Slow WordPress Website Optimization & Repair
47% of website visitors expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less. If your website isn’t loading quickly, visitors may likely click the back button and go somewhere else. Do you have a slow website? Don’t worry, we can help.
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Why do I have a slow WordPress website?
Your website can be slow for any number of reasons. The most likely causes are poor web hosting, large images or resources, bloated code, and improper or missing caching configuration. When we review a website for performance, we look at 8 key performance factors.
How can I find out if my website is too slow?
To determine the performance rating of your website, we recommend running a free performance test with GTMetrix. If your website scores below and A or B rating, then you should consider making performance improvements.
What can I do to make my WordPress website faster?
Making your website faster really depends on the cause of the issue. We use advanced tools, such as GTMetrix, to determine the source(s) of the slowness. Based on our findings, we implement any number of solutions that will increase your performance rating and reduce overall perceived load times. Most often, we will implement a content distribution network (CDN), optimize website images and video, and we will work to minimize the amount of code required to load each page. Our improvements can bring almost any website to an A or B rating. We may also make a recommendation to change web hosting providers or implement more advanced solutions such as load balancing depending on the level of traffic that your website receives.
How do I determine whether the problem is my website or my web host?
Our diagnostic tools can help us make a quick determination regarding the contributing factors to your slow website. We look for specific key indicators to identify slow hosting environments. These include Blocking Time, Connecting Time, SSL Performance, DNS Performance, and Waiting Time. For more details, we look to response headers to investigate compression methods, server variables, and caching methods. If you would like to learn more about how to read a GTMetrix waterfall chart on your own, we recommend this resource.
Website Performance Components
Website Complexity
We start by reviewing the complexity of your WordPress website. This includes the theme, number of plugins, customizations, and e-commerce configuration. Less complex websites may work well on a high quality shared hosting provider while more complex websites will benefit from the advantages of one or more well-tuned virtual or dedicated server(s).
Hosting Performance
We analyze and look for any bottlenecks that may be related to your existing web hosting environment. Poor hosting may be a contributing factor in the slow performance of your website. This can be due to low quality components or improper configuration. It may also be that you’re using the wrong product for your website complexity.
DNS Performance
An often overlooked component of performance is the speed at which your domain name servers (DNS) provides a resolution. If we determine that DNS is causing performance issues for your website, we’ll likely recommend a migration to Cloudflare or another high quality DNS provider.
SSL Performance
The handshake that happens between client and server to establish a secure connection can be an additional bottleneck. This typically indicates a server related issue and we may recommend a hosting provider change or alternative SSL solution through Cloudflare.
Caching Methods
Caching is the practice of turning dynamic content into static content that can be served more quickly by your web server. Caching content will reduce the need for database calls, which use more resources and can unnecessarily delay loading. High performing websites oftentimes implement multiple layers of caching. We’ll investigate your current methods and configurations to determine what changes may be necessary for optimal performance.
Content Distribution Model
Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) help position static resources closer to your visitors and reduce the overall load on your web server. High quality CDN networks are optimized to provide these resources quickly. Without utilizing a CDN, your web server will need to provide images and other resources to every visitor. This increase in workload will slow down other tasks that your server needs to accomplish, such as database calls and request processing.
Resource Optimization
One of the most important practices of website optimization is to simply reduce the overall size of the files that are required to display your pages. Our powerful compression tools can reduce image sizes by as much as 70-90%. We will also implement plugins that can automatically compress new content as well as educate you on methods to properly reduce file sizes before uploading them to your website.
Cloudflare Optimization
Cloudflare is an incredibly powerful tool that at its most basic level functions as a DNS provider, CDN, and Application Firewall. As a Cloudflare Certified Partner, we’re experts at optimizing additional Cloudflare settings that will further reduce load times, improve server security, and minimize overhead. By optimizing at every level, we can drastically reduce the number of required server resources and reduce hardware costs.
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“From the start, Tyler was friendly, knowledgeable, and flexible. He listened and offered expert input. He worked with me on what I was looking for in website design and made it even better. He provided professional and thorough documentation, a realistic but aggressive timeline, and walked me through the new website upon its completion.”
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AmandaLeeber.Com
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Root To Crown Healing
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Thrive Therapy
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Prestige Telecom
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