With thousands of bloggers and digital business owners in our community, we often encounter the same site speed mistakes. The good news is, these issues are easy to fix, even if you’re not tech-savvy!
Source: Appsmanager
Mistake #1 – Not identifying your site’s specific needs
A common error we see is people following generic advice from articles and social media without considering their site’s unique requirements.
Advice from social media, Facebook groups, and blog posts is often general or tailored to someone else’s site, and it might not be suitable for yours. Each site and situation is unique, even if they appear similar or use the same host. While some general principles apply to all sites, it’s important to avoid implementing various strategies without understanding if they address your site’s specific needs. Due to the numerous factors involved, a tip that speeds up one site could potentially slow down another.
To improve your site speed, start by running a speed test to identify your site’s strengths and weaknesses before making any changes.
You need to pinpoint the specific speed issues affecting your site before applying the right solutions. Just as you wouldn’t use eyedrops to treat a papercut, you need to diagnose the problem accurately to find the correct remedy.
Speed Takeaway: Your site speed improvement strategies should be tailored to your site’s specific needs.
Mistake #2 – Striving for the fastest site possible
While having a fast site is important and likely why you’re reading this post, aiming for the absolute fastest site is not the best approach.
To achieve the fastest site possible, you would need to strip it down to plain text pages, sacrificing many features that you and your visitors enjoy. Your site speed should be balanced with your goals and your visitors’ expectations.
For instance, a recipe site with no images would load quickly, but users would likely leave without the visual appeal of the recipes. Conversely, no one will wait for twenty 10MB images to load either. The key is to find a middle ground – balance is crucial.
Speed Takeaway: Set realistic expectations and don’t compromise user experience for speed.
Mistake #3 – Depending on magic plugins
Think of plugins as helpful assistants that enhance the speed optimization work you’ve already done, rather than being the sole solution to improving your site speed. Much like an SEO plugin provides a framework for you to build upon, a speed plugin requires your input and effort to be effective.
A plugin has its limitations. For instance, if you upload large images, a plugin can reduce their size somewhat but won’t optimize them as much as you could manually. Caching can improve page loading times, but if your pages are excessively large, they will remain slow regardless of the caching plugin’s capabilities. Making smart decisions, like optimizing image sizes and quantities, will improve your site speed more than relying solely on plugins.
There are both free and paid plugins that can boost your PageSpeed Insights scores, but these usually enhance your scores rather than your actual site speed. Unless required by your ad network, these plugins aren’t essential.
To effectively improve your site speed, you’ll need to run speed tests, adjust settings, do the groundwork, and understand enough about the process to make informed decisions.
Speed Takeaway: While the right plugins can be beneficial, they won’t do all the work for you.
Mistake #4 – Buying unnecessary products and services
We always recommend that bloggers learn about site speed themselves before hiring someone to manage it for them. Here’s why:
- Better Decision-Making: Understanding site speed helps you make informed decisions and avoid undoing the optimization work you’ve paid for.
- Hiring the Right Help: Knowing the basics allows you to identify skilled professionals and ask the right questions about their tools and methods, ensuring they tailor their approach to your site rather than using generic fixes.
- Evaluating Work Quality: You’ll be able to tell if the hired expert has done a good job or is just providing jargon and automated reports.
- Confident Understanding: Familiarity with terms and concepts helps you feel confident about what they mean for your site and your workflow.
Always consult your web host before purchasing a paid speed plugin or service. Often, good hosts include equivalent or better features, and additional plugins or services might cause conflicts or other issues.
If you’re hosted with us, be cautious if your speed expert asks you to install a caching plugin or requests deeper access without checking existing optimizations. This might indicate a lack of knowledge or diligence. Also, be wary of those recommending paid plugins, services, or hosting through affiliate links. If you’re already paying them for optimization, they should improve your site without extra costs.
Mistake #5 – Focusing on colors, grades, and scores out of 100 in speed tests
If someone asks you for the time, you wouldn’t say “Red” or “78/100” because that information is meaningless. The same principle applies to site speed; it’s measured in seconds and milliseconds.
Many people rely solely on PageSpeed Insights, but increasing your PageSpeed Insights score doesn’t necessarily make your site faster. Learn more about why we don’t recommend PageSpeed Insights for bloggers looking to improve site speed.
Therefore, we always advise measuring site speed in seconds and milliseconds.
Speed Takeaway: Focus on speed metrics in seconds and milliseconds, not on colors, grades, or scores out of 100.
Mistake #6 – Installing plugins without intent
If you’re adding plugins to your site without understanding their purpose or functionality, check or ask the person who recommended them. Be skeptical about installing new plugins, especially for speed optimization.
Many plugins may be unnecessary or duplicate speed optimization features you already have. Review what the plugins do, disable overlapping features, or eliminate redundant plugins entirely.
If you’re using a specialist WordPress host like us, contact the support team to review your speed plugins for overlaps or unnecessary features. Overloading on speed plugins can slow down your site.
To diagnose slow pages, first perform a speed test to see what’s happening behind the scenes. Don’t randomly install plugins based on Facebook recommendations, and avoid introducing more than one form of caching.
Remember to configure and review all plugin settings; merely installing and activating plugins isn’t sufficient.
Speed Takeaway: Research speed plugins thoroughly before installing them and understand their purpose. Don’t rely solely on recommendations or the plugin’s sales page.
Mistake #7 – Not pre-optimizing images
Uploading images directly from your phone or saving high-resolution photos, PDFs, and videos from your design software without optimization can significantly slow down your site. Changing this habit and adjusting your workflow will have a big impact.
