Links in Footer are really slow

I've noticed that every link in my Footer except the Home link when you click on it it runs really slow and it sometimes times out. This is the complete opposite of any of my links in my side boxes which run at a normal speed. What's causing this?

Notice that your Contact and About Us links are fast. The problem with the others is the number and especially the file size of your product images. Most are > 30Kb, and some are > 50Kb. They should all be < 10Kb, and smaller if possible. The Image Handler 2 mod can help with that.

I use to have them that size but I felt and received feedback from customers/family that they were too small so I've increased them. They take longer to load but look much nicer to the eye especially for older demographics that I'm trying to target. My concern with page loading was primarily it timing out and sometimes the banner wouldn't fully display because of this. The product images taking some time to load is less of a concern now for me because the browser has been able to reach the page.

I'm still getting the site to time out sometimes when I click on those footer links. Here and there the speed seems to be better and then it reverts back to delayed loading.

This is the complete opposite of any of the side boxes and their links. There is no delay at all other than product/category images displaying like you mentioned in the previous post because of their size.

Could there be anything in the code that I've changed that would conflict causing a delay for these footer links?