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What to do if your site is running slowly
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How many sites have you been to that take an absolute age to load? Maybe the site is riddled with ads and other paraphernalia. Sometimes, there is too much content on the front page. Or perhaps there are a lot of images that try to load when you visit the site.The site loading countdown
Let's have a look at what someone might say while they're waiting for your site to load. (Of course, it really depends on whether your site is any good!)
| Time to load | Your visitor says this: |
| 1 second | "Wow, that was fast! Time to have a look around." |
| 2 seconds | "Let's see what content this site has." |
| 3 seconds | "Well, I can read the first post while the rest of the page loads." |
| 4 seconds | "I'll just wait for the first post to show up... wait... there it is!" |
| 5 seconds | "Does this site really need all that stuff?" |
| 6 seconds | "Wow, you'd think they would make it run a bit quicker..." |
| 7 seconds | "What on earth is it doing?" |
| 8 seconds | "I'm getting bored." |
| 9 seconds | "Hmm, I wonder if my connection is playing up?" |
| 10 seconds | "OK, next site..." |
Some visitors may be a lot more tolerant, especially if they're on a slow connection and they know that most sites will take a bit longer to show up. But if your site is still loading after 10 seconds, maybe 15 seconds on a a phone or a computer with dial-up Internet, how many people do you think will hang around to see if your content is worth waiting for?
Don't forget, some people are a lot less tolerant and may leave if they can't see anything on your site after 5 seconds.
Do some testing before you panic.
Ask some online friends (especially other site owners or bloggers) to test your site and see if they notice any slowness. There are a lot of factors that may contribute to a slow site.
Look for any patterns - perhaps your site runs a lot more slowly in one web browser than another. For instance, if you use Internet Explorer and someone reports issues in Firefox, or vice versa, test in other browsers to see if you notice the same problems.
Some helpful links:
Remove unnecessary clutter.
Too many adverts, scripts, sidebar widgets and so on can make a huge difference to a site in terms of how fast it loads. Try removing some of them from your site if things are running slowly, and test the site afterwards to see if things run any better.
Also, if you display a lot of items on your home page, try reducing the number of items as that may speed things up a bit.
One of my previous blog entries may help you with removing your clutter.
Look for ways to speed up your current software.
Many blogs use WordPress, and there is a plugin called WP-Cache that can significantly improve the performance of your site. I don't use WordPress but I have provided the link below if you use it.
If there isn't a tool such as this for your website software, look for any particular pages that run more slowly than others, and report issues to the software vendor.
There may be certain options that cause the site to run much more slowly than others, and the software provider may be able to advise you of ways to troubleshoot the problem.
Look at your web hosting provider.
There are a lot of companies who will provide web hosting for your site. The quality of service varies greatly. Start by contacting your web host for help. It's going to be a lot less work for you if you can get your current hosting running smoothly than if you have to move elsewhere.
However, if you're not getting anywhere, consider moving to another web host. I find that different sites have different experiences with different hosts. So while I may recommend one host, someone else may recommend another. I personally recommend Hostgator - they have been the most reliable and the most responsive when I need to contact them.
This is just the beginning.
There are many things to consider if your site is running slowly. I'm sure there will be people who can think of more things to try out. However, this list should hopefully be a good starting point.
What do you think? Do you know of any other ways to address a slow site?
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Comments on What to do if your site is running slowly
Hi Chris, thanks for the comment. Looks like your blog doesn't go overboard with things in the sidebar, so I'd say you're on the right track.
A cache can actually be used on any website. I have used the WP-Cache and it works wonderfully, but others have had issues with it. I would get rid of excess sidebars as well. A good rule of thumb is that your sidebars should be as long as your content. Also, to optimize load times limit the number of pictures and other graphics on a page.
Sorry for the mini post, it is just a pet peeve of mine to critique other blogs and those are some of the details I go on. Nice article btw.
Hi Ryan, thanks for the comment. :) Funny that I mentioned widgets, ads etc but I forgot to mention images!
Thanks for the tip, no need to apologise - I appreciate the feedback.
Good tips, I know I have started cutting sidebars back and finding themes that use as little code as possible in order to optimize response time.