Have you ever been on a website that took forever to load? Do slow loading sites get on your nerves?
If so, then having a slow website might get you worried.
In fact, most people will simply leave the site instantly if the loading speed is more than 6 seconds.
If your website has a slow loading time, hangs often, or can't load pictures and videos, then it's time you have it diagnosed. Blaming slow internet is not a permanent solution and will end up in you losing potential customers!
If this is the case, then your best option may be to get a fix from a web development company in Pakistan.
How to Know if Your Website is Too Slow?
So, your website might take a few extra seconds to load. Or maybe you can’t seem to play a video on the site. What’s the big deal? It’s probably just the slow internet.
Slow internet can indeed cause your website to lag, but that's not the only factor. So, how do you know if there is a technical issue that is slowing down your website?
You can easily check your website's loading speed through one of the several tests including a DNS propagation test, location-based test, or site loading test. These tests are designed to determine the actual cause behind the slow loading speed on the website.
Alternately, you can have a professional web development company in Pakistan thoroughly diagnose your site.
So, what may be causing your site to lag?
Check out these common site loading issues, and how to fix them:
Your Hosting Services are Not Up to the Mark
In most cases, poor hosting services are the main cause of slow loading speeds. If you have a cheaper hosting service with less RAM and storage space, then it will have a negative impact on your site. While some quality hosting providers provide decent shared hosting in Pakistan, it is not ideal for every website.
Sometimes, your website may be too complex for shared hosting.
In such cases, dedicated server hosting or VPS hosting may be your best option. Not only do these options have more space, but they are also scalable, which allows you to upgrade in the future.
It's always ideal to choose the best hosting services that can guarantee a reliable load time for your site. Even if you have to pay a bit more for dedicated hosting, the benefits are worth the cost.
2. You Don’t Have a CDN
A CDN or content delivery network is the key to improving the speed of your website. A CDN helps connect the website server to the user based on their location. Think of it as something that acts as a rerouting tool.
A CDN is basically the communicator between the search engine and your website.
If your website doesn’t have a CDN, then you can easily install one. Alternatively, you can install a WordPress plugin that works the same way.
3. Your Website’s Bandwidth is not Enough
Have you heard of a famous website that crashed because of having too many visitors simultaneously? While websites can process large amounts of data at the speed of light, they have their limitations.
Too many visitors can reduce the speed of your website and cause you to lose customers.
The solution? Increase your site’s bandwidth.
Bandwidth is a measure of the amount of information that your site can handle at a time. Sites with higher bandwidths can accommodate more traffic, which is the ultimate goal of every business owner.
If you are expecting a lot of visitors to your website, then get a hosting plan that comes with sufficient bandwidth. The best web hosting services include plans with unlimited bandwidth, which might just be the perfect solution for you.
4. Your Site Has Unnecessary Coding
Have you ever heard of the phrase that: “too much of a good thing is bad”? This is true for website coding. If your site is slow, then it may be due to unnecessary coding.
You’ll need a professional web developer to determine whether your coding is optimized or not.
They may do code minification or code compression to shorten the code used on the website. Sometimes, your code may be outdated and you’ll need to change the code of your site completely.
If you are looking to change your code, then it's best to do so through a company that offers expert web development in Pakistan.
5. Your Site’s Images Are Not Optimized
Images and video are two things that can slow your site’s speed significantly. So, why would a few images on your site slow it down, while other sites with more images load much faster? It’s not the images that are the issue, it’s a lack of image optimization.
So, what does image optimization do?
Image optimization involves compressing them to reduce the size. You can also use a feature called ‘image lazy loading’. As strange as it might sound, this feature lets your website only load those images which a user is looking at. This may improve the overall site speed.
Lastly, instead of doing adjustments to your images, why not add the images to your site in a more advanced format? Nowadays, many image formats like JPEG XR and PEG 2000 are designed to have higher resolutions and smaller sizes.
If your site has outdated image formats, you can have SEO experts do image optimization for you.
Does Improving Website Speed Really Matter?
Fixing a slow website may require time and effort, which is why many people like to leave it as it is. So, you may be wondering, is it really important to improve your website’s speed?
If you can’t make up your mind, consider these facts:
- 40% of website visitors will leave your site if the loading time is more than 3 seconds.
- Google’s ranking algorithm favors websites with faster loading times
- For each additional second that it takes for your site to load, you’ll lose approximately 10% of your potential customers.
These stats give a clear message: your website’s speed matters.
So, what are you waiting for? Have your site reviewed by an expert web development company and fix any issue that may be slowing it down.
