its name suggests, dedicated servers only host a single enterprise. This provides administrators with not only greater flexibility as their network grows, but by eliminating variables that are out of your control (such as other websites), you’re able to cultivate a stable and reliable environment through the use of website monitoring solutions and powerful server support. This being noted, if your a start-up venture with very little monthly traffic, the annual hosting expenses for a dedicated server may be too expensive to justify.

Website Uptime and Your Business

Modern Web users demand a lot. In fact, they expect a website to be fully operational within a few seconds of opening the page. This proves to be problematic for many network administrators as they must continually fight for ways to increase performance, enhance page elements while securing stability. In terms of uptime and your business, the percentage of website availability directly relates to:

  • Reputation – The digital marketplace is a highly competitive one. It’s also filled with forums and customers who have no problem sharing their experience with a worldwide audience. This creates a very particular space for business websites. If you wish to remain competitive you must continuously monitor your reputation. While there are various techniques to accomplish this, the most effective is to work on creating as close to 100% uptime as possible, and this is usually done with the help of an up time monitoring service, as well as a careful analysis of website analytics.
  • Visitor Conversions – If your website is plagued by performance issues and downtime, then you’ll experience a drop in visitor-to-customer conversions. The reduction in conversions could mean the difference between being successful or having to shut your online business down. Therefore, in order to remain competitive and retain a high visitor conversion rate, you must strive for near-constant website availability. If a customer views your site as unstable, they are almost 100% guaranteed to click out of your site and move on to your competitor.

The Top Reasons Why Your Business Needs Network Monitoring

server chart 2As the complexities of business networks grow, so does the need for an effective monitoring solution. Regardless of your business, networks encompasses three primary elements: collaboration, communication and e-commerce. In order for any business to operate in an efficient manner, it must learn how to maximize the efficiency on each of the aforementioned levels.

Since network communication and performance is the lifeline for many businesses – especially eCommerce websites – it’s essential that these elements are monitored and fostered in such a way to increase the overall effectiveness and performance of your website. While there are many ways to accomplish this goal, network monitoring tools simplify this often complex process.

Elements of Network Monitoring Solutions

 While it’s easy to go into the stereotypical reasons as to why your business needs network monitoring, the most influential reasons deal with the actual functions of the monitoring tool. It’s when you understand what these tools actually do that you can truly see the benefits of implementing a solution into your network.

The following are the most influential elements of any network monitoring solution:

 

  • Network Device Monitoring and Mapping – Network monitoring solutions are capable of mapping and monitoring various network devices, such as third party applications, Local Area Networks, Wide Area Networks, wireless networks and various servers. This can be accomplished with the use of an uptime monitoring device like Pingdom or various other free tools.
  • Immediate Notification of Errors – The moment an error is identified, a monitoring tool immediately notifies system administrators of this error and sends all necessary reports to help identify and correct the error before it has time to affect the functionality of your website.
  • Detailed Reports – As the monitoring tool identifies and records the functionality and performance of your network, it creates detailed reports regarding the health of various network systems. This is essential when it comes to determining the overall functionality of all the various components.
  • Added Level of Security – It’s no secret that we live in a world that’s filled with malicious hackers who desire nothing more than access to your network inner components. If you’re looking for a way to enhance the security of your website, then a network monitoring solution is your ideal setup. These tools are designed to catch malicious codes and phishing attacks that even antivirus software can miss. This is an essential level of security that is necessary in the dynamic and advanced world of hacking.

Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Website Monitoring Solution

Most Web administrators understand the great value and importance a website monitoring solution offers. Without implementing monitoring tools, many systems and networks would remain vulnerable to malicious attacks and a myriad of code and performance errors.

While it’s easy to see the value of a website monitoring solution, how can administrators make the most out of these tools? The final say in fine-tuning these programs/applications are determined by the size and scope of your enterprise; however, there are several universal tips all administrators may utilize to increase the functionality of their website monitoring solution.

Tip #1 – Go Beyond Default Settings

One of the most effective tips when it comes to maximizing the use and potential of a monitoring tool is to branch out beyond its default settings. Configuring your web site monitoring solution to your specific needs is the only way to achieve full monitoring and protection. Oftentimes, if an administrator is dissatisfied with the performance of their monitoring tool, it’s likely because they did not customize/optimize the tool for their specific enterprise. If you’re unsure how to go about this process, communicate with the vendor. Typically, monitoring solution vendors offer detailed recommendations when it comes to configuring specific settings within their tools.

Tip #2 – Establish System Importance

Another effective tip to maximizing the functionality and features of this tool is to identify and classify the value/importance of specific network systems. One of the truest statements in regards to an online enterprise is not all systems are created equal. Due to some system components being more vital to the overall functionality and performance of your enterprise, they should be higher on the list than backup systems that are rarely used. Establish thresholds that are more sensitive to the most important systems within your network and less sensitive to the lesser important system elements.

Tip #3 – Understand What Your Audience Requires

Without understanding what your audience demands when it comes to performance and functionality of your enterprise, it’s almost impossible to establish an effective monitoring solution. The entire goal of a monitoring solution is to provide an environment that’s cohesive with the specific desires and expectations of your target audience. Therefore, by knowing what your audience demands, and establishing your monitoring tool to ensure these demands are constantly met, you’re creating a system that’s not only fully functional, but also one that’s geared toward satisfying your targeted demographic (which may result in greater visitor retention or conversion rates).