Journal

Website speed for small businesses: why it matters and how to improve it

People will not wait for a slow website, especially on a phone. Speed affects how many visitors stay, and it is one of the things search engines consider. You do not need to be technical to improve it.

The usual causes

  • Huge images. Photos straight from a camera can be many times larger than needed.
  • Too many plugins. Each one adds code that has to load.
  • Slow hosting. A crowded server slows everything down.
  • Heavy page builders and effects. Fancy features can cost speed.
  • Third-party scripts. Chat widgets, trackers and fonts add up.

Fixes that matter most

  1. Resize and compress images before uploading them.
  2. Remove plugins you do not use.
  3. Use good hosting with caching.
  4. Load images lazily so the top of the page appears first.
  5. Keep third-party scripts to a minimum.

How to measure

Google PageSpeed Insights is free and tests your pages on mobile. Look at the biggest issues it lists first, rather than chasing a perfect score.

We build sites with speed in mind from day one. See our web design.

Need a hand with this?

We're happy to talk it through, no obligation.

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