How to Make Your Website Faster and Increase Conversions

Every second counts. According to Google, 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. That’s more than half your potential customers — gone before they even see what you offer. At Vendrato, we’ve seen firsthand how speed improvements translate directly into higher conversion rates, better search rankings, and more revenue.

This guide covers exactly what you need to do to make your website faster and turn that speed into real business results.

Understanding Core Web Vitals

Before you optimize anything, you need to understand what Google actually measures. Core Web Vitals are three specific metrics that Google uses to evaluate your page experience:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the largest visible element — usually a hero image or heading — to fully render. Your target: under 2.5 seconds.

First Input Delay (FID) / Interaction to Next Paint (INP) measures responsiveness. When a user clicks a button or taps a link, how quickly does the page respond? Your target: under 200 milliseconds.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability. If elements jump around as the page loads (text shifting when an image pops in, buttons moving when an ad loads), that’s layout shift. Your target: under 0.1.

These aren’t vanity metrics. Google uses them as ranking signals. Poor Core Web Vitals mean lower search positions, which means less traffic, which means fewer conversions. It’s a direct pipeline from speed to revenue.

Image Optimization: The Biggest Quick Win

Images are almost always the largest assets on any webpage. They’re also the easiest thing to optimize. Here’s the playbook:

Use Modern Formats

JPEG and PNG had their era. Today, WebP and AVIF deliver the same visual quality at 25-50% smaller file sizes. Most modern browsers support both. Use the <picture> element to serve AVIF with WebP and JPEG fallbacks:

<picture>
  <source srcset="hero.avif" type="image/avif" />
  <source srcset="hero.webp" type="image/webp" />
  <img src="hero.jpg" alt="Description" width="1200" height="600" />
</picture>

Specify Dimensions

Always include width and height attributes on your <img> tags. This lets the browser reserve the correct amount of space before the image loads, preventing layout shift. It’s a one-line fix that dramatically improves your CLS score.

Resize for the Screen

Don’t serve a 4000px-wide image to a phone with a 390px screen. Use responsive images with srcset and sizes attributes to deliver appropriately sized images for each device. A good rule: generate images at 1x, 1.5x, and 2x your maximum display size.

Compress Aggressively

Tools like Sharp, Squoosh, or ImageOptim can compress images significantly without visible quality loss. For most web images, a quality setting of 75-80% is the sweet spot between file size and visual fidelity.

Lazy Loading: Load What Matters First

Not everything on your page needs to load immediately. Lazy loading defers off-screen content until the user scrolls near it.

Native Lazy Loading

The simplest approach is the loading="lazy" attribute:

<img src="photo.webp" alt="Description" loading="lazy" width="800" height="400" />

This is supported by all modern browsers and requires zero JavaScript.

What NOT to Lazy Load

Never lazy load above-the-fold content. Your hero image, main heading, and primary CTA should load immediately. Lazy loading these elements hurts your LCP score because you’re delaying the content users see first.

A good rule: lazy load everything below the fold, eagerly load everything above it.

Lazy Load Iframes Too

Embedded maps, videos, and third-party widgets are performance killers. Apply loading="lazy" to iframes, or better yet, use a facade pattern — show a static thumbnail that loads the full embed only when clicked.

Above-the-Fold Content: Win in the First Second

The content visible without scrolling — your “above the fold” — is the most critical real estate on your page. This is where users decide to stay or leave.

Prioritize the Critical Rendering Path

Make sure your above-the-fold HTML, CSS, and images are the first things the browser processes. Inline your critical CSS directly in the <head> so the browser doesn’t wait for an external stylesheet to render the initial view.

Preload Key Resources

Use <link rel="preload"> for resources that are critical to the first paint:

<link rel="preload" as="image" href="/hero.webp" type="image/webp" />
<link rel="preload" as="font" href="/fonts/heading.woff2" type="font/woff2" crossorigin />

This tells the browser to fetch these resources immediately, even before it encounters them in the HTML.

Keep Above-the-Fold Content Lean

Every kilobyte above the fold adds to your initial load time. Avoid heavy animations, large background videos, or complex JavaScript that blocks rendering. A fast-loading hero with a clear headline and CTA will always outperform a slow-loading cinematic experience.

CTA Placement: Speed Meets Strategy

A fast website that doesn’t convert is just a fast brochure. Strategic CTA placement turns speed into revenue.

