It is crucial that a WordPress site loads faster for the
sake of the user experience as well as for scoring high on the search engine.
It is always a plus when the pages of the site that is being visited loads
faster, and Google has made speed something that determines the ranking of a website.
The slow-loading WordPress site is detrimental to your business since you will
lose loads of visitors and consequently, revenue. Fortunately, there are a
number of basic things that can be done to speed up the website. This guide is
intended to give you an insight on how best to improve your WordPress site for
faster load times.
1. Choose a Reliable Web Host
Web hosting service provider is a major determinant of how
fast a website will load to the user. Free or low-cost web hosting plans can be
appealing, but take note of these:
i. Choose managed WordPress hosting.
ii. To use hosting providers which are faster, you can opt
for SiteGround, WP Engine for SiteGround, Bluehost, etc.
iii. Make sure that the hosting plan of your site has
adequate capacity to meet the needs.
2. Use a Lightweight Theme
Your WordPress theme causes your website to be slow. The
overall performance of a theme depends with its design; a lightweight-coded
theme will perform better than one with many features. Consider these tips:
i. Stay away from themes with such features as sliders or
animations if you do not need them.
ii. Select the themes that has fast loading performance like
GeneratePress, Astra, Neve, etc.
iii. Check if the theme’s demo version loads fast using such
tools as Google PageSpeed Insight and GTmetrix.
3. Install a Caching Plugin
Cache plugins save the static copy of the website so that
it will not take much time for the visitors to view the site. Popular caching
plugins include:
i. WP Super Cache
ii. W3 Total Cache
iii. LiteSpeed Cache
All these plugins are quite simple to download and set up.
If installed they cut the time it takes for your page to load incredibly.
4. Optimize Images
Large image files cause delays on your website. To make them
web-friendly:
i. Optimize images to the right size before uploading them
to the site.
ii. Image optimization can be done using TinyPNG,
ImageOptim, ShortPixel and other services.
iii. There are WordPress plugins like Smush or Imagify you
should use to optimize images as soon as they are uploaded.
iv. WebP is also a recommended form of web format as it has a
much better compression rate than the previous formats.
5. Content Delivery Network Enable
A CDN replicates your site’s files across multiple servers
around the globe. Every time a visitor comes to your website, the CDN sends
files from the nearest server and this reduces the time taken. Popular CDNs
include:
i. Cloudflare (It also has a free plan option).
ii. StackPath
iii. KeyCDN
6. Use as little CSS, JavaScript and HTML as possible
The process of Minimization ensures that your site’s files
have only the required code and, thus are smaller and load faster. Tools to help
with this include:
i. Autoptimize plugin
ii. WP Rocket plugin which also manages caching.
iii. Minifycode.com is an online tool for compressing codes.
These tools compress your code but do not reduce the
performance of the code.
7. Use Lazy Loading
Lazy loading means that the images and videos will be loaded
only when that part of the webpage comes onto the screen of the visitor. This
decreases the time taken to load the first page that is opened. WordPress has a
built-in lazy loading feature, but you can also use plugins like:
i. Lazy Load by WP Rocket
ii. a3 Lazy Load
8. Reduce Plugins
This is because too many plugins have a way of slowing down
your website. Scan through your plugins and trim out any that you may not
require. Here’s how to manage plugins effectively:
i. Some of the plugins are multifunctional, and you can use
them for more than one function (such as Jetpack).
ii. Disable and remove unused plug-ins.
iii. Browse through plugin reviews and updates to find that
they are well maintained.
9. Optimize Your Database
Periodically, your WordPress database collects a great deal
of unnecessary information like post revisions, spam comments, and trashed
entries. Clean your database using tools like:
i. WP-Optimize
ii. Advanced Database Cleaner
These plugins remove unwanted information and help to clean
your databases and their tables.
10. Enable GZIP Compression
GZIP is a way of compressing your site’s files so they are
smaller before they are sent to the visitors’ browser. You can enable GZIP
compression using:
i. The plugin can be any of the popular caching plugins such
as the WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache.
ii. Your hosting provider’s control panel (many hosts offer
built-in options).
11. Upgrade WordPress, Themes and Plugins
This is so because outdated software is not only a security
threat but also affects the loading speed of your website. Updates keep your website
in order; therefore, many of them are necessary for its proper functioning. To
stay updated:
i. Allow the minor WordPress versions to update
automatically.
ii. In the dashboard, always update yourself on various
contents.
iii. The first rule when updating a website is always to back up the site.
12. Check Your Site’s Speed on the Regular
By regularly checking the speed of your site you are able to
evaluate what part needs to be optimized. Use tools like:
i. Google PageSpeed Insights
ii. GTmetrix
iii. Pingdom Tools
These tools give specific results to improve the performance
of your site and recommend necessary improvements.
Conclusion
If you want to make your visitors happy and get a better
rank in search engine results, you have to optimize your WordPress site to make
it load faster. Start with the basics: select the best web host for the site,
select a simple theme that will not slow down the website, and install a caching
plugin. After that, you can go further in optimization by minifying images,
using lazy loading, and clearing up your database. Always perform a speed checkup
of your site and make necessary changes to the website whenever you deem it
fit. With these steps, you will design a fast and efficient WordPress site that
will easily cut through the clutter in the online business world.