Is Your Website Fast Enough?

Do you ever wonder: is my website fast enough? Google does.

One question all business owners should ask themselves: is my website fast enough? Having a fast website offers loads of benefits:

• SEO - fast sites are ranked more highly by search engines
• User Experience - readers HATE waiting for pages to load
• Sales - consumers are far more likely to buy from a fast, efficient site
• Reputation - a slow website looks and feels unprofessional and can hurt your brand

Today we'll discuss a few causes of slow page loading speeds. Then we'll suggest a couple of fixes.

Why Is My Website So Slow?

Here are the top five reasons for slow loading speeds:

• Unoptimised Images - High resolution images consume lot of bandwith.
• Too Much Flash - Flash content is usually bulky in size. The bigger the file size, the slower your pages will load.
• Excessive HTTP requests - Loads of JavaScript, CSS, and image files can lead to long load times.
• Not Using Caching - Frequently used items can be "cached" and retrieved from the cached memory next time.
• Poor Web Hosting - Choose a hosting provider that offers performance optimisation services bundled in the price of the hosting.

A study from Google in 2018 suggested that the average load time for a website was 22 seconds. But that refers to the TOTAL time (i.e. for absolutely everything on the page to load). What really matters to your reader is how quickly they can view the page and start using it.

How To Speed Up A Slow Website

For a full website MOT including page speed optimisation, you can check out our website management services. In the meantime, here are some tips to get your site operating at maximum efficiency:

• Keep your HTTP requests to a minimum. This could be as simple as removing unnecessary images.
• Find a different web host. Some servers simply load faster than others, so do your homework.
• Reduce image size. Large images can take a long time to load, so consider making them smaller.
• Host your videos externally. Instead of putting a video directly on your site, host it on YouTube and embed it on your site.
• Make sure to test your site on multiple devices. Mobile is just as important these days as laptop/tablet.