website speed tips guidesIf your website was in a race with a sleepy turtle, do you have a feeling that the reptile would win? Don’t laugh, there are some pretty slow sites out there. It happens all the time.

There are some very simple reasons as to why your website is running slow. Which is quite fortunate for any business owner. Because they make them easy problems to fix.

So not only are we going to share with you 7 reasons your website could be crawling, but also how to make it just fly like an eagle!

1. The location of your server

Now if you don’t know this, speak up and ask about it. Because if your server is in some distant land, then it is causing your website to be bested by a sleepy turtle. Or worse – by your competition!

Sometimes you can ask to be moved to a different server if your hosting company has the option. Explain to them that your site is moving super slow. They certainly don’t want you to be experiencing any troubles.

2. Messy code on your site

One way to really slow down your site is to have messy code. Sites have become very sophisticated now. It’s important to realize that clean, tidy code will save you and your company a lot of time in the long run. So when hiring someone to code or manage your site, be sure to have someone check how they do their coding. Some will simply add in lines of code instead of rewriting a section. Rewriting a section of code can take a bit more effort and sometimes cost you an extra hour or two in employee pay, but will save you so much more when it comes to how your site operates.

3. Lots of Plug-ins

A very simple “rule of thumb” to keep in mind is that most sites should not have more than 15 Plug-ins. Yes, Plug-ins can save time, make tasks a lot easier and do offer some super cool features. But if you are determined to have every bell & whistle that is out there, then this too, indirectly adds lots of lines of code to your site!

Talk to your webmaster or site manager and discuss what really matters about the site. What your top 3 goals are. What they think is important. Two things you’ll especially want to keep in mind are SEO and site security. There are literally hundreds of thousands of Plug-ins out there to do so many different things. Just choose wisely.

4. You’ve got an old CMS

What you need to do is to update WordPress, Drupal or Wix every time they send you a message to do so. Your Content Management System is important, to keep your site well organized and running smoothly. Yes, it can be really easy to brush those updates aside and ignore them. But those can have great features that work with other platforms, such as the latest browsers and Plug-ins. By not installing the updates, you are really damaging your site and forcing it to run slowly when it doesn’t want to.

5. Lots and lots of video

Today’s sites are trending to having video. A recent social media marketing conference had more than 10 experts predict that video would be more and more popular over the next 3 years. We’re not surprised that you want to have custom made and also downloaded videos such as YouTube at your site to entertain and inform visitors.

But all of this content really slows your site down. You’ve got to give your site a chance. Be selective about the videos you pick. Sometimes you don’t need a video for something that can be explained with a phrase or 2. Or perhaps 1 longer video is better than 3 shorter ones.

6. Too much traffic

Having lots of customers visit your site is a problem that every business owner hopes to have! But it is also guaranteed to slow down your site. Just talk to anyone who’s had their site appear in a national or international media source, and they will tell you that their traffic grew and grew, but at first they had to cope with this huge slow down. Working with your web hosting company to manage that can accommodate increased traffic. If you expect traffic to rise, it is best to talk to your web hosting company ahead of time so you can have a plan in place because it will save you a lot of time.

7. Huge images

Social media sites such as Instagram and Pinterest have customers totally hooked on big, pretty images. Lots of customers actually start their shopping on social media & then come to visit your site! But when you have these huge images at your site, it can really cause a problem with the loading of pages. So be critical and judicious about using large images.