does anyone know of any tool that can test how long it takes for my site to load? It appears that my wordpress install is loading very slow, so I want to know if that's just to me or if that is for everyone.
it could be a speed issue, if you're on a shared server, it could be under some load. I personally like using this: http://speedtest.net/mini.php Good luck.
Thanks for sharing that BUT...from what I can see...and I admit to being a complete dummy sometimes..this just tests my actual connection speed from **my** PC to the server I installed it on. How would I do a test to see how fast my SERVER actually is, not just for me, but, say, an average user? Somebody else mentioned server overload. How would I test for that?
You could try A1 Website Analyzer. You can configure how many simultaneous connections it should use (i.e. load) and it will give all sorts of data (e.g. response time, download time etc.) for all pages.
WebCEO has a tool to test connection speed. It tests connection speed from the USA, UK and your computer. This is what the software can except keyword finding, backlink and ranking check, providing you with site's statistic, getting backlinks and so on.