Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
There is a great article here on ww.wp.xz.cn about optimisation and improving your site. The times you’ve mentioned are very slow, so I would expect it to be a lot faster. It’s worth speaking to your hosting provider too, as they can often point you in the right direction of changes to improve.
Here’s the article that I mentioned: https://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/article/optimization/
A lot of time, from my own experience, it’s too many plugins that’s beginning to slow things down. Worth trying to check if you have any plugins you don’t really need.
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards,
Tim
Hi @tneville,
Thanks for your response! I will check that article out. I’m also on hold with my hosting provider (GoDaddy) to see what they suggest.
I do have a few plugins restricting the site (making it private while we build it), this might be causing some issues.
Best, /JJ
Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
Yes, that’s a possibility. As a rule of thumb, most places recommend sticking to 10 or less plugins. I appreciate that is not always easy, and I have a number of sites myself that are over 10!
There are also a number of hosting providers who offer dedicated WordPress hosting which might be worth looking at. It is something I work with/have used myself, but I know there are lots of options out there too.
Good luck! 🙂
Kind Regards,
Tim
@tneville thanks- I appreciate your help!
I just spoke to GoDaddy and we went through my server settings. All seems good.
I do have 21 active plugins on my site. Removing all the ‘Coming Soon’ and ‘Password Protect’ plugin still leaves me with 16-18 plugins to run the site.
From what I’ve seen, users and orders appear in the back-end almost instantly. It’s only the front-end that takes 30+ seconds to load. I’m going to create a backup and start disabling the theme and plugins to try and locate what might be causing the slow loading times.
I will keep this ticket open and report my findings for anyone else with the same issue.
Best, /JJ
Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
Yes, that sounds good!
You can also make use of tools like GTMetrix and Pingdom to try and pin point bottlenecks on the frontend.
Kind Regards,
Tim
Hey @tneville,
I have removed everything from the site. I have the WooCommerce ‘Storefront’ theme and the plugins, ‘WooCommerce’ and ‘Stripe for WooCommerce’ active and it is now taking 35-seconds to process.
Anything else you can suggest?
Best, /JJ
Update: upping the memory limit to 1GB; define(‘WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘1200M’);
hasn’t helped.
My site is now running WooCommerce and Storefront only. Cash on Delivery payment option still takes 30+ seconds to redirect to Order Confirmed screen.
Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
This is really bizarre. WooCommerce, Storefront, and the Stripe Gateway are not that heavy at all and load times certainly shouldn’t be anywhere near 30+ seconds.
Have you tried a default theme too, like Twenty Twenty-One just to rule out that possibility?
Kind Regards,
Tim
Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
I just visited your site and it was fairly snappy for me (a few seconds at most). I added something to my basket no problem. I didn’t proceed past that – for obvious reasons – but were you getting slowness before the checkout at all?
Kind Regards,
Tim
Hey @tneville,
All that you’ve mentioned is very quick! It’s registering a new user and the checkout process after purchasing a product that’s slow. Feel free to purchase an item with the test account and Stripe test card:
Main Site Pass: REDACTED
Account User: REDACTED
Account Pass: REDACTED
Card Number: 4242 4242 4242 4242
CVC: Any 3 digits
Date: Any future date
or, view the test I did above: https://youtu.be/RFFC5sfIJrE.
WooCommerce support has suggested it’s a slow host but I’m skeptical (I’m paying for a decent plan- the highest shared hosting which I know, is still shared). I’m trying to upload a site backup to my localhost to check the speeds there. If I continue to have issues, I’ll be straight on to WooCommerce and GoDaddy.
/JJ
Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
I know it is only a test site, but please don’t post these credentials – I will have to flag this to the mods for removal as it is not permitted under the WordPress Forum Guidelines. Sorry about that. 🙁
I’ll watch your YouTube link now and see what I can deduce.
Kind Regards,
Tim
No worries @tneville, I’ve removed the info.
Let me know what you think of the video/test.
Best, /JJ
Tim
(@tneville)
Hi @jamesjohnsonw,
Wow, yes that is very slow! It does look like a slow host to be honest, but it’s hard to prove. Your idea of setting up a copy on localhost is a great idea and will confirm either way if the host is at fault, or not.
I’ll leave you to test that out – please let us know the results of your testing!
PS – Not all hosts are made equal, despite being on a ‘top plan’, if a hosting company are overloading their shared servers the performance will still be poor. I am not suggesting the GD do this, but some hosts do – and it’s something to be aware of.
Kind Regards,
Tim
Hey @tneville,
I’m working on the localhost site now so will report back as soon as I have some results. I appreciate your help and feedback on this.
I’ve had a back and forth with GoDaddy (being a long-term customer). I may consider bumping up to a dedicated plan if it shows better results.
Best, /JJ
