Initial Site Load is Slow

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While I am not new to web development, I am new to Concrete5. I think I have done about 5 websites with it so far. I have noticed slow load times on two sites that I have in BETA right now. It is the initial load (first request at the URL) that seems to take too long. Once a page loads, then performance is acceptable. Following are the details

First site:http://www.btlaunch.com/Pishon/... As mentioned, once a page loads it performs just OK, but the first request takes too long. Prior to this post, I have changed all the site speed and optimization settings to "Helps speed up a live site" and also cleared the cache. Also for comparison, you can go tohttp://www.btlaunch.com which has a straight HTML page on the same server to see how fast the server responds and loads this page. This site uses the out-of-the-box elemental theme with slight customization. Following are the environmental variables: # concrete5 Version/ Core Version - 8.2.1 / Version Installed - 8.2.1 / Database Version - 20170802000000

Second site:http://www.btlaunch.com/CRT/ Same problem as above. This site makes use of the Equinox theme with slight modifications in CSS. Cache has been cleared all selections to speed up a live site have been picked. For comparison (because I thought version 8 was the issue) - this one has the following environment: # concrete5 Version / Core Version - 5.7.5.13 / Version Installed - 5.7.5.13 / Database Version - 20160615000000

Any insights into the speed issue would be greatly appreciated. I really like Concrete5 and trying to decide if it will be my go-to CMS system of the future, but I have to get better speed/performance until I feel comfortable.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

darrellgw
 
Gondwana replied on at Permalink Reply
Gondwana
Just a minor comment: clearing the cache will actually slow down subsequent loads (because the blocks and pages have to be reconstructed). Once the content has been cached within c5, page loads will be quicker. It's best to gauge site performance when the cache has been populated.

You can get better performance overall by extending the time between automatic cache refreshes (but the risk is that old content may get served if the site isn't configured properly).
darrellgw replied on at Permalink Reply
darrellgw
Thanks for the reply. The cache was cleared about 1 week ago for Pishon and 4 days ago for CRT, and I have been to every page of each site multiple times. Once in the site, it is OK. But hitting the URL for the first time it is slow. It is like starting the "engine" takes too long. Hope that makes sense?
Gondwana replied on at Permalink Reply
Gondwana
Yeah, that makes sense. The first load can be slow because there's a lot of work to do. If you're not already doing so, try using php 7 rather than php 6; it should speed things up noticeably.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of the delay is caused by database transactions which are hard to accelerate; it all depends on your hosting architecture and most of us don't get much control over that.
ConcreteOwl replied on at Permalink Reply
ConcreteOwl
You might be better off loading Pishon as a sub domain pishon[dot]btlaunch[dot]com rather than a sub folder because any faults in the btlaunch site will affect the sub folders (pishon).
The btlaunch site has 6 errors all relating to 404's for bootstrap css and js files and this could be the root of your problem..

On the other hand, the problems could be the GoDaddy server!
darrellgw replied on at Permalink Reply
darrellgw
Thank you for your comments. I will look into the errors. Did you notice if they are in the root site, or in one of the folders? As mentioned, this is just a development/test bed and these sites will ultimately get their own hosting at the appropriate standalone URLs. Thanks again!
ConcreteOwl replied on at Permalink Best Answer Reply
ConcreteOwl
if you go to btlaunch.com and check the browser console, you will see the errors displayed.