Performance issues w/ storefront/homepage? Maybe...?

Hi.
I'm pretty much a noob, but I did dig around in the forums a bit trying to find help to my question. Finally, I've decided to just ask. :bigups:

Anywhoo....I'm running Apple Zen, somewhat customized, on ZC 1.3.8a.

My store seems to load very slowly, especially the storefront (homepage).

I've enabled GZip Compression, turned off category counts, etc.

Any suggestions? I've contacted my host and was basically told "it must be in your code."

My website is
https://www.ella-bee.com

Thanks!!!
Jonathan

Loads pretty quickly here:

Parse Time: 0.700 - Number of Queries: 38 - Query Time: 0.053685570388794

How should it look when it loads, all i see is a big image in the middle, with links across top and bottom, all loads quick at my end

Rob

Parse Time: 0.939 - Number of Queries: 29 - Query Time: 0.065656925262451

Not lightning fast, but it doesn't seem especially slow to me. Image sizes look ok (well optimized). Maybe it takes time to load all the javescript widgets? Those are on product pages, so not relevant to homepage issues.

I have a SSL provided by GoDaddy and occasionally this can make my site load slow as the graphic is near the top on mine

Rob

I'm on GoDaddy, which I've seen pretty much panned here. =-) I'm okay with looking for a new host (open to any suggestions via PM on that score!)
I felt the front page was pretty slow. But, that could be my connection....although I've tried it from several different locations, on different computers. My concern is, of course, that the site might be slow, thereby driving potential users away.

That's all part of question number ONE.

Question number TWO. I've installed ZC in one directory, but would like to move it to another. For example, the website https://www.ella-bee.com is currently redirected to https://www.ella-bee.com/sandbox2. I'd much rather it be https://www.ella-bee.com/store or something like that. Is there an easy AND SAFE way to do this without breaking anything? Again, I'm a noob here.....so I apologize for whatever learning curve I've not yet climbed.

In the tutorials:
I have installed Zen Cart to a directory. How do I rename or move that directory?

Easy and safe if you follow directions. If you're going to move it, why not move it directly to the root so access will be as easy as possible?

Reply to Question 1:

Parse Time: 3.617 - Number of Queries: 29 - Query Time: 0.24591223265076
But it varies a lot, somewhere between 0.3 and 4 sec. On average it seems a bit slow to me.

Seems sluggish here too.
It's a mixed bag with godaddy hosting though. Some minutes they're good. Most hours they're slow.

page was white for quiet some timem this time

Parse Time: 3.466 - Number of Queries: 38 - Query Time: 0.32593825483704

Thanks guys.
Anyone care to PM suggestions for best hosts? I'm in the US, East Coast.

Thanks!!!
Jonathan

Glen, thanks for pointing out the tutorial to move the installation.