Why Is My Website Running Slow? (How to Fix a Slow Site)

Why Is My Website Running Slow? (How To Fix A Slow Site)

How To Fix A Slow Website

In this post, we are going to explain what problems can cause a website to run slow and how to fix it.

You’ve got your website up and running, which is great but the downside is that it is running slow.

Having a slow running website is a nightmare because it can put potential customers off of buying through your site or readers from viewing your articles and information.

After all, no one likes a website that runs slow and takes what seems like hours to load, do they?

Reason #1 For A Slow Website: Network Problem

The first thing to consider is that the slowness of your website may be caused by your local network. The way to determine if this is the case is simple – attempt to load another website and see whether it is also slow to load. If it is, then you know that the local network is to blame. If it’s not, then it’s probably a problem with your site.

The next step is to run a traceroute from your computer to the server; this will show the network jumps between your site and the server and how long the connection took to go through each section. To test this out, Google the traceroute code needed for your computer and then put it through the computer’s command prompt.

Another option could be to ask friends or family that live a distance from you, to try loading your website. If it loads fine for them but not for you, then it’s most likely a network issue.

Reason #2 For A Slow Website: Slow Web Hosting

Sometimes websites load slowly because of the server. You see, a server is like an engine, it sits dormant until someone clicks on your site, and then like a car with a key placed in the ignition, it begins to load up. How this works is that your browser notifies your server asking it to send the data for your website over, so that the site can load. If there is an issue with the server, this will take longer than normal.

The cause of slow servers usually lays with the web host.

• You could be having a slow site because you are hosted on a free web hosting.
• You are on a low quality hosting service with poor support.
• Or your site needs a higher spec hosting account with more resources eg a VPS.

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Reason #3 For A Slow Website: Database Issue

A brand new website will run wonderfully quickly, but as it gets older, it will begin to slow down, taking longer to load. The reason for this is linked to the database, as the more information saved to your database and the more complex your site is, the more likely that the database will not run as effectively as when the site was first launched.

To determine if your database is to blame, perform a speed test on your website. To test for database problems, there are plenty of tutorials on sites like YouTube, so don’t stress because it’s a problem that’s easier to diagnose (and fix) than you would think.

Having a website that runs slow can be a total nightmare as it can impact your success as a business owner or blogger, so you should aim to deal with whatever is causing the problem as quickly as possible.

Useful Resources To Fix A Slow Website

Troubleshoot website performance issues

If your Webflow website takes longer than two to three seconds to load, there are a number of potential causes. We'll walk through those, and how to solve them here.

• Possibility 1: Webflow service issues
• Possibility 2: Network problems
• Possibility 3: Your website needs optimization

Note

Your sites might not load as expected in China due to an access restriction. Learn more.

Webflow is down

If your Webflow website is behaving strangely, there's a slight chance it could be due to a Webflow service error. The following steps will help you confirm this:

• Check if Webflow is down for everyone or just you
• Check Webflow's status page which monitors all of our services 24/7/365 including our Dashboard, servers, and more. If anything has gone wrong or isn't performing correctly, you'll find details on the incident there.
• Follow and check Webflow's Twitter account for updates on our platform that affect site performance, issues, and more.

Troubleshooting your network connection

Sometimes your website might load slowly because your network connection is slow or intermittent. Below are some ways to test your network connection:

If you're experiencing a network issue, you may have to test your local network/router, contact your internet service provider, or wait until the network connection is resolved.

Try a proxy server or VPN

Proxy servers load your site from a third-party location and usually bypass local network problems. Try loading your site using a proxy server or VPN. If your site loads normally through a proxy server but slowly for you, then you’ve identified a network problem.

International

If you aren't in the Americas, try having someone in the United States or Canada test the website's performance. If it loads fast for them but slow for you, then you’ve identified a network problem.

Contact us

Let us know which site is giving you trouble and we can test it on our end. If the site loads fast for us but slow for you, you’ve most likely got a network problem.

Optimizing your site

Unnecessarily large images, linked assets, third-party plugins, excessive transitions/transforms, excessive interactions and animations, embedded content, etc., can all cause loading issues.

Test your site's load time with a free online website speed test, then follow the steps below if you aren't satisfied with the results.

Optimize large images

Large images are the single most common reason websites perform slowly. Below are some best practices when it comes to images in your Webflow site:

1. Use vector images when possible
2. Compress raster images
3. Use the correct image format (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc.)
4. Keep image display size as close to the image’s natural size as possible

Limit linked elements

Many web pages contain references to elements hosted on external servers, requiring additional time to load through your server and browser. The more linked elements you have (e.g. scripts, images, Twitter feeds, etc), the slower your website.

Try to limit the number of linked elements on your site. If your site is hosted on your own server, upload copies of external content to your server rather than querying a third-party server every time your page loads.

Update, replace, or remove third-party plugins

Plugins can be poorly written, maintained, and even unsupported, causing slow loads. If your plugins are causing your site to load slowly, consider updating them, replacing them with similar plugins that have better ratings for efficiency and speed, or removing them entirely.

Remove unnecessary transitions/transforms

Webflow makes it easy to add CSS transitions and transforms to your site, but you shouldn't overdo it. Only use transitions and transforms that add to the experience. And when adding transitions, only select the properties you wish the transition to affect, rather than all properties.

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Remove unnecessary interactions

Each interaction on your site adds a little extra load time. Make sure your site element structure allows you to use the same interaction on multiple elements, avoid using duplicate interactions when possible, and try to only use interactions when they truly add to the experience.