/ Performance diagnostics
Why is my website slow — and how do I fix it?
The seven things that actually make small business websites slow, how to diagnose which is hurting yours, and what a realistic fix costs.
/ 01
The short version
Site speed affects rankings, conversion and how professional you look. But most 'my site is slow' problems come from two or three fixable things — not the platform, not the host, and definitely not needing a rebuild.
/ 02
The seven real causes
In roughly the order we see them on audits:
- • Massive unoptimised images — the #1 cause by a mile. A 4MB hero image can add 3 seconds on mobile.
- • Too many plugins/apps (WordPress and Shopify especially) — each one adds JavaScript.
- • Cheap shared hosting — £2/month hosts serve pages from overloaded servers.
- • Third-party scripts — chat widgets, popups, analytics, retargeting pixels stacked on stacked.
- • Custom fonts loading late — every extra font weight is another download.
- • Bloated theme or page builder (Elementor, Divi, WPBakery) doing 10x the work needed.
- • No caching — every visitor rebuilds the page from scratch.
/ 03
How to know which one is yours (5 minutes)
Do this:
- • Run your URL through pagespeed.web.dev — look at the 'Diagnostics' section, not the headline score.
- • 'Properly size images' or 'Serve images in next-gen formats' warnings? Cause #1.
- • 'Reduce unused JavaScript' over 200KB? Cause #2 or #4.
- • Time to First Byte over 800ms? Cause #3 (hosting).
- • 'Ensure text remains visible during webfont load'? Cause #5.
/ 04
What each fix actually costs
Image optimisation: a good dev can convert your whole media library to WebP and add lazy-loading in 2–4 hours (£150–£400). Biggest win, cheapest fix.
Plugin/app audit: 2 hours to remove what you're not using (£100–£250).
Hosting upgrade: £15–£40/mo for proper managed hosting (SiteGround, Kinsta, Cloudways).
Caching setup: free plugin (WP Rocket costs £50/yr and is worth it).
- • Total realistic bill to fix a slow small business site: £250–£600 one-off + £20/mo better hosting.
- • Anyone quoting £2k+ to 'fix speed' is quoting a rebuild in disguise.
/ 05
Want a human to look at yours?
We're a small Colchester studio. Send us your URL and we'll tell you honestly what's wrong, what to fix first, and whether it's worth paying anyone to do it. No sales call gauntlet, no 30-slide deck.
If the fix is small, we'll tell you how to do it yourself. If it's bigger, we'll quote it plainly.
/ FAQs
Common questions
What speed should I aim for?
Under 2.5 seconds Largest Contentful Paint on mobile. Under 200ms Interaction to Next Paint. That's the Core Web Vitals 'good' threshold — pass it and Google won't penalise you.
Does the platform matter?
Less than people say. A well-built WordPress site beats a badly-built Next.js site every time. Blame the build, not the tool.
Will faster hosting fix everything?
No — it fixes about 20–30% of speed problems. Image weight and script bloat are usually the bigger fish.
Not sure which one is you?
Send us your URL. We'll tell you honestly which of these applies and what to fix first — no sales pitch.
Get a free look →