Central Baptist

Central Baptist Church Website Transformation

Why Website Speed Matters

• 53% of users abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load (Google)
• A 0.1s speed improvement can increase conversions by 8.4% (Google/Deloitte)
• Google uses Core Web Vitals like LCP, CLS, and TBT as official ranking factors (Google Search Central)

To understand metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and Total Blocking Time (TBT) — see Google’s overview at: https://web.dev/articles/vitals

Speed doesn’t just feel better — it ranks better, converts better, and builds trust.

Challenge: Slow Performance on Mobile

The original WiX website scored just 69 on Google’s mobile PageSpeed Insights, with an LCP of 6.9s — nearly triple Google’s recommended maximum. Most mobile visitors were likely to bounce before the page even loaded.

Solution:

We rebuilt the site from the ground up using a lightweight, optimized architecture. The new build scores 95 on mobile with a dramatically reduced LCP of 2.9s, giving visitors a responsive, reliable experience on every device.

Mobile Performance Before/After

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After

Desktop Performance Before/After

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After

Challenge: Hidden Technical Debt Slowing the Site Down

Google Lighthouse uncovered multiple technical inefficiencies, including:

• Unused and redundant JavaScript
• Legacy scripts served to modern browsers
• Duplicate modules
• Inefficient image delivery
• Excessive preconnects
• Heavy client-side code

These issues dragged down performance, hurt SEO, and created a poor user experience.

Solution:

We removed every unnecessary script, cleaned up redundant modules, optimized all assets, and rebuilt the site with clean, minimal code. The result is a lightweight, high-performance site scoring consistently in the 95–100 range.

Diagnostics Before/After

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After

Challenge: Heavy Network Requests & Console Errors

The previous website made 136 network requests and loaded 5.3MB of assets — far more than a simple church site should require. The console was also filled with repeated errors from various third-party scripts.

Solution:

We reduced the site to just 21 network requests and 1.4MB total size, eliminating every console error. The codebase is now lean, stable, and built for long-term reliability.

Network Requests Before/After

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After

Console Errors Before/After

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After

The Result: A Faster, More Reliable Website

Speed doesn’t just feel better — it ranks better, converts better, and earns more trust.

Sources & Further Reading

• Google — The Need for Mobile Speed

• Google / Deloitte — Milliseconds Make Millions

• Google Search Central — Core Web Vitals

• Google PageSpeed Insights — Performance Scoring Methodology

• Google Web.dev — Learn Core Web Vitals