Performance on Shared Hosting : Performance is of utmost importance when hosting websites on shared servers, such as those managed by ISPs like Comcast. There are steps you can take to optimize its performance on such shared hosts.
From finding the ideal hosting provider to optimizing code and images on your site, there are eight simple tips that can make an immediate difference to the performance of a website hosted on shared servers. This article will go over these strategies so that your website runs faster and smoother – giving your visitors an improved user experience.
Performance On Shared Hosting
1. Enable Gzip Compression
Gzip is a compression algorithm used to compress data before it is sent from a server to its recipient. By compressing, less bandwidth is required for data transfer, speeding up its delivery. Gzip can be applied to files like CSS, JavaScript and images before being sent over the network – as much as 70% less data needs to be transferred this way! Ultimately helping visitors load websites more quickly.
When activating Gzip compression on your shared hosting account, ensure that you enable Accept-Encoding header for clients to decode data. However, turning on Gzip can have adverse repercussions for website performance if there is heavy traffic; turning it on can actually slow it down since more processing time needs to occur before processing data is completed.
2. Ditch Unnecessary Plugins
Unused plugins can have a detrimental effect on the performance of your website, especially WordPress websites with multiple plugins installed at once. If any plugins that are no longer being actively utilized should be deleted as they could slow page load times and reduce performance compared to having less plugins installed altogether.
When installing WordPress plugins, be sure to only choose those essential to your website and uninstall any plugins which are no longer in use. With hundreds of available WordPress plugins suited for various websites, make sure you only select those essential for yours.
3. Use Caching
Caching is the practice of temporarily storing the output of a process when it is executed so it can be reused later. Caching can speed up process execution by saving output in either a database or file system for quick retrieval later on; and can be applied to web pages, images, API results etc.
Caching data such as web pages and API results can speed up process execution by temporarily storing its result and accessing it quickly next time it’s needed – especially important with API calls that take an extended amount of time to execute.
Caching API results is an efficient way of speeding up the execution of processes by temporarily storing the result of API calls for easy retrieval later. Some caching plugins that can be utilized on shared hosting accounts, including WP Rocket and W3 Total Cache are suitable options.
4. Use A Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Content delivery networks or content distribution networks (CDN) are globally distributed networks of servers that serve content for your website’s static files, like images, CSS and JavaScript files. A CDN can serve all or a select few of your static files on the website and help speed delivery while offloading web servers.
CDNs can work seamlessly with both your existing hosting provider as well as several others, making set up effortless. As it is a paid service, it is advised to choose a provider who offers free trials so you can experience it first-hand before committing to one of their paid plans.
5. Optimize Images
It is advised that you optimize all the images used on your website by reducing their size to reduce server space consumption and optimize using software such as Adobe Photoshop, Pixlr or Paint.NET before uploading them onto the server.
Once your images are optimized, upload them to your website using the “img” tag to link directly to them on your server. For instance, if you uploaded “logo.png”, this code would link it: img src=”logo.png”> If your WordPress website uses ShortPixel Image Optimizer plugin you can further optimize images.
Alternatively, when uploading images to your website you can select “ShortPixel” from the “Add Media” window and then use its Optimize button to optimize them before uploading. This plugin works by clicking a button which optimizes images when uploaded onto servers
6. Install A Lightweight Theme
When selecting a theme for your website, ensure it is lightweight to avoid negatively affecting its performance. A lightweight theme uses less resources such as Java Script scripting files and images and should use less bandwidth overall compared with heavier themes. These types of themes are especially helpful if running your site on shared hosting as they will reduce load times significantly.
When selecting a WordPress theme for your website, when selecting its size it’s essential that you take note of its “Complete Theme Size” value under its “Theme Details” section on your dashboard. This value displays its size in Kilobytes (KB). Also take into consideration how many CSS and JavaScript files are included with it and ensure it contains only essential files.
7. Optimize Your Database
A shared hosting account doesn’t provide much space on the server, so optimizing your database is crucial for keeping things running smoothly. When adding new content to your website, it is wise to delete old blog posts, articles or images no longer relevant as this will reduce its size in your database.
De-fragging” your database can be done easily from within WordPress by going into your dashboard, clicking “Tools,” followed by “MySQL,” then optimizing it by compacting tables, removing old entries or even BLOBs.
8. Use Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is a technique that defers loading images and other media elements until they appear within the viewport of a user. To implement it on your website, add a script such as Progress Thru Image script which waits until images appear within view before loading them.
Lazy loading images is particularly useful when they appear in your sidebar or posts’ bottom, where users may never scroll to view them. You can install this script from your WordPress dashboard by going to “Appearance” > “Widgets” > “Progress Thru Image”. Lazy loading helps speed up website load time by waiting until they appear within viewport of user before loading them – helping reduce load times significantly.
Lazy loading can be particularly useful for websites that contain many images or are presented at the bottom of posts; with lazy loading enabled, these images will only load when they come within viewport of a user – speeding up load time while helping reduce bandwidth usage.
Also Read : 10 Best Free Blogging Sites for 2023
Conclusion
Website performance is of utmost importance in ensuring its success, particularly if you use a shared server to host it. When optimizing for shared servers, it’s vital that you select an ideal hosting provider and follow these eight tips to ensure that your website runs quickly and smoothly.