January 28th is a day, set aside, to help boost a more secure and safer internet for all users.

Being mindful of how you protect yourself online is imperative. When relying on the Internet for your business you can not place data and privacy protection to the side.

How can you be aware and protect yourself? There are several ways you can be safe online. Here are a few suggestions.

Ways to Stay Safe Online:

Think before you act: Before you just click on links, think. Not all websites are safe. Hackers are ready to reach you through the Internet. They can steal your life and make you vulnerable. Securing your site in the aftermath of hackers is no easy task. Here at WP Security Lock we try to make that easier for you.

Protect your passwords: we always recommend using LassPass. This is an easy way to protect your passwords. It is never a good idea to use the same password for everything. Nor is it easy to remember them all. This is how we secure our passwords and private information.

Safely shop online: When you are on the Internet you really have to be aware. One example, before you checkout on any site make sure it has https access. Hackers are ready for your personal & banking information. If you run a business we can help you set that up. Your customers will appreciate it.

Awareness of your WI-FI connection: Never browse the internet via an unsecure Internet connection. This is really asking for trouble. If you must connect in this way do so with a VPN. This is a big help while traveling and running your website online.

Keep WordPress up-to-date: We run into many situations where individuals & companies do not keep up with their website. Keeping your site secure involves making sure WordPress is managed in a secure way. We are the experts and can do that for you.

It is important to know that you can do everything right and still be hacked. Your information and website can still be compromised. Getting security protocols in place will definitely help and help make the global Internet community a safer place to be.

Whether you need help with securing your site after being hacked, or maintaining your site safely we can help. See what services we provide!

Don't let hackers have the upper hand.

Secure your site today.

According to their blog, “WordPress versions 4.7 and earlier are affected by eight security issues:

1. Remote code execution (RCE) in PHPMailer – No specific issue appears to affect WordPress or any of the major plugins we investigated but, out of an abundance of caution, we updated PHPMailer in this release. This issue was fixed in PHPMailer.
2. The REST API exposed user data for all users who had authored a post of a public post type. WordPress 4.7.1 limits this to only post types which have specified that they should be shown within the REST API.
3. Cross-site scripting (XSS) via the plugin name or version header on update-core.php.
4. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) bypass via uploading a Flash file.
5. Cross-site scripting (XSS) via theme name fallback.
6. Post via email checks mail.example.com if default settings aren’t changed.
7. A cross-site request forgery (CSRF) was discovered in the accessibility mode of widget editing.
8. Weak cryptographic security for multisite activation key.

In addition to the security issues above, WordPress 4.7.1 fixes 62 bugs from 4.7. For more information, see the release notes or consult the list of changes.”

What's next?

At this time, our professional security team strongly recommends that you update to this new version immediately. Be sure to perform a full backup prior to updating.

We can help you upgrade your WordPress!

If you're unsure how to effectively upgrade your site to the latest WordPress version or do not have time to do so, let us put your mind at ease. Our WordPress Security Experts will upgrade your WordPress blog for you!

Today I'm going to be tackling three key areas that we focused on with our clients in 2016… and give you 7 action steps you can take this month to jumpstart your business in 2017.

[1-3: WEBSITE SECURITY]

You might have heard that 2016 was the year of the hack.

Yahoo! was hacked (500 million records), the DNS servers in the United States were hacked (causing downtime for an entire day for most of the country), politicians were hacked, and on and on it goes.

As a website owner, security is important because:

• People may not engage on your site (purchase your products & services) if it's unsecure
• Google Chrome (the most popular browser) is cracking down on insecure sites, and we have seen that Google and other popular search engines do tend to prioritize SSL-secured sites over non-secured sites
• When your site gets hacked, that triggers a chain reaction that can lead to loss of data, breach of user data (your customer data becoming public), loss of sales, visitors trust, getting blacklisted on search engines and browsers, legal issues, and tons of wasted time and money

Go ahead and take these three steps before the end of January to make your business more secure online:

1. Make sure WordPress is up-to-date
2. Make sure your themes and plugins are updated
3. Install a backup plugin

[4: PAGE SPEED]

2016 was also the year of instant results.

People expected to discover, explore, and purchase your products whenever they're ready, as quickly as possible.

Google reported that it will start using your site's load time on mobile to determine your search rankings.

And Google and Facebook both came out with “instant news solutions” (Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles) so that mobile users don't even have to wait one second for your page to load.

