Shared hosting is an excellent option for all small businesses looking for a website with moderate traffic. Still, since it’s a starter shared pack, you cannot get the same level of performance and speed as any dedicated cloud or a VPS server. However, this doesn’t mean you cannot improve the speed of the response time of a website with shared hosting is slow. Here is a guide that can help you in improving the speed of shared hosting websites:
Opt for caching
Websites consist of elements that are dynamic and stagnant. The stagnant or static details are the ones that do not change, whereas the active features like date and time display change. Caching involves storing duplicates of static files far away from the shared server so that loading time is improved.
These files are usually stored in the user’s device, in the folder of the browser’s cache.
Enhance images and erase excess media on a regular basis
Most of the time, the reason your web server is slow isn’t due to the fact that the hosting provider doesn’t have a good grip on technology in terms of speed but instead, it’s because of the implementation process and design that you opted for your website.
Therefore, all pictures must be compressed entirely and enhanced to speed up the website. Make sure you erase all such images that weren’t sized or optimized prior to uploading and then replace these files with the compressed ones. It is advisable to stick to the image size of 70kb and wrap JPEG files by approximately 65%. This method deletes unnecessary files, decreases the page’s weight, and enhances the website’s speed.
Opt for an appropriate lightweight theme
Today websites are more advanced than ever, and developers have an edge on coming up with elegant themes. However, such pieces consist of heavy data and take a lot of loading time. However, they make your website visually appealing, but if the theme comprises many features, it is better to opt for a lighter one to enhance the website’s speed.
Go with lazy loading.
Lazy loading is an option to enhance the images as it stumbles the image loading process. This will make sure that the content that needs to be visible on the website is loaded first. The less critical content is kept in the waiting line till everything is loaded. You can also opt for a plugin for lazy loading if it is not part of the theme.
Access to the content delivery network
The distance that any data has traveled on the internet can also impact the speed of a website. A content delivery network, also known as CDN, is mainly a cache that saves the stagnant elements of any website on specific servers at various geographical centers across the world. These CDNs are paid services but enable websites with global customers to perform well.
Avoid excessive plugins
Plugins have the ability to increase the quantity of data that is transmitted between the browser of a user and the website. Having a massive amount of data can adversely affect your website’s response and loading time. Suppose plugins are required for your site, so it is better to remove them to improve the performance. Also, make sure that you erase deactivated plugins if you don’t intend to use them.
Make sure the server is close to your target audience.
Each time an individual click on the website, the server gets active and physically sends the detailed information to the PC screen. However, if the server is on the other end of the planet, it will take a reasonable amount of time.
Therefore, if you know where you get most of the traffic, request the web host to place your website on a designated server close to the target audience.
Opt for a better hosting plan
The best option to improve the speed of your website is to update your hosting plan. An upgrade from shared hosting is usually a virtual private server. It blends well all types of sites such as WordPress and enables you to migrate the website easily and continue using control panels such as cPanel. The best part is it provides you with improved speed and performance and can be a tiny version of a dedicated server.
Improving your website’s speed is crucial to ranking and maintaining user traffic. If you opt for a shared hosting plan, the website may not be as responsive as you want it to be. Therefore, the tips given above can help you tackle your website’s speed with shared hosting.