How to Fix an Extremely Slow Website

What Makes a Website Slow

• Too much JavaScript
• Unoptimized images
• Too many calls to the server
• No caching
• Bad hosting

What System Are You On — And How Much Control Do You Have?

Before you fix anything, figure out what platform you’re using. What system are you on? Do you have access to your hosting settings, theme files, or plugin options? Can you add caching or optimization plugins? Can you edit image files directly? The more control you have, the more you can improve.

Ok, Now for the Fix

1. Get on the right system. Make sure you’re on a platform that gives you control — like WordPress with good hosting.
2. Compress your images. Use WebP format. Compress everything you can. Don’t use full-size images where thumbnails are needed.
3. Minimize how many fonts you’re using. Choose web-safe fonts if possible. If you’re using Google Fonts, consider hosting them yourself or removing them entirely.
4. Minimize the number of programs, plugins, and scripts being loaded. Only load what you really need.
5. Compress and minify. Compress your CSS and JavaScript files. Minify them. Merge files where it makes sense.
6. Enable parallel loading or pushing resources. Preload your most important files when possible.
7. Use lazy load. Lazy load images so they only load when needed.
8. Use blurred or solid background images. They load faster and still look nice.
9. Make sure your images are the right size. Background images should be larger. Images inside your content should load smaller sizes.
10. Choose fantastic hosting. Use hosting with quick connect times, NGINX or LiteSpeed server technology, and solid support.
11. Cache everything you can. Use page caching, browser caching, object caching — everything you can.
12. Lazy load videos. Use a cover image for videos. Make the video player load only when needed — not before.
13. Remove video backgrounds. They look cool but slow down the page. Ditch them.
14. Use all-in-one optimization plugins. This helps reduce how many calls your site makes and how many stylesheets get loaded.
15. Push caching to the edge — until it breaks. Keep turning on caching features until something breaks. If something breaks, turn it off. Then keep going. Turn something else on. If it breaks, turn that one off too. Keep doing that until you’re getting the best results without breaking the site.
16. Test and test and test. Like cooking a meal — turn on a caching feature, then test it with Google PageSpeed or another tool. Then turn on another one and test again. Add something, test. Add something else, test. If something breaks, turn it off, then test again. Keep going until you get the best score without breaking your site.
17. Do this during off hours. Try doing this when fewer people are on your site, just in case something breaks or the site goes down while you’re testing.
18. Use a dev site if you have one. If your development site is public and can be scanned by tools like Google PageSpeed, test your changes there first.
19. Once you’re good, add a cloud layer. Add cloud hosting or a CDN like Cloudflare. Cloudflare has even more settings and optimization options.
20. Try Rocket Loader for mobile. Cloudflare’s Rocket Loader usually speeds up mobile sites. It works by loading JavaScript smarter and faster.
21. Focus on mobile speed. Most users are on cell phones. That means slower processors and slower connections. Double slow. That’s why mobile performance is so important. Google prioritizes it heavily.

Hosting Suggestions

For raw speed, A2 Hosting is one of the best. For great all-around hosting with excellent support, DreamHost has been reliable for over a decade.