Common causes of a slow website are unoptimized images and external embedded media and ads.
Full-sized images can consume a lot of bandwidth while loading. So, take time to resize your images.
Take a look at the image tag – it allows 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. In most cases, a quality setting of 80 to 90 percent will show no significant changes from the original version. And you can go even lower depending on the type of image, the detail, and the colours. For other image formats such as GIF and PNG, you can reduce quality by opting for a smaller colour palette.
For external embedded media, think twice before embedding someone else’s media into your site. 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.
Plugins may also be causing an issues, as just like external embedded media, plugins can bring in resources from other websites. We can perform some investigative work to see what plugins could be causing this outside of the typical monthly website care. Reach out for a quote for evaluation and plugin cleanup.
Why is my website loading slowly?
Angie | PurpleCow Digital
Updated 4 years ago
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