Our website feels slow. How can I figure out what’s wrong without paying for a full rebuild?
A slow website frustrates visitors, hurts your search rankings, and kills conversions. The good news: you don’t always need to scrap everything and rebuild from scratch. Most speed issues come from a few fixable culprits.
1. Run a Speed Test
Start with free tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest. These will show you what’s dragging your site down, from bloated scripts to oversized images.
2. Check Your Hosting
Cheap or outdated hosting is a common reason sites feel sluggish. If your site lives on shared hosting, you might be competing for resources with hundreds of other websites. Upgrading to a managed WordPress host or a VPS can make a huge difference.
3. Look at Images and Media
Images are the number one culprit for slow load times. If you upload massive photos straight from your phone or camera, they could be several megabytes each. Compress them with tools like TinyPNG or ShortPixel, and serve them in next-gen formats like WebP.
4. Audit Plugins and Themes
On WordPress especially, too many plugins—or one poorly coded one—can bog everything down. Deactivate plugins you don’t use, and check if your theme loads unnecessary scripts or features.
5. Use Caching and a CDN
Caching plugins (like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache) can store static versions of your pages so they load instantly. Pair that with a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare or BunnyCDN, and your site will serve content faster no matter where your visitors are located.
6. Clean Up Code and Scripts
Excessive JavaScript, unused CSS, and third-party trackers can add seconds to load time. Minifying and deferring scripts helps, and removing anything unnecessary can make your site leaner.
7. Monitor and Maintain
Site performance isn’t “set it and forget it.” Keep monitoring your site speed after updates, plugin installs, or design changes. Regular audits catch issues before they become major problems.
Bottom Line
A slow site doesn’t automatically mean you need a full rebuild. By running diagnostics, addressing hosting and media, and cleaning up unnecessary bloat, you can often achieve a major speed boost without breaking the bank.
If you want a second set of eyes, I can walk you through exactly what to fix, what to ignore, and whether a rebuild is actually necessary.