The quickest thing you can do to find out how your site speed ranks is to visit Google PageSpeed Insights (for desktop) and Google's Mobile Friendly Test (…for mobile).

[5-7: CONVERSION RATES]

And finally, 2016 was the year of increasing conversion rates through inbound marketing and education.

You can figure out your conversion rate by dividing the number of website visitors you had by the number of people who purchased your products.

A good starting conversion rate for your products and services is around 3%.

If you don't know what your conversion rate is at all, then that's the first place to start. (We're happy to point you in the right direction if you need help figuring it out).

And if you do know what your conversion rate is right now, then take these steps to start improving it over the next few months:

1. Create a free email series for new subscribers (looking for a new email provider? Try Drip or ConvertKit)
2. Add an optin box to your homepage and blog (check out OptinMonster or Picreel)
3. Find out what your most popular content was in 2016 (and use that for content planning this year)

Questions, comments, or feedback? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

Google Chrome SSL Requirements

Beginning in January 2017, those of you who are Chrome users will be notified that some HTTP sites are “not secure.” At this time, when connecting via the Chrome browser there is a “neutral indicator” for HTTP links.

According to Google Security Blog “This doesn’t reflect the true lack of security for HTTP connections. When you load a website over HTTP, someone else on the network can look at or modify the site before it gets to you.”

Check out this video: Mythbusting HTTPS

Take time to watch this. It's about 32 mintues and it's REAL good.

Internet connections that handle sensitive information such as, passwords or credit card forms and are labeled as HTTP only can be at risk. They will be marked as non-secure.

This is not to say you will be blocked from using those sites, but now you will be notified that the connection you have made is not encrypted. Having a site that is encrypted is a REAL good thing. That way no pesky hacker can see anything therefore keeping your online properties safe.

Did you know that on an HTTP site, everything is wide open to the WWW?

Having HTTPS will stop hackers in their tracks. Yes!

To be honest, at first I poo pooed this whole thing but it all makes total sense even for sites like my personal ones that have no log in page, e-commerce, etc. I hear that ultimately Chrome will treat all sites that don't comply, un-trusted therefore presenting us with a page full of errors.

Know what that means? No one will even be able to use our sites. That is not good.

What should you be looking for?

Sites that handle sensitive information and are more secure will be labeled as HTTPS. If you use WordPress.com, you are set. We are not familiar with the plans going forward for sites like Square Space.

If you are typing in passwords and/or credit card information you will want to make sure they are HTTPS encrypted. If they are not then Chrome will let you know.

**Note: Instead of typing in sensitive information we recommend using LastPass. This is the best way to keep out hackers.

Currently there are two ways you can tell if a page is using HTTPS:

1. In the browser window there is a LOCK icon. This is usually at the bottom.
2. The URL says “https://”

Many just overlook this. They plug in very important information and click send without even checking. Is that you? Well you're not alone.

It is noted that Chrome doesn't want users to be overly “blind to warnings that occur too frequently.” However, the plan is to be more clear about labeling HTTP sites with more precision as non-secure.

What is Chrome really planning to change?

“Beginning in January 2017 (Chrome 56), we’ll mark HTTP pages that collect passwords or credit cards as non-secure, as part of a long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure.” Google

This will be a gradual process. But a very important one so pay attention.

First: Chrome 56 will label HTTP pages as not secure where passwords and banking information is needed due to very personal information.

Next: Extended HTTP warnings will continue about not being secure while in Incognito mode.

Lastly: Chrome will, in the long run, tag all HTTP connections with a red triangle as non-secure pages.

If you manage a connection that requires moving to HTTPS, don't wait. Make sure you are secure and ready for sensitive information before it gets tagged by Chrome.

*As of right now, we have not heard that other browsers are making this mandatory but let's just assume down the road they will. Better to be safe than sorry.

It is important to know – moving to a HTTPS connection will not quite affect ranking but Google will give preference to sites with HTTPS over ones still at http from what we hear. There are quite a few steps you'll need to take to complete the process so be sure to do your research before starting.

What next?

You'll need to get in touch with your host and have them install the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate. Oh and you don't need to be on a dedicated IP and shouldn't have to pay to get SSL capability.

Cloudflare is another option and it's my understanding that they offer free SSL to their customers.

If you prefer that one of our top security experts handle the move from http to https for your WordPress website, sign up here and we'll take it from there.

