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If your site has suddenly become slow or has been getting increasingly slower over time, take a look at these common slow-downs and how you can fix them.
What is it?
When a browser first visits a site, it will download the website’s data and store it in a cache.
A cache is simply data that the site keeps so it doesn’t have to re-download information every time it visits. For returning visitors, the website will load much faster. However, caches will expire after a certain time and the browser will re-download the data the next time it visits the website.
Is it happening to me?
If you have noticed inconsistencies in site performance on a regular basis, this may be a good possibility to check out.
How to fix
You can change the expiration rate of the cache in your site’s .htaccess file.
What is it?
Sometimes assets are bigger than they appear, which can cause strain on the website.
For example, HTML can resize images to fit a certain size, but the size of the image does not really change. If you have a 1024x768 image, but it’s resized on your webpage to 600x300, the visiting browsers will still download the 1024x768 version.
Is it happening to me?
If you relied primarily on the code to size your images for your webpage, this could be the reason your site is slow.
How to fix
To fix this, check your images. If they are much bigger than what is displayed on your webpage, you should resize them to the size they are styled in your code.
What is it?
Using WordPress gives you access to many useful plugins. However, using too many on one site can slow your site down.
Is it happening to me?
If you have a WordPress site and you know you are using many plugins, this could be the cause of the site’s slowness.
How to fix
If you suspect this is the case, you should sort through your plugins and choose the ones that you feel to be most important. The rest, you should turn off. This will free website resources and make your site faster.
What is it?
CMS (Content Management Systems) like WordPress or Drupal, get periodic updates. If you forego these updates long enough, it will begin to affect your site performance.
Is it happening to me?
If it’s been a long time since you last updated your CMS, this could potentially slow down your site.
How to fix
Make sure you have the most recent update installed on your CMS. Once it is installed, check to see if your website is functioning any faster.