Every week, I learn something new or am reminded of something I should think about more. Sometimes these learnings come from independent implementers and other times they come from our competitors. They are all valuable to me and whenever I find something especially valuable, I’d like to share it with you as well.

The first article comes from Joshua Bixby of Strangeloop. He was able to attend the WebPerfDays event in London a couple of weeks ago and apparently there was a board of unanswered questions in the form of PostIts that he went ahead and answered. I think a few of these are especially interesting and worth the read.

Why Does Google Analytics Load So Slowly?

The first one in the list was a question about why Google Analytics loads so slowly. It’s amazing how many folks are still using the older synchronous code for loading GA even though, as Joshua points out, a switch to the asynchronous method is so easy and results in a fantastic gain in performance.

Is “Time To First Byte” Accurate?

I also liked #15 asking about studies of how good Time To First Byte is as an approximation for true server time. His answer pointed to two interesting blog posts that answer the question which I hadn’t seen before. First, there is this one from WebSiteOptimization.com then another one from Patrick Meenan. Both are great reads to get an overview of the topic.

Where Does Optimization Start?

The other one that really resonated with me was #24: How do you start optimizing your website? Joshua’s take on this one was to measure, iterate, then measure again. I agree, except I would tweak it to use either WebSiteTest.com or the combined Monitor & Optimize services at Yottaa. This significantly compresses the time required for the process because it’s a matter of just a few clicks to measure, iterate, and measure again, rather than days of manual steps. It’s really amazing to see how much time you will save. For more about the Monitor and Optimization services here at Yottaa, check out: