Hey,

after I've build my site, I am having serious performance issues and still haven't completely solved the situation.

I am pretty sure Retina screens are somehow problematic.. as I've tested in on 'normal' Windows computers and the site is loading very fast (as it should be).

But on Mac I have to wait at least 30-40 seconds.

The logo and one other picture are double the resolution and I am using the WP Retina 2x plugin... do you think this could cause the problem ?

Although I don't think two images would cause the site to load so slow ? (they are not that big anyway).

I've experimented with caching plugins (still active) and CDN (Cloudflare - not active on the site anymore)..

Here's the site: youngandripped.net

Thanks!

Edited February 10, 20179 yr by mccloud

Your homepage is 9.1Mb - most of that is the video and the rest is all those plugins and scripts you have added. 115 server calls and a number of those to external resources isn't good.

 

And you have got an awful lot of caggage that needs to load before the site functions. And be aware that using a caching plugin can really slow down a site and yoast can hang badly.

 

Test is on a 3g connection on your phone and it's slow as a slow thing. Google thinks so to, only scoring you 58/100

 

However, it loaded pretty fast on my Mac so I suspect the problem is your mac not just the website.

Your homepage is 9.1Mb

That'll do it

And autostart video is a sure fire method of getting people to exit the site. So if you get rid of the video you save yourself 6.5Mb of data

 

Then sort out all the unnecessary scripts, find a simple theme that works properly on a phone and you should be sorted

Your homepage is 9.1Mb - most of that is the video and the rest is all those plugins and scripts you have added. 115 server calls and a number of those to external resources isn't good.

 

And you have got an awful lot of caggage that needs to load before the site functions. And be aware that using a caching plugin can really slow down a site and yoast can hang badly.

 

Test is on a 3g connection on your phone and it's slow as a slow thing. Google thinks so to, only scoring you 58/100

 

However, it loaded pretty fast on my Mac so I suspect the problem is your mac not just the website.

thanks!

 

ye, the video is really a pain.. however, I don't believe that there isn't a way to somehow optimize it.. would it perhaps help, if I embedded a youtube video instead of Wistia ?

Although there are plenty of websites with a video about the product / service, without any impact on the loading speed.

 

Also, do you have a suggestion about the caching ? All the performance tests are showing that I should utilize more caching.

 

I just tested now through tools.pingdom.com and the loading time is 881 ms, which is not bad at all. However, when I actually load the site in the browser (and on the phone) it's loading forever.

 

Here's a GTMetrix result, which is crazy...

https://gtmetrix.com/reports/youngandripped.net/4xZgZkzU

 

There are 2 pictures that are unnecessarily large for normal (and especially mobile) screens - I was using the WP Retina 2x plugin, however without success. So I'll try another method to serve the double-sized images only to retina screens where appropriate.

Just bin the video. It's adds no value at all.

 

Then find a theme that doesn't need all those plugins and you will be sorted. The pictures aren't the problem, it's all the caggage you are loading for what should be a really simple site.

I'd agree auto play is bloody annoying, reminds me of the JML adverts blasting out in Robert Dyas. I'd say use an image as a backer with hover play icon. Then use js to load the video where the image is when the visitor clicks play ... now the video is not part of the initial load and you won't scare people away, commonly found when people are browsing at work and an auto play lets the office know what they're up to

okey, I will remove the auto-play in that case for sure.

 

About the video not providing any value - it's a temporary video, I am working on one, where I am describing the product (book) personally and giving more details and info.

So I definitely want the video there.. from my experience, people are not gonna read 2 pages of text... but a 2-3 min video is way more user friendly.

 

I can imagine that there's also quite some bs being loaded with the theme - I am using Thrive Landing pages plugin to design the whole site - manage opt ins etc.

You don't need a video. Long copy sells. There have been umpteen tests that prove this to be so. If you really want a video make it a testimonial and put it further down the page.

 

And junk the Thrive Landing pages plugin, it's a load of rubbish.

 

Strip out everything except for your sales copy, the calls to action and the testimonials. You don't even need wordpress for this as it's a single page site.

You don't need a video. Long copy sells. There have been umpteen tests that prove this to be so. If you really want a video make it a testimonial and put it further down the page.

 

And junk the Thrive Landing pages plugin, it's a load of rubbish.

 

Strip out everything except for your sales copy, the calls to action and the testimonials. You don't even need wordpress for this as it's a single page site.

 

I should make this clear: Videos do work. It's not so black and white around what sells, I worked over 30 months at a conversion agency and I can tell you it's all about context and the product you are trying to sell. Long copy can often do less well than a video and vice versa.

In fact people are generally very busy, if a 20 second video can save me 5-10 minutes of reading copy I will chose the video every time. Long copy can is often a conversion killer and delivering the key information in a concise manner is what will drive up sales.

 

Like I said none of this is black and white.

Edited February 15, 20179 yr by rbrtsmith

I agree, which is why I said to move it down the page. People aren't going to land on this site by chance, they will only land after some targeted marketing. This means they are already on the AIDA cycle. If the site begins with the elevator pitch to assure the potential client they are in the right place they will read on. If you then show the short video (and it needs to be really short) you will reinforce the message.

 

The page then needs to continue - this the long copy that will improve conversions, turning the yes-maybe visitor into a yes. And you can even pull in the no-maybe visitor if you keep pushing the benefits.

Edited February 15, 20179 yr by fisicx

Like I said none of this is black and white.

 

QFTW!