10 Reasons Why Your Website Is Slow

Someone types your website link and magically they’re transported to your site, right?

Actually, no. It’s more complicated than that, because there’re hundreds of requests instantly being pinged around the world to bring the text and images to your visitor’s screen.

In fact, there is so much going on in those few seconds, that a lot can go wrong – and frequently does. And, a slow website is bad news for you.

How?

It can cost you thousands of visitors and conversions, not to mention lost revenue.

For example, a one second delay can cost Amazon $1.6 billion annually. That’s how much speed matters on the Internet.

That said, you should test your website to see how fast it’s loading numerous times over the course of a day and even a week to get a good look at how it’s functioning.

https://tools.pingdom.com will test and analyze the load time of your page, and if you sign up, it’ll continue to test your site every minute.

Here are ten reasons why your website is slow:

1: Slow Server Performance

When someone clicks on your website link, their browser sends a ping to your server. But if your server doesn’t quickly answer that ping, then it will take longer for your site to load.

Cheap hosting usually gives you a shared server, which means you’re sharing space and resources with countless other websites. If your site is slow, it’s probably waiting in line to get out the door and to your visitor’s screen.

2: Distant Server Location

Long distance calls take longer to connect, because information must physically travel to get where it’s going. Think of it moving through cables, transmitting over satellites, etc.

When someone clicks on your site link, a similar situation occurs. For instance, if your server is based in the US, when someone in China clicks on your website link, the information travels halfway around the world to request access to the server, then your website information travels back again to load it to your visitor’s screen. Phew!

3: Big Images and Files

You may remember dial-up and when images loaded a bit at a time. The same thing still happens today, only faster. So, if you have a lot of complex files on your page, it will take longer to load than a page of text.

Pay attention to file formats. Browsers can load GIF, PNG and JPG images quickly, but heavy formats such as BMP and TIFF will take ages.

4: Excess Code

If you use a lot of code, your site will be slower. Avoid clogging your site up with excess coding and Javascript.

5: Text Graphics

If you’re using images to display text, your site will be slower. It’s better to use regular font whenever possible.

6: Too Many File Requests

Again, big elements take longer to load. And it’s not just size, but also quantity that matters. Every image, social sharing button and every piece of your website requires a different file request to load.

So, if your page has 50 files and 50 people are trying to load your site at the same time, that’s 2,500 simultaneous file requests. Therefore, websites crash when traffic gets out of hand.

7: Excess Traffic

When a lot of traffic is sent to a website, it slows down and can crash. Your server can only handle so many requests at one time. The more requests there are, the slower your website gets.

Tough to be popular, isn’t it?

8: Redirects

You walk to the gate at the airport, only to find out it’s been changed to one on the other side of the airport. You now have to walk all the way over there.

A redirect is similar to that. It’s like loading a page twice; you want to avoid that. Thus, keep an eye on redirects.

9: Outdated CMS

If you’re using WordPress (or Drupal or Wix) to manage your site, then you’ve probably noticed regular popups asking you to install updates or new versions of the software.

Updates are good – kinks have been worked out and speed has often been increased. Be sure to install the latest version of all software and plugins to load your site faster.

10: Too Many Plugins

For WordPress users. If you have a ton of plugins, then you’ve got a ton of file requests with CSS files and Javascript to load.

This means more stuff must be transmitted to get your site to your visitor’s screen, which again will slow it down. Only use plugins you absolutely, positively need.

Bottom Line, people expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less. If your site is taking longer than that, you’re losing views.

© Cherry-Ann Carew

Cherry-Ann Carew is an Online Business Strategist & Amazon multi-bestselling author. She supports emerging business owners simplify their start-up journey, by customizing a business framework that aligns with their vision and goals, so that they can earn uncapped income and live life on their terms.