Imagine yourself as a shopper looking for chocolates to gift a friend. It seems that some websites take too long to load every page. This makes it difficult to find what you need. What do you do? You go to another store.

This is a perfect example of eCommerce site speed. Customers will shop elsewhere if they can’t navigate your site and find the product they are looking for quickly ( in less than two seconds). This means you’ll lose customers who would have bought your products. Who wants that?

Let’s look at the speed of your website and what you can do to improve it.

Site speed measurement

Begin by understanding the current performance of your site. You have several tools to help you with this.

• GTMetrix. This gives you a score and breaks down metrics such as “fully loaded time” and provides detailed recommendations for speed improvement.

• Pingdom Website Performance Test. This interface is more straightforward, with important metrics such as page size and load time. You can also choose a location to test.

• PageSpeed insights. This displays scores from Google split between desktop and mobile.

Multiple tools are best to get the most accurate results. This will give you an idea of the speed at which your site loads, and allow you to determine how optimization can improve load time.

Tips to create an eCommerce store quickly

1. Begin with a top-quality host 

Your web host is the foundation of your website’s speed, so it is important to select one that prioritizes performance. You should look for:

• Server-side caching

• You have enough resources to support your site’s needs like bandwidth and RAM

• SSD drives with high performance

• Software updates, such as PHP and MYSQL

Many times, thousands of websites can be stacked on one server using the same resources, even if they are on a shared hosting plan. Consider choosing a hosting company that limits the number of sites that can be placed on each server. Or, upgrade to a dedicated or VPS plan to have your own server space.

2. Select a reliable, fast theme

Your site will load slower if it has more code than a simple theme. This is especially true for themes that include plugins or page builders.

While it is not a good idea to avoid a heavy theme, you should consider the pros and cons. Many themes allow you to disable features that you don’t use, which can be a great way of balancing your site’s speed needs and design goals.

How can you tell if a theme runs fast? You can run the demo pages using the speed tools mentioned above, or you can read customer reviews to find out what real users think.

The Storefront theme makes a great starting point. It is simple, fast, intuitive, and flexible all at once.

3. Limit the number of plugins that you use

WordPress plugins offer endless flexibility and are one of their greatest benefits. But, you don’t have to install them all.

Speed can be affected by plugins

• Additional HTTP requests. Many plugins can add additional Javascript and CSS files to your website, increasing the HTTP requests to your server and slowing down your store.

• Adding database queries. Many plugins pull data from your database to display elements on your front end. This increases your server’s load.

• Hosting resources. The more plugins that you have, the greater your server resources. Your load time will be affected if you exceed the resources allocated by your hosting plan.

It’s not about how many plugins you have installed. There’s no right or wrong number. But quality is also important. Look for plugins that have multiple functions. Check reviews to see if they are fast and reliable. Also, ensure that you only install plugins from trusted sources like the WordPress.org repository, or the WooCommerce Marketplace.

You can also download the P3 Plugin Performance Profiler to get an idea of how certain plugins impact your site.

4. Maintain WordPress, themes, plugins, and other software up-to-date

WordPress themes, plugin, and core updates often offer more than security patches or cool features. They can speed up your site with optimized code in many cases.

You should ensure that you update your site whenever they are available. You can disable auto-updates if you don’t want to monitor your WordPress site often.

5. Reduce your images

Images can be the most challenging files to manage on your server. You want to minimize their size as much as possible. It is important to balance the quality of images with their size. You don’t want blurry images of your product! These are some great steps to follow:

• Select the correct format. Upload JPEG files unless your image has a transparent background.

• Use only the image you require. You don’t need to upload images larger than 500 pixels in width if the area you are filling is small.

• The compressor will run the image. Image compressors can be used to reduce the file size of your images by stripping them of any unnecessary data or information. Plugins such as EWWW Photo Optimizer or Smush will take care of this automatically. You might also consider using ImageOptim to run your images before you upload them.

6. Consider lazy loading images

You might want to enable image lazy loading if you have many images or pages that are long. This feature automatically delays loading images until the site visitor scrolls down to the place they are on the page. Your customers don’t need to wait for your media to load before being able to consume your content or purchase your products.

Jetpack’s Free lazy loading feature can be activated with one click.

7. Install a caching plugin

Your browser must load all your data every time someone visits your shop: videos, images, Javascript, and CSS. This can take up to a few minutes depending on how large your site is. However, if they enable caching, their browser will save a copy of your site files so that it loads much faster when they return.

This is offered by some hosting providers on a server-level basis, but it’s also possible to use a plugin such as WPSuper Cache.

8. Install a CDN

A content delivery network is a global network of servers distributed around the globe. It downloads files, videos, and other assets from your site and then serves them through its network. This reduces the load on your server.

This is a great solution for any store. However, it’s even more useful for international businesses. If your server is in New York, and someone visits your site from India, the site will load from that New York server. A CDN loads your website from the closest server to each customer. This ensures that each visitor has the best possible speed experience.

CDNs can be complicated to set up, especially if they are unfamiliar. Jetpack Is an excellent choice for images, videos, and Javascript files. It can be turned on with a single click.

9. Prevent brute force attacks

Brute force attacks are when hackers use bots in an attempt to gain access to your site. They can generate thousands of password and username combinations every minute!

This sounds more like a security problem than a speed issue.

It can impact security but it can also put a strain on your server. This can cause slowdowns and an increase in login attempts per minute. It is very easy to prevent brute-force attacks. You just need to enable Jetpack’s brute force attack protection feature. 

10. Upgrade your PHP version to increase your memory limit

You need to upgrade the PHP version (the programming language WordPress uses) just as you update themes and plugins. Each update is quicker than the previous one and can improve your site’s performance.

The version of PHP you use is determined by your host. You can usually change this in your hosting control panel. However, the steps will vary depending on your provider. You can also contact customer service to ask them to change it for you.

contains the minimum WordPress PHP requirements. We recommend taking a complete backup of all pages before you update your PHP version. Also, make sure to test everything to make sure it works correctly.

What about your memory limit?

Your hosting provider has allocated a certain amount to your website’s memory. You may be able to exceed this limit depending on the site. WooCommerce recommends at least 128 MB

Do not miss out on the opportunity to make a profit

Losing sales to people who were looking to buy your products is not something you want. If your website loads slowly, it’s possible for people to abandon their purchase.

It takes just a few steps to drastically improve the speed of an online store. Don’t wait for it to be too late! Get started today!