Primary CTA Above the Fold

Your most important call-to-action — “Book a Call,” “Get Started,” “Request a Quote” — should be visible without scrolling. Users who arrive with intent shouldn’t have to hunt for the next step.

Repeat CTAs at Natural Break Points

Don’t rely on a single CTA. Place them at logical intervals throughout the page: after you present a key benefit, after social proof (testimonials, case studies), and at the bottom of the page. Each CTA should match the context — “See Our Work” after a benefits section, “Start Your Project” after testimonials.

Make CTAs Visually Distinct

Your CTA buttons should be the most visually prominent elements on the page. Use contrasting colors, adequate padding, and clear action-oriented text. “Get My Free Quote” outperforms “Submit” every time.

Reduce Friction

Every form field you add reduces conversions. Ask for the minimum information you need. A name and email is enough to start a conversation. You can qualify leads later.

Mobile-First: Design for How People Actually Browse

Over 60% of web traffic is mobile. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re ignoring your majority audience.

Start with Mobile Design

Don’t design for desktop and then squeeze it onto mobile. Start with the smallest screen and expand. This forces you to prioritize content and eliminate bloat — which benefits all screen sizes.

Touch-Friendly Targets

Buttons and links should be at least 44x44 pixels. Space interactive elements far enough apart that users don’t accidentally tap the wrong one. This isn’t just UX — it’s a Core Web Vitals consideration (INP suffers when users have to re-tap).

Test on Real Devices

Emulators and browser dev tools are useful, but they don’t capture the full picture. Test on actual phones with real network conditions. A site that feels fast on your MacBook over gigabit fiber might crawl on a mid-range Android over 4G.

Minimize JavaScript on Mobile

Mobile devices have less processing power and memory than desktops. Heavy JavaScript frameworks can make a phone work overtime, causing jank and unresponsiveness. Consider whether that animated slider or complex interaction is worth the performance cost on mobile.

Page Speed Tools: Measure, Then Improve

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Here are the tools we use at Vendrato to diagnose and monitor performance:

Google PageSpeed Insights

The starting point for any performance audit. It runs Lighthouse under the hood and shows both lab data (simulated) and field data (real user metrics from the Chrome User Experience Report). Focus on the field data — that’s what Google uses for rankings.

Google Search Console

The Core Web Vitals report in Search Console shows which pages pass or fail across your entire site. It groups URLs by similar structure, making it easy to identify systemic issues rather than one-off problems.

WebPageTest

For deep analysis, WebPageTest lets you test from specific locations, devices, and connection speeds. The filmstrip view and waterfall chart reveal exactly what’s loading, when, and why. It’s the tool you use when PageSpeed Insights says there’s a problem but doesn’t tell you enough about why.

Chrome DevTools Performance Panel

For JavaScript performance issues, the Chrome Performance panel is indispensable. Record a page load or interaction, then analyze the flame chart to find long tasks blocking the main thread.

Lighthouse CI

If you’re serious about performance, integrate Lighthouse into your CI/CD pipeline. Every code change gets automatically tested against performance budgets. If a pull request would hurt your Core Web Vitals, you catch it before it ships.

Quick Wins You Can Implement Today

If you want to start improving right now, here’s a prioritized checklist:

1. Compress and convert images to WebP/AVIF — biggest impact, lowest effort
2. Add width/height to all images — eliminates CLS issues immediately
3. Add loading=“lazy” to below-fold images and iframes — reduces initial page weight
4. Inline critical CSS — speeds up first paint
5. Preload hero image and primary font — improves LCP
6. Defer non-critical JavaScript — use defer or async attributes
7. Enable text compression — gzip or Brotli on your server
8. Set proper cache headers — returning visitors load instantly
9. Remove unused CSS and JavaScript — less to download means faster loads
10. Audit third-party scripts — analytics, chat widgets, and trackers add up fast

Speed Is a Competitive Advantage

Most businesses treat website speed as a technical afterthought. That’s an opportunity for you. When your site loads in under two seconds while your competitor’s takes five, you’re not just providing a better experience — you’re capturing the customers they’re losing.

At Vendrato, every site we build is optimized for performance from the ground up. We don’t bolt on speed optimizations after the fact — we architect for it. Static-first builds, optimized assets, minimal JavaScript, edge delivery. The result: sites that score 90+ on PageSpeed Insights and actually convert.

If your website is slow and it’s costing you customers, we should talk. Speed isn’t a luxury — it’s the foundation everything else is built on.