As a new blogger, it's important to realize that not only Content and Design is important. There's a small thing some call Page Load time. Speaks for itself right?Page Load time is the time it takes for users to fully load your site. No matter how good your content is or how beautifully designed your site is, it's equally important that users can see your site quickly. Some studies say that users who wait for atleast 5 seconds for a page to load is a huge turnoff. Even though they might visit your site, they might do so next time.
Allow me to share you a compiled number of tips on how to speed up your WordPress site.
Note: As what we have learned in our previous How-to articles, it's important that we make back ups of everything we are about to make changes with.
1. Cache-ing
What is Caching? Web caching specifically, simply put, is a process of saving web documents to save
bandwidth usage, server load and what most believe, reduce lag.
There are plugins searchable in Wordpress that help you with this type of concern. A few of them are WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache.
You can add any of the plugins by Logging in to your WP-admin dashboard. And on the navigation pane, click on the Plugins. Then Add New.
2. Plugin Diet
Although I have advised you to add a plugin, remember that you should if not must, remove the inactive plugins and remove all together the plugins that you don't actually use. Another tip would be to always run on a stable WP template. Do the same thing for your plugins.
Some of the plugins have bugs and what not. So, upgrading them to fix those bugs is a necessity.
3. Choose the Proper Theme
It may take a lot of effort to actually find a theme that is not only suitable for your site's niche, but as well as stylish but not too extravagant. In my experience, it true that investing time in looking for the right theme for your site will actually be worth it. Remember, not to flashy, but functional.
Try avoiding themes which have tons of images with them. These feature a noticeable amount in your site bandwidth.
4. Keep it Close
When your using a self-hosted/paid-hosted WordPress site, try to make it a habit to place your media(images, videos, etc) nearest as you could be. Maximize WordPress's Media center.
5. Compress images before uploading them
It's true that you should include images to your posts. But try using image size that you only need.
Here's a quick tip, if the image has a 2-6 color difference, try using the file types .GIF and .PNG. If you're posting a photograph use the .JPG image extension. You can also use Photoshop or Corel Draw to help you with the modifications for your images.
Yes, I know, WordPress is already fast, but being a bit more faster wouldn't hurt right?