Site Uptime Monitoring: The Basic Concept of Downtime and Uptime

Uptime is a computer technology term for the time period when a server remains online and is accessible. If the server of a website is offline and is can’t be accessed by the visitors, it is termed as Downtime. In general, Uptime is measured in percentile. A server with an uptime of 100% means that the website is always online with no downtime. Site uptime monitoring is very important.

Why it is important to monitor Downtime and Uptime in WordPress?

Suppose you have a stunning and attractive website and you have been toiling hard to develop your visitors and users. Did you ever think what will happen if your website goes offline due to some reasons such as server crashes, coding errors, hardware malfunction, DNS problems, down for maintenance, natural disasters and online attacks? A downtime of a website could harm your reputation, possible customers, clients and money up to a great extent. It will be very difficult for you to retain your old visitors and organic ranking when your site goes online once again.

Actually, It is important for a website to remain online at all the times so that visitors can see it any point of time. Website uptime plays an important role to retain and grow traffic and make leads. Most of the hosting services frequently boast of 99% uptime. But, even a 1% downtime means a little over 3.5 days, which can cost your reputation, possible customers and money. When your website goes offline frequently, then, search engines may consider your website as low quality and penalize it too for not maintaining 24/7 uptime. This article will let you know how to monitor your server uptime in WordPress and make sure that your website never goes down.

Ways to monitor Uptime and Downtime in WordPress:

By Using WordPress Plugins:

1. Uptime Robot

Where to find: WordPress plugin Directory

Price: Free

This free plugin monitors your website’s Uptime every 5 minutes. It asks for your website headers and if it get particular status codes, then it knows that your site is down. If it happens, this plugin will make numerous more checks in the next 30 seconds to confirm your site's status. If your site is down, it will send you alerts through Emil, SMS, twitter and various other options.

2. StatusCake

Where to find: WordPress plugin Directory

Price: Free

StatusCake is of the best Uptime monitoring plugin you can use to find out what is going on with your site. It has user-friendly Interface and it checks your site server/site in every 5 minutes. Using this plugin, you can check Uptime for several websites from multiple locations around the globe. It notifies you when your site goes down and is live again.

3. Jetpack by WordPress.com:

Where to find: WordPress plugin Directory

Price: Free

A large number of people use WordPress as their preferred Content Management system. Jetpack by WordPress.com is a boon for bloggers as this plugin helps them to make their blogging life easier with its functionalities. It acts as one plugin solution for many problems. In short, this plugin can check your website in every 5 minutes and sends you email notifications whenever your site goes down and comes up. The best thing about this plugin is that it is totally hassle-free and easy to use.

Other Ways to reduce the downtime for your WordPress website:

1. Website Monitoring Service

You can use a third party website monitoring service to keep an eye on several activities on your websites. A monitoring service enables you to schedule the monitoring jobs against your website in an easy way. Just sign up with a third party service and configure the monitor with the help of an online form.

2. Use Website Monitoring Software

When you use website monitoring software, it enables you to schedule HTTP requests against your website regularly. It means that you can easily configure the software to check your website continuously and make sure it is available to visitors at all the times. If your website goes down because of any reason, you get notified via Email. Always keep in mind that you must install website monitoring software on two different computers so that if the first machine hosting the monitoring software becomes unavailable, you may keep monitoring your website as usual without facing any difficulty.

3. Choose Hosting Provider Carefully

When it comes to choosing a web hosting company, it need to be careful as this job is not as easy as buying groceries. You have to consider several things in mind. Most of the web hosting companies promise 99.99% uptime, but they hardly fulfill it. Don't believe their words blindly and conduct your own research about the performance and track record of the web hosting company you are going to choose. Always go for those companies that caters to WordPress hosting smoothly.

*WP Security Lock recommends: Liquidweb or WPEngine.

4. Improve your Site's Security

Taking care of website security is extremely important as online hackers cause you a serious damage and increase your site's downtime with several malicious attacks. You need to take all possible steps to secure your site against online threats. If you protect your website from security breaches, you can easily increase its uptime. Don't hesitate to get your site reviewed from website security experts if you have problems in understanding the complex terms of site's security practices.

*WP Security Lock offers monthly security packages and includes site uptime monitoring plus also recommends using iThemes Security Pro.

5. Keep an Eye on Website Speed

You also need to be serious about your site. As site's loading speed is an important factor in SEO, you need to check your site's loading speed on various devices yourself and take steps to sort out issues if there any. When you pay attention to your site's loading speed and its performance, you will come to know the various reasons that contribute to your site's downtime and cause you a serious damage.

