Slow loading pages are frustrating. Worse still they can increase visitor bounce rates and result in a loss of revenue. That’s not good. In fact, according to analytics company KISSmetrics, a delay in page response of just one second can reduce conversion rates by 7%. Figures collected by W3Techs show WordPress powers 22.6% of websites and scores an easy win over the second most popular content management system—Joomla (8.2% of sites)—so without further ado let’s look at a few ways to speed up WordPress sites and create a better user experience.
5 Tips to Speed Up WordPress Sites
- Compress Images: Image files are big, and the larger they are the slower they load; so compressing images can make a big difference to page load speeds. Consider installing Smush.it, or try compressing files individually by using an online image optimization service such as imageoptimizer.net.
- Install a Cashing Plugin: If many of the site pages share the same images, JavaScript, and CSS, using a plugin that provides browser side caching is a good way to speed up WordPress sites. Try W3 Total Cache.
- Check the Social Sharing Plugin: Many social sharing plugins hog resources and slow sites down by trying to load too many icons.
- Optimize the MySQL Database Tables: Optimizing the database on a regular basis is an extremely effective way to speed up WordPress sites. The WP-DB Manager plugin can do it automatically, but learning how to back up MySQL databases manually can be a better option because using less plugins can mean more speed.
- Remove non-essential plugins: WordPress users are spoilt for choice when it comes to plugins, but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing as far as page loading speed goes so cutting the chaff and removing the unnecessary ones can make a huge difference to site performance.
