Reasons Your Website Is Loading Slow

Several studies have revealed the importance of web performance when it comes to converting leads into sales. These studies show that 40% of visitor abandon a site when a webpage takes longer than three seconds to load. For e-commerce websites, online shoppers can get frustrated when they experience loading issues and may not return to purchase again. A website that loads slow can lose conversions even if it is only a difference of few seconds. Here are 5 reasons your webpage takes longer to load:

1. Unoptimised Images

Heavy image size, using a lot of server resources can affect your website. The good news is, this problem can be addressed by reducing the image size. In most cases, reducing the size of your image will also mean losing its pixel quality. There are tools that allows you to make changes to the size without affecting its quality.

2. Server Configuration

Problems of slow loading are also due to bad server configuration. A hosting plan that you are currently subscribed with usually has features that allow you to compress so you can run multiple sites on a single server. You will have improved performance because these features allow you to send and receive many HTTP requests. You will no longer need to open a new connection in this case every time you receive or send each and every request.

3. Extra Plugins and Themes

It is possible that your website loads slowly because of unwanted extras. If your dashboard is overloaded with themes, plugins and comments, it is important to remove them to speed up your website. You will also have to clear unnecessary lines of code such as HTML, CSS and JS. They can also contribute to your website's poor performance.

4. Too Many Social Media Scripts

Your website enables sharing options so to allow users to share your posts. However, it can have a negative effect on your website if all the sharing options are loaded. Make sure you only have enough social media scripts on your website to avoid killing your website's performance.

5. JavaScript and CSS files

You may not be aware that you have a lot of JS and CSS files on your website. When there is an increase in the number of requests, it can also result in slowing your website. As much as possible, you should try minimising the use of JS and CSS files. There are hosting plans that provide an option to minimise JS and CSS. Doing this creates a dramatic change to your website's performance.