6. Reduce your Site's Server Load
In most of the cases, your site goes down because of unexpected chaos in its server. You must take several steps to reduce the increasing load on your site's server. To do so, you can-

A. Reduce external scripts on your site,
B. Use cache properly,
C. Avoid unnecessary and problematic plugins,
D. Reduce the size of your site and
E. Use CSS text in place of images.

When you have a light website, it will put minimal pressure of the server you are using and chances of site crash will be minimized up to a great extent.

Endnote: Site Uptime Monitoring
Website uptime matters a lot as if your website goes offline even for a single minute, it causes you great damages in terms of your site's reputation and revenue. With the help of above mentioned tips and recommendations, you can easily track uptime and downtime of your website and ensure it is reachable to your visitors at all times.

Author Bio: Lucy Barret is a creative writer and an experienced Web Developer. She is working as an HTML to WordPress conversion expert at HireWPGeeks and delivering great results for her company. You can follow her company, HireWPGeeks on Twitter.

Have you heard of the new dangerous malware called Gooligan?

It's been hitting Android smartphone users. Do you know if your Google account has been hit with this?

1.3 million mobiles affected since August

“A new variant of Android malware is responsible for what’s believed to be the biggest single theft of Google accounts on record.” source

Here's more about it and how to check to see if our Google account is infected with this malware. Be sure to check your email addresses ASAP. You can get this malware if you happen to download any apps that are infected. You can also get infected if you click on links in phishing messages. Eek!

If you prefer to go straight to the online Gooligan checker tool by Check Point, here it is: https://gooligan.checkpoint.com/

Forbes says, “Once Gooligan has control of the phone, the victim’s Google account token is siphoned off to a remote server and could be used to gain access to their Gmail, Docs, Drive, Photos and other data, even where two-factor authentication is turned on.” Scary stuff.

You are most likely OK if you stick to downloading apps from the Google Play store and not 3rd party app stores.

What happens if you find you are infected with this malware? 

According to thehackernews.com, “If you found yourself infected, Adrian Ludwig, Google's director of Android security, has recommended you to run a clean installation of the operating system on your Android device. This process is called ‘Flashing,' which is quite a complicated process. So, the company recommends you to power off your device and approach a certified technician or your mobile service provider in order to re-flash your device.”

Are you an Android smartphone user?

If so have you checked your Google account? Be sure to do that TODAY!

It's very important to use a WordPress contact form plugin. It's a much safer option than using an email address which will help keep spam out of your inbox. Sure you are still going to get some junk through your contact form but it really cuts down on the amount of spam.

Using a contact form is a much more user friendly option than just having an email address listed because all someone has to do is fill in a few boxes and they are done. Plus you can customize contact forms (see below). I also think it's a much more professional option too.

One of the WordPress contact form plugins we recommend is Contact Form 7. It's the most downloaded from the WordPress plugin directory. There are tons of other great, even better contact form options too such as Gravity Forms, Formidable Pro, wpforms (a drag and drop which looks pretty easy) and more. But for simplicity, we'll go with Contact Form 7.

MaAnna over at Blog Aid has a nice 4- part tutorial series on this plugin. Check it out.

You can download this plugin on WordPress. Plus here are some of the top FAQ's on Contact Form 7.

My best tips for a contact form:

1. Keep it simple and only ask for basic info like name, email and reason for contact
2. Don't give your readers extra hoops to jump through (please do not use a captchas)
3. Spruce it up (make your contact page more inviting) – something we can all work on!

What WordPress contact form plugin do you use? Do you have a fun and inviting contact page? Please share.

“As cybercriminals sharpen their hacking skills, we must take stronger precautions to protect our information and all of our connected devices,” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of NCSA. “There are simple things everyone can do to better safeguard their key accounts, devices and apps, like keeping software up to date, turning on strong authentication and exercising extreme caution when reading messages containing links or requests for information.”

This infographic is eye-opening.

Fight cyber crime during #CyberAware Month by reporting scams using the BBB scam tracker: https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/us/. The FBI IC3 accepts Internet crime complaints at https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx. Don't be afraid to reach out!

What are you doing to combat fraud and cybercrime?

STOP|THINK|CONNECT celebrates it's 6th birthday this month. They have tons of tips for staying safe online from the basics to online safety and security to creating a culture of cyber security in the workplace & more.

