Website Speed Basics: What Actually Makes a Site Fast

“My site is slow” can come from many causes. The good news is that you don’t need to be a developer to fix the biggest speed killers.

1) Hosting and server response time

If the server is overloaded or underpowered, every page load starts behind. This is one reason some sites outgrow basic shared hosting.

2) Images that are too large

• Resize images to the size they’re actually displayed.
• Use modern formats when possible (like WebP).
• Don’t upload huge photos straight from a phone.

3) Too many scripts and plugins

Every extra script can slow down rendering. On WordPress, too many plugins can have the same effect (especially if they load scripts site-wide).

4) Caching

Caching stores a “ready-to-serve” version of your page so the server doesn’t rebuild it on every visit. Good caching can make a dramatic difference.

5) A CDN for global visitors

If you have visitors across Canada (or beyond), a CDN can serve files from locations closer to them, reducing load time.

What to do today (quick wins)

• Compress and resize images.
• Remove unused plugins/scripts.
• Enable basic caching.
• Test again and measure improvements.

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