I use this blog not only to organize and share my thinking, but to experiment with various Web software services — typically plugins and small code embeds. An unintended consequence of a few recent updates resulted in very slow page download speeds — sometimes up to 13 seconds. That kind of sludgy performance is a huge turnoff to users, and prevents favorable search-engine visibility. (Google actually penalizes Web sites with slow load times by scoring them as less important and relevant in search-results pages.)
Over the past weekend, I investigated the culprits and acted on them. I got rid of most of the bad plugins, installed a database optimizer to clean up my site’s files, and had my Web hosting company move this blog to a new, faster server.
A few recent tests indicate my Web site download speed now is around 3.5 seconds. I’d still like to improve that, but I’m far ahead versus where I was last week.
I hope your usability with this site improves noticeably. Please let me know if that’s not the case. If you’re an expert in Web development or hosting, I’m open to suggestions for further improvement.
Good day.
(Photo credit: andyburnfield)