Nobody likes a website that runs slowly. Users get pissed off and find an alternative website to navigate. If their request solely relies on that particular slow website, they get disoriented and perplexed. A slow website can be frustrating, but the thing is, most times consumers do not understand why the website is running slow, nor do they care. They check on a link and expect the site to load.
There exist some reasons website loads slowly, among them are a virus, low disk space, server overload, bandwidth overload, RAM and/ CPU overload, unnecessary images content, unnecessary flash, flooded traffic, outdated CMS, too many ads, among others. Few of the aforementioned will be discussed below;
- Unnecessary/Un-optimized Flash: Flash is a significant tool for adding interactivity to every website. However, it is likely to contribute to slow page-load speed. Flash contents are most times bulky in size and the bigger the file size is, the slower the page ability to load.
Flash size reduction or elimination tend to improve page loading speed significantly. As a website owner, if you wish to make your website faster, you may look for HTML5 alternatives to replace your existing Flash content to free up space on your webpage.
- Low disk space: There exists no significant difference between your personal computer and web hosting servers. This is because both perform under the same process. Evidently, a disk space with little free space will impact on a website loading speed. This issue is peculiar to shared hosting because resources on the server are shared by multiple accounts.
It is always advisable for companies who run multiple tasks online to move on to Managed Cloud Hosting as it evidently makes enough provisions to expand one’s website disk space whenever the need arises.
- Server Overload: Server overload is one of the major cause for a site to run slowly. It is possible for the server to become overloaded, and this can result to slow loading Web page. This issue is often temporary and may resolve itself with time. If you perceive that there may be an on-going server issue causing your site to load slowly, you can rectify it by consulting your Web developer. E-brand promotions are one of the reputable firm that you can contact to help optimise your website.
- Bandwidth overload: Bandwidth issues have overtime created technology problems for many IT departments in Nigeria. Bandwidth is similar to lanes on a highway, it allows more traffic to go through at once, while at high speeds. A single car can speed down a single lane road. This is also applicable in IT as a lone network request can result in low bandwidth.
Most time if a user is transferring (either uploading or downloading) a large file data or streaming on Netflix on a shared network, this may result to a slow network on other user’s workstations. Large file transfers or data streams within a network should be placed on a separate network or to be done at non-working hours, in order to avoid bottlenecking other users workstations.
- Too Many Ads: Advertisements are great for profit generating high traffic websites. However, that should not compromise the performance or user experience. Some website owners monetize their website by overloading it with enormous ads and this inadvertently results in server overload making the website to load slowly.
The conspicuous consequence of overloading website with advertisements is the addition of HTTP requests which always needs additional processing time. Media ads like pop-unders, interstitials and auto download may create hundreds of HTTP requests resulting to an unresponsive Web page. In resolving this issue, Web owners should limit the number of display advertisements as it will aid better performance of the website.