You know, keeping the Internet safe and secure is our SHARED responsibility. You can also make a difference. Sign up for cyber security and privacy awareness newsletter for updates.

There are many ways to staying safe online. Here are some quick tips below:

Basic Steps to Online Safety & Security

• Keep your mobile devices secure
• Keep your computer clean
• Keep your personal info safe
• Connect online with caution
• Be Internet smart
• Practice good online habits

Tips on cyber security in the workplace

• Make privacy top priority
• Teach your staff about the value of protecting customer and employee information
• Report anything suspicious
• Safeguard your data

86% of Americans say they avoid companies that don't protect their privacy. Big or small, all businesses face cyber security challenges. Be sure to make security a priority before it's too late. Here's a resource to help protect your business and customers.

Your team here at WP Security Lock focuses on helping our clients secure their sites and assists in teaching them how to secure their business (and personal life) online. We can help YOU secure your WordPress site with one of our monthly packages plus we can consult on ways to keep you and your team safe online.

Will you join us in creating a culture of cyber security?

Usability tips to increase time-on-site and conversions

User experience and conversion optimization go hand in hand. Good user experience can significantly improve conversion rate on your website. And the fact is you cannot thrive without usability and user experience.

The better the usability of your website, the more likely your audience is going to convert. However, your website's potential to keep visitors and convert them into loyal customers completely depends on how well you optimize and use the right metrics.

What do you understand about website usability?

A majority of people believe that website usability is all about making your website easy to use. But easy to use for whom? The search engines? The developers? Website searches? Or the users?

Let's picture it this way, many believe that search engine optimization is all about optimizing your site for search engines. But the fact is you optimize your website for users who use search engines to reach your website.

Likewise, the key to attaining your conversion goals is to make your website work for users. The ease with which users are able to access your website is website usability.

It is not only about ensuring every element on your website works accurately but also to ensure how easily and rapidly users are able to use them.

Over the past decade, web users have become accustomed to some standards in web design. And thus it's imperative for webmasters to provide experiences that go beyond those of an ordinary, usable site to make a lasting impression on the users. However, this doesn't mean you have to compromise usability in any form. You just need to take on a different role to put all the standards altogether to provide a great user experience.

The website usability comprises various elements of website design, some of which are also associated with conversion.

Effectiveness

How easy it is for the user to find what he/she is looking for on your website determines how effective your website is. Website usability doesn't work according to one's personal opinion. It's about attaining an objective on the site.

So when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of a website, following things are evaluated.

• Are users able to obtain an objective or complete specific chores via your website?
• Are they able to find their desired information, activity or destination on the site?
• If the users are unable to attain the objective, what are the barriers encountered? Can you get rid of these barriers to make it possible for users to perform the job on the site?

Efficiency

Once the effectiveness of your website is determined, it's time to evaluate how efficient it is. You need to check whether your users are able to perform the desired chores accurately or not.

• How rapidly users performed the desired task on your site?
• How many steps were involved in completing the task?
• Were there any elements that prevented your users from accomplishing the task? If so, what were they?

Memorability

To maintain the efficiency and conversion of your website, it is important to attract the same visitors. Repeat traffic can not only help your website get on top of the Google search engine results page but also boost your conversion rate drastically.

However, when looking for some information on the search engines, there is always a looming possibility that visitors find your website on the search engines, and they may like it and want to visit it again. Therefore, to ensure that they visit your website again, it is important to have a keyword associated with your website's visibility on the search engines memorable enough to enable them to find your site again.

Learnability

Learnability is the most important aspect of the website usability. It enables your users to learn to navigate your site rapidly. If visitors find it difficult to reach to a particular page or access the desired blog post, they will leave immediately. When users spend more time on figuring out the navigation of the website, they spend less time grabbing your information or browsing your products. Adding easily visible and accessible buttons to your website enhances user engagement on the site.

Error Prevention and Recovery

Nothing in this world is perfect. And of course, the online world is no exception. However, often times a website contains a number of errors that can affect the SEO ranking as well as user experiences such as a broken link, a 404 error page, or more. Thus, error prevention and recovery is the most critical part of website usability.

Elements that can drastically improve your website

Apt CTA's and hyperlinks

Think of all the times you have signed up for a newsletter, downloaded a software or even taken a free class on an online institute.

Each of these signs only points towards an effective call-to-action.

