Causes of a Slow Website, and How to Eliminate Them

A business with slow loading website can hurt its business and harm its reputation where usually visitors expect fast server and smooth online experiences. That’s a sure-fire way to fail. And in this state, failure doesn’t just mean losing a race; it means losing a business.

Below are five common causes for sluggish performance on your website and how you can fix the problems:

1. Unoptimized Images

One of the most common culprits for slow sites is a large volume of unoptimized images. Full-sized images can consume a lot of bandwidth while loading. So, take time to resize your images.

Image tag enables you to set the height and width. Be sure to scale the photos proportionally so that they don’t get stretched or skewed.

Then, consider changing image format, which can significantly reduce the file size. Finally, reduce image quality. No, that doesn’t mean making your photos look bad. It just means tweaking some simple settings. For JPG images, this is done by directly reducing the quality.

Most of the cases, there will be no significant changes from the original version if the quality setting is 80 to 90 per cent plus you can go even lower depending on the type of image, the detail, and the colors. Reduce the quality by opting for a smaller colour palleter for certain image formats such as GIF and PNG.

2. Too Much Fancy Flash

Fancy is fine but if it is too much, it’s not good. Did you know Flash can slow down your website? Flash is the sumo wrestler of software – it’s huge and bulky.

Additionally, Flash isn’t mobile friendly. It means that a majority of your audience won’t even be able to access it. Thus, it is well said that Flash does make your website slows down.

3. Bulky Code

Major roadblocks on your site can occur due to inefficient or bulky code. White space will be included by most of the CSS coder to make pages more readable.

The problem is, much of this white space can be eliminated while still maintaining readability.

Give some thought to removing line breaks and excess spacing as this can do wonders for condensing your code, shrinking file sizes, and maximizing speed.

4. External Embedded Media

Another factor that leads to slow-running website is external media usage. Cut down all the unnecessary videos and shiny stuff. They are like carbs. Too much ain’t good. Use them in moderation.

You might think funny videos and slideshows might interest audience but think twice before embedding other’s media on your website.

Once you embed external material into your site, your pages will only run as fast as the host site. In other words, if that external site is having a particularly slow day, your site may run slowly too.

Don’t let another site drag yours down! Whenever possible, it’s smart to host all content on your own server.

If your page currently running at peak efficiency, use this speedy website checklist to make immediate improvements:

• Resize your images
• Minimize media from other sources
• Store media on your own servers
• Change image format
• Reduce image quality
• Eliminate or minimize fancy flash
• Remove bulky code including line breaks and excess spacing

5. Your Host Isn’t the Most

If you’re running a website, you need a Web host for your site. There are free Web hosting providers, and incredibly cheap hosts.

Of course, you’re interested in saving the cost—so you might have gone with the lowest possible price tag but a poor Web host can hurt more than your loading period.

Fortunately, you can fix this problem. If your Web hosting solution is free or dirt-cheap, consider upgrading to a well-known host, which usually runs between $4 and $8 per month.

Here’s what to think about when choosing a web hosting company.