First Byte Time scores F

Web Performance Discuss Test Results
1

I recently purchased a new theme and installed wordpress on my GoDaddy hosting account for my portfolio. I am still working on it, but as of right now I sometimes get page load speeds of 10-20seconds, and others 2 seconds (usually after the page has been cached). I have done all that I believe I can (without breaking the site) to optimize my performance speed (reducing image sizing, using a free CDN, using W3 Total Cache, etc).

It seems that my main issue is this ‘TTFB’ wait time I get whenever I go to a new page that hasn’t been cached yet. How I can fix this? Is it the theme’s fault? Do I NEED to switch hosting providers? I really don’t want to go through the hassle of doing that and paying So much more just to have less than optimal results. I am new to this.

My testing site: http://test.ninamariephotography.com/

See my Web Page Results here: http://www.webpagetest.org/result/161111_9W_WF0/

Thank you in advance to anyone for your help:)

2

the first time byte results are really bad.

I think if it is always like that. you may think to change your hosting provider maybe.

some quick recommendations for image properties and processing on your test results:

  1. detect if a jpeg is progressive. always use progressive images: Progressive JPEG tester

  2. a very cool & free image optimizer (both as gimp plugin and as standalone install). I always use this software to convert images to jpeg, to resize and optimize images. there is also batch job option:
    RIOT - Radical Image Optimization Tool

note that these image optimizations will not effect first time byte.

3

I’m seeing 11-20 second times, so here’s how I’d determine the next step.

  1. You’re using WordPress, so first change your theme to TwentySixteen + retest.

You can go one step further + use the http://wptest.io data. Doing a test with TwentySixteen + test data or your own site data will tell you a bit about your hosting.

If this is a hobby site or proof of concept site, just ignore the slowness + move to better hosting before your launch.

  1. If this site generates money now, likely best to move.

The initial HTML component relates to your hosting - LAMP config.

LAMP - Linux + Apache + MariaDB/MySQL + PHP config.

When I configure a new site I tend to first test speed of a simple file like test.txt first.

This tests speed of Apache without MariaDB/PHP.

Looks like you’re using GoDaddy share hosting, likely you’ll have to change to a different hosting provider to fix this.

You can contact me to discuss your situation.

4

Thank you so much for responding Dfavor and kburakozdemir,
You certainly know more than me Dfavor, ok I will try that again with the basic wordpress theme. I never heard of WP Test, so I will look into that.

Would you happen to know of a good hosting provider for heavy wordpress websites that are under $200 a year? I am currently paying about $12 a month, so I don’t want to go too much higher than that because it is a portfolio page for my photography freelance business, aka not a whole lot of revenue coming from the site, but potential future clients will be looking at it.

5

You can take a look at wpengine or wordpress.com. Both specialize exclusively in wordpress hosting and will tend to perform well (depending on your theme code and plugins).

6

For inexpensive hosting, during proof of concept stage of site(s)…

I’d personally steer clear of WPEngine, as WPEngine has many… unexpected complexities.

  1. Many plugins are prohibited, including all backup plugins.

  2. The only way to extract a site from WPEngine requires restoring one of their custom backups, which requires removing all the wp-config.php cruft they add + all mu-plugins they add. If your site crashes with Apache 500 error after migration, you’ve simply missed removing some of their cruft.

WordPress.com only works for non-commercial projects. Many a person has been bit by this.

Start with HostGator or BlueHost. Both are cheap + easy to use.

Once you start generating earnings, look for good managed WordPress hosting.

For example, for low traffic site my hosting starts at $100/month + several high traffic sites are $1000-$5000/month.

This depends both on traffic + site resource usage.

The highest traffic sites I host run between $100-$250/month, because the site owners work with me to only install themes + plugins with code optimized for speed + low resource usage.

Other sites, with antiquated code which thrash the database subsystem run from $1000-$5000/month.

Thrash means, poorly written code produces excessive disk I/O which means playing many tricks with disk subsystem setup + daily maintenance to keep these sites running under high traffic load.

The only real way to test theme + plugin code quality is to add the code to a site + generate 1,000,000 simultaneous browser visits (how I test).

If disk I/O skyrockets, code requires being replaced.

As you move to more expensive hosting, you’ll likely get push back from your hosting company if you use code which produces I/O thrash or excessive swapping (huge memory use). Keep this in mind as you tool your site.

Plugins to avoid - anything to do with security (should be handled at server level), URL shorteners like Pretty Links, any stat plugins which write database records for every page access, redirect plugins which don’t correctly use the Transients API.

Just a few things to keep in mind to assist you determining what code to install on your site + what code to avoid.
[hr]
@ninamarie8253

You PM’ed me + you have your PM disabled, so I can’t respond to your inquiry.

Best you find + contact me via Skype.

7

@ninamarie8253 - You send me a PM + you have your own PM disabled, so there’s no way to respond to your PM.

You can Skype me @ ID davidfavor. Be sure to include your site name in the Skype Add Contact message you send me.

8

There’s still some things you can do to improve the loading time.

https://gtmetrix.com/reports/ninamariephotography.com/UYoUI4SE

Look at the yslow suggestions.