Often, you’ll be uploading very large files that image optimization plugins (like Shortpixel or Smush) can’t reduce effectively. Many people end up with images that are 400KB or more when they could be 100KB or less. This results in pages being four times larger than necessary.
Speed Takeaway: Always resize and pre-optimize images before uploading them to WordPress; image compression plugins won’t handle everything.
Mistake #8 – Using PNGs when you don’t need to
PNGs are designed for high-quality web images, which means they are usually much larger than JPG files. Some software defaults to saving images as PNGs, but don’t let it! Other file types, like JPG and WebP, produce much smaller file sizes without any noticeable loss in quality.
You only need to save images as PNGs when they have transparency, such as a transparent background. Other file types will save with a white background, so use PNGs only in those cases. Keep the dimensions small and use a compression tool like Save For Web in Photoshop or TinyPNG to reduce the file size before uploading.
Speed Takeaway: Only use PNGs for images requiring transparency to keep file sizes down.
Mistake #9 – Relying solely on Google PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals
No speed tool is perfect, so it’s beneficial to compare results from different tools. We recommend using WebPageTest.org, which offers more comprehensive testing and detailed results.
Site speed involves more than just PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals metrics. Considering other factors that affect page speed will improve your visitors’ experience and help future-proof your site if Google introduces additional metrics.
Speed Takeaway: Develop a well-rounded understanding of your site’s speed and user experience, rather than relying solely on Google’s tools and metrics.
Mistake #10 – Involving too many cooks
When it comes to site speed, having too many sources of advice can be counterproductive. It’s better to stick with one trusted source or person to avoid conflicting information. Follow one strategy completely rather than mixing different pieces of advice. Consult your web host first to understand what they already do for site speed and what resources they recommend, as their platform’s optimization and the level of managed hosting can affect results.
Site speed is an area where different experts have different opinions, but your host should be your primary contact since they understand the specific environment your website operates in. Be cautious of those offering generic speed services, as their one-size-fits-all approach may not work well for your site or hosting setup.
Speed Takeaway: Stick to advice from one trusted source, preferably your web host, to avoid conflicting strategies and ensure the best results for your site’s speed. Testify takes care of it, so consider us for your blogging bandwagon.
Mistake #11 – Letting site speed become a distraction
Many people fall into the “If only…” trap.
“If only my website were faster, I would rank better in search engines.” “If only my website were faster, I’d earn more money.”
Often, people rely on site speed to solve or replace other necessary tasks. It’s highly unlikely that site speed alone is preventing you from achieving your desired results, even if your site is average or somewhat slow.
Search engines and users prioritize good content that meets their needs, whether educational, entertaining, problem-solving, or commercial. Both will seek recommendations—search engines look for links from authoritative sites, while people rely on social media, word of mouth, and links from other websites.
Most of the time, especially if your site is already reasonably fast, your efforts are better spent on activities directly related to your goals. For example, gaining quality backlinks, updating old content, creating new content, conducting keyword research, developing products/services, or collaborating with others will likely yield better results and provide a greater return on your investment of time.
A faster site won’t solve all your problems or achieve your goals without you putting in the necessary effort and work. Often, increasing your effort and output is essential to consistently improve your results. If you have limited time to dedicate to your site, prioritize activities that demonstrate tangible results and impact.
Speed Takeaway: Position site speed as one component of your overall strategy and task list; avoid letting it dominate or become your primary focus.
Mistake #12 – Not making conscious choices
In our case, we could achieve faster page speeds by removing our currency switcher, live chat, and notification bars. However, we choose to accept the speed trade-off because these features are integral to our website and greatly valued by both us and our visitors. It would be counterproductive to prioritize speed at the expense of losing sales opportunities due to lack of live chat or clarity on pricing in different currencies.
Ensure you don’t allow speed considerations to overshadow other important aspects of your website and goals. Focus first on achieving your objectives. For instance, a recipe site might load quickly, but without images of the finished dishes, visitors may not be inclined to try the recipes or return to the site.
Speed Takeaway: Speed is important, but it’s not the only factor. Consider what aligns best with your goals and website needs, aiming for a balanced approach.
Mistake #13 – Neglecting to optimize individual images
A common oversight we observe is people forgetting to optimize one or two images on their web pages, often because they haven’t pre-optimized them (as discussed in Mistakes #7 and #3), relied solely on image optimization plugins, or uploaded images differently than usual (such as large Pinterest pin images directly from Canva without optimization, while optimizing other large photos).
Speed Takeaway: Even a single oversized image can significantly increase your page size.
Mistake #14 – Allowing emotions to dominate
Managing site speed can often evoke feelings of panic, stress, or frustration for various reasons. Some individuals may feel overwhelmed by not knowing where to begin, while others perceive it as a mundane task diverting them from more creative pursuits. There’s also the sense of inadequacy or fear of doing something wrong. Often, these emotions are exacerbated by companies using fear-based marketing tactics and blogging communities creating anxiety over Google updates. Many bloggers may quit due to this pressure, even if site speed and related updates wouldn’t have affected them or been a concern.
It’s important to remember that countless individuals do minimal to no speed optimization and still successfully rank, attract traffic, and generate income.
Conclusion:
Our advice: Step back from the noise. Take a deep breath. Create a plan to start (this post or our support team can provide guidance). Acknowledge your feelings without letting them overwhelm you. Site speed is just one aspect and not the end-all, be-all. For most people, making a few simple adjustments can significantly improve their site’s performance, allowing them to shift their focus to other priorities.
