That has made a dramatic difference. Look up your site now on
http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/. You should see in the history the previous ones I ran.
I think those type of badges are over rated. If you do want them then maybe host that on a static page and just use a flat image to link to the static page in your footer.
Try putting the chat back on and test again.
I am off at 4.30pm GMT but I can look again in the morning. I would have a read up on MaxCDN as I think that will have a positive effect on your site. You are currently downloading about 40 images on your homepage that all come from the same server as the load of your actual code. Get those pulling from a CDN and you will see an increase in speed. Made a huge difference on mine.
Also invest in some credit at loadimpact.com that will show how good your server is and how many people can be on your site at anyone time before page speed plummets. Set it from a local server and about 200 users to get a good indicator.