A website running slowly can cost a business in several ways. Visitors coming to your website may not be patient enough to wait for the page to load so that they can learn about what you’re offering. 65% of users will not return to a slowly loading website and this could directly affect your business. Below, we list 3 common causes of slowly loading websites.
Large photos or other media files (e.g. video and music files)
Images take up the most download time for any web page. If you have large images on a web page then it’ll take longer for the web page to load. A simple solution to this issue is to optimize these images by reducing the size as much as possible without losing its quality. In order to reduce the size of an image, you need to use a photo editing software. If you have a Windows computer, you can use Photo Gallery software which you can download here. On an Apple Mac computer you can use Preview. There are online applications also that do not require any installation, and you can check out a list of free software here.
Pop Ups, Widgets and Other Scripts
Another reason a web site is loading slowly is because of too many scripts running on a website. This could be in the form of advertisement banners, widgets, pop up screens, and other scripts that are supposed to add a feature/functionality to the website. Each of these scripts takes time to load and process, leading to a slower web page. The solution to this is to first evaluate the web page and decide what should be on the page. According to recent research, web pages with fewer elements of focus keep visitors longer than web pages with more elements of focus, such as pop ups, animated banners, and sounds. Try to minimize the actions a user is supposed to take on a given page so that there are fewer scripts to load. This will lead to a faster loading page.
Your Web Host
For your website to be available online, it is placed on special computers called servers. Just like regular computers, these servers may run low on space and memory. When that happens, websites hosted on that particular server may take longer to access. This particular issue is caused when you run out of space on your web hosting package, or it could be that the hosting company has not properly optimized their servers. This is usually last on the list when it comes to diagnosing the problem of a slowly loading website. If you have corrected the other 2 issues above, then it’s time to get in touch with your website hosting company and have them take a look at your website and account and see what they can do. In some cases you may need to find another hosting company that has a better service and newer technology.
Conclusion
It’s not enough to just have a website. Your website should be easily accessible and load fast enough for your visitors. You have a few seconds to make a great impression on visitors to your website, so you should make it as smooth as possible. Have you found other causes of a slow website? Share your comments here with us.
