Hi, I’m Binh Nguyen. I’ve been a professional web designer and developer for five years (started around 2021–2022), and I help health and wellness brands with their online presence.
Unlike a lot of designers and developers who treat speed as an afterthought, I build every site with loading time as a non-negotiable priority from day one. My entire tech stack is chosen specifically to make websites perform well, not just good-looking.
If you’re a beginner web designer, developer, or business owner who’s tired of staring at PageSpeed Insights, fighting to improve the page speed score and feeling overwhelmed, I’ve been there too, so I’ll write this post is for you. I’m going to walk you through exactly how I increase website speed and improve loading times for my clients in the health and wellness space (therapists, jiu-jitsu gyms, yoga studios, pilates instructors, and personal trainers). Realistic advice of what have been working for me, updated for 2026.
Why Website Speed Actually Matters (And Why Most People Get It Wrong)
Slow sites kill conversions. Period.
A website that takes more than 2–3 seconds to load feels broken to users. In the age of distractions, no matter how good your products or your services is, most visitors simply don’t have the patience and will leave your websites for an alternatives (maybe your next door competitor). They don’t book appointments, they don’t buy products, and they certainly don’t remember your brand for the right reasons.
I’ve seen it firsthand: speed isn’t about chasing a perfect 100/100 on Google PageSpeed Insights. It’s about real business results: lower bounce rates, higher conversion rates, and customers who actually get what they need from your site.
My Two Biggest Case Studies
Case Study 1: High-Fidelity Audio System Company
The original site was painfully slow. It was built with Elementor on a cheap Hostinger plan, no CDN, and every image was uploaded in massive, uncompressed original files.
Here’s what I did:
- Migrated the entire site to Cloudways hosting
- Added Cloudflare CDN
- Converted all images to WebP format
Result? The site went from sluggish to a rocket. Everything loaded significantly faster, and the client immediately noticed the difference in user experience.
Case Study 2: Independent Local Bookstore
This client was stuck on Squarespace. Updating every single page manually was driving them crazy, and performance was mediocre at best. We migrated them off the locked-in platform and built a cleaner, faster WordPress site with proper e-commerce.
They hit 200 orders in their first year. The bigger lesson here? Platforms like Wix or Squarespace often feel easy at the start, but they lock you in and make real performance upgrades almost impossible later. Migrating early saved them time, money, and frustration.
The Brutal Mistake That Cost Me Sleepless Nights (And the Lesson I Live By Now)
Early in my career I took on a project where I used a heavy page builder, hosted on a low-quality server with zero support, no CDN, and uploaded huge uncompressed image files.
I spent a couple of sleepless nights trying to fix it.
That experience taught me the golden rule I now live by: Hosting and CDN are the most important foundation of website speed. Everything else is secondary. Get those two right and you’ve already solved about 80% of most speed problems.
My Workflow for Fast Websites
Here’s my process I applied in all my projects in order to optimize website speed
- Choose the Right Foundation
- WordPress + Bricks Builder (produces way cleaner code than older bulky builders with bloated code base)
- I still use Elementor when clients specifically request it, but Bricks is my default for speed
- Asset Optimization (My Non-Negotiables)
- Convert every PNG/JPG to WebP
- Use SVG for all logos and icons
- Optimize font files down to WOFF or WOFF2 before uploading
- Minimalist Plugin Strategy I keep plugins to an absolute minimum. You should also check regularly in the plugin settings to only choose what you need and further optimize the website. Some of my suggestions for optimization plugins are:
- Perfmatters – disables unnecessary WordPress bloat (Google Fonts, embeds, etc.)
- Breeze – excellent caching plugin that plays nicely with everything else especially with Cloudways server.
The Exact Tools I Use in 2026 (And Why)
- Hosting: Cloudways (best performance + support combo I’ve found)
- CDN: Cloudflare (you can set it up in Cloudflare or with a add-on inside of Cloudways dashboard)
- Page Builder: Bricks Builder (clean code = fast load times)
- Optimization: Perfmatters + Breeze
This stack is what lets me deliver great looking and speedy websites consistently for my clients.
My Measurement Philosophy
Here’s the mindset shift I want you to take away:
Stop obsessing over every single point on PageSpeed Insights.
If your website loads in under 2 seconds, you’re already winning.
I measure success by:
- Conversion rate
- Bounce rate
- Whether the site actually helps the customer take the next step
Real users don’t care about your score. They care about how fast they can achieve their goals and solve their painpoint example: leave the information for support, book a yoga class or buy a jiu-jitsu gi,…
The One Thing I Want You to Remember
Use a good hosting server with great support and add a CDN.
That single decision will solve 80% of your speed issues. Everything else (image optimization, clean code, minimal plugins) is just icing on the cake and make the website performs even better.
If you’re a beginner designer/developer or a business owner who’s frustrated with slow loading times, start there. You don’t need to become a performance expert overnight, you just need the right foundation.
Want me to audit your site’s speed? Drop your URL in the comments or send me a message! I’m always happy to give a quick audit and advice on what you should do next.
Speed isn’t complicated when you have the right process.
Now go make your website fast. Your visitors (and your business) will thank you.
