Nowadays, there is nothing more convenient than online shopping. Sellers are now given the option to set-up a virtual shop that enables customers to place all orders completely online. A popular e-commerce solution is PrestaShop, a free e-commerce solution that provides an easy and secure online shopping experience. This free solution is not without glitches, however, as some users complain of the speed of their PrestaShop website.
Speed plays a major role in getting customers for your online shop. With everything available with just one click, leaving your online store could be as easy. A slow loading website also ranks low on search engines, lessening the traffic to your site. Below are some tips on how you can speed up your PrestaShop’s performance.
1. Properly configure your template engine Smarty.
This can be done by going to the Admin Panel and clicking on the Preferences Tab. Go to Performance and look for “Smarty.” Under “Force compile” tick on “No.” Under “cache” tick on “yes.”
2. Enable Combine, Compress and Cache.
On your Admin Panel, go to the Preferences Tab and click on Performance. Under Performance, look for “CCC Combine, Compress and Cache.”
• Under Smart Cache for CSS tick on USE CCC for CSS
• Under Smart Cache for JavaScript tick on Use CCC for JavaScript
• Under Minify HTML tick on Minify HTML after smarty compile execution
• Under Compress inline JavaScript in HTML tick on Compress inline JavaScript HTML after smarty compile execution
• Under High risk HTML compression tick on Keep W3C validation
3. Use a CDN or Content Delivery Network.
So that your site can load quickly from anywhere in the world, use a CDN or Content Delivery Network to reduce the distance between your server and your shoppers. PrestaShop works with the best CDN, CloudCache. This is available for free for users and special rates can be availed for free through the “PRESTA25” coupon from CloudCache.
After downloading the free module, install it then create an account on CloudCache using the coupon. From there, you can configure the module with your CloudCache API key. This helps synchronize your photos instantly with the CDN, helping your site load faster.
4. Reduce the number of images in your site.
Combine the images that show up on your website through “CSS Sprite.” This helps lessen your server usage through delivering a single file on your e-store rather than several hundred files at the same time. This would also require a smaller HTML code, as it turns several HTML requests into a single request instantly speeding up your website speed. Maintenance of this can be tedious however, as it takes time to add new images to your sprite. This will prove to be worth it in the end as the benefits it will give your online store would far outweigh the effort you have to put in combining your images.
5. Check for the latest improvements and updates.
The latest software update would offer the best version of this software as their technicians are constantly working on the kinks that show up. Always keep your PrestaShop up to date with the latest version available so you can be assured that you are working with the best their company has to offer.