If you don't want your visitors to leave immediately after they get what they need, you got to have an effective CTA and useful hyperlinks. And it's extremely significant to guide your users through the buying process or newsletter subscription or software download journey using strategically planned calls-to-action.

Think about it – would you be using the number of websites or apps you are using now if you hadn't been attracted to the CTAs added to these sites or apps? Of course not!

Some of the examples of great CTA are Dropbox, Officevibe, Netflix and more.

Minimize distractions

A website usually has less than 5 seconds to capture the attention of the user. As a matter of fact, there are millions of websites operating on the internet and if you are unable to provide what the user is looking for, they won't think twice to move to your competitor's site.

Irrespective of the number of landing pages your website have, the only purpose they should be serving is to convert visitors into loyal customers. And in order to ensure that your visitors are converted, you have to make it easy for them. Adding many elements to the landing page will only distract your visitor, eventually making them drop off. Remember when users land on your website, they shouldn't take the time to understand what you offer and how that fits their requisites.

Moreover, the users are filled with pre-existing thoughts – external influences, questions, feelings, and concern. Your over-designed and cluttered website is only adding to the problem.

It's your responsibility to make it easier for them to do what you want them to do by removing all the unnecessary elements you have added to the website. Consider building a website with an app like interface.

Some amazing distraction-free website design examples are Invstr, Susa Ventures, World of Oil and more.

Make your Site accessible on major devices

Google has announced recently that it will start penalizing websites that are not responsive by severely hurting their search engine rankings.

Even though the rage of mobile-friendly websites has taken the online world by storm, there are still many websites that overlook the importance of having a fully responsive and mobile-friendly website.

An increasing number of users are making use of their smartphones to access the internet, and not being available on these devices will affect your conversion rate and user experience. As per a report by Search Engine Watch, more than 77% of the users employ their smartphones to search for a product or service.

With 55% of the traffic coming from smartphones and tablets, optimizing your websites for mobile is no longer an option.

Make it social friendly

According to an article shared by Fortune, Facebook drives more traffic than Google. The latest traffic estimates of Parse.ly website shows that social media platforms including Facebook drive 43% of the traffic while Google accounted for only 38%. The statistics clearly shows how useful social media network has become for the growth and success of a website regardless of its type and size.

Moreover, the number of Pinterest pins, Facebook shares, Twitter tweets can also greatly affect your SEO rankings.

So instead of just focusing on bringing your website's on the top page of the Google, integrated major social media sharing buttons to pull millions of visitors towards your website.

Site layout and navigation

How would you rate a website that does not have a visible navigation menu or a search bar? I am sure you wouldn't want to visit such a website. After all, it would be a mammoth task to find what you are looking for.

Having a user-friendly website with proper formatting improves user experience on your website while making the content easy to grab and scan.

What makes a website user-friendly?

• Use of app font size and typography
• Strategically used colors and bold headings and subheadings
• Proper use of whitespace
• Use of numbered lists and bullet points
• Breaking the content into small readable paragraphs

Relevant content and its Readability

Even if your audience is highly educated, they most likely do not want to be decrypting a Ph.D. thesis every time they land on your site. Web users are goal-oriented and do not prefer investing half of their internet surfing time in reading a lengthy article.

No matter how useful and informative your content is, they will probably give up reading it if it takes more than 4 minutes to read it. Also, Google considers readability an important aspect while ranking a particular website. So, it's worth making your content relevant and readable.

Site speed

Web users are not only goal-oriented but also impatient. And why not, there are millions of other options available to check out. Thus, this impatient nature makes it imperative for webmasters to optimize their websites for speed and ensure that their websites load in less than 3 seconds. Use caching plugins, write streamlined and clean code and lower the number of redirects on your website to ensure your website loads quickly.

Optimizing site images

Optimizing your images has a lot to do with the loading speed of your website. The visual content tends to take more than half of your space as they are heavier in comparison to plain text. Simply by optimizing your images you can significantly increase your website's speed.

Conclusion

The tips mentioned in this article are a good starting point to influence your conversion rate and website usability.

If you have any more ideas on improving a website's usability, you are always welcome to share them in the comments section below.

Author Bio:
Jason is an expert WordPress developer having years of experience in working with various web development technologies. Currently, he is working for a leading Custom WordPress Development Company – WordSuccor Ltd.. He is always trying to share his intangible knowledge with others on the web.