The download speed of your web pages can often be a deciding factor in trying to keep hold of people browsing your site. With an ever growing number of web sites and resources out on the net, it is crucial that you don’t make your audience wait around too long or they will simply go somewhere else.

But what makes a page download slowly? The size of your images will play a large part in download speeds, but there are a number of other factors that come into play as well – some of which you may not have considered before.

Websiteoptimization.com is a website that lets you quickly test your own web page download speeds, and points out areas of your pages that may be causing long download times. It’s easy to use and completely free, and can point you in the right direction when it comes to optimising your web pages.

The site offers tips about limiting the number of HTTP requests made by your pages, including serving images from a separate domain or sub-domain, and highlights the main areas to focus on when starting the optimisation process for your pages.

For more about website optimisation, there is a very good book from O’Reilly on the subject.