How to Optimise Your WordPress Site for Speed
People are flocking to use WordPress and it’s not hard to see why. With so much flexibility and the ability to DIY, every site is looking slick and modern.
However, with so much power comes a price. The majority of WordPress sites are performing way below their potential due to a variety of factors.
Let’s dive into the reasons why your WordPress site might be struggling and how you can fix it so it can outperform your competitors.
Lazy Coding
The majority of WordPress sites are created with an off-the-shelf theme which makes them easy to set-up and requires very little customisation. While this might be ideal for beginners, it’s definitely not the best choice when you’re aiming for speed.
Even when you do choose to personalise your site with a unique colour scheme or by adding a bit of artwork, it’s often done with minimum effort.
Speed isn’t necessarily about making a design stunning or even functional. It’s about making sure that the code powering the site runs as efficiently as possible. If you’re using an unoptimised theme, you’re almost certainly crippling your site speed.
Overwhelming Infrastructure
If your site is running on a shared hosting environment, your resources are going to be constrained. Not only does this mean your site is going to struggle to load any images or video, but it also limits how much you can do with coding.
Optimising your site’s infrastructure so that it’s running on a dedicated server or VPS takes a lot of effort and is something you should consider when you’re planning on taking your site seriously.
Image-Heavy Posts
If your content is filled with high-quality images, it’s highly likely that your site is going to struggle to load. More and more people are avoiding clickbait and relying on content which is worth clicking on. If this is your strategy, you’re definitely going to struggle to perform well.
Even when an image is accessible, it takes time to load. If you have a lot of image-heavy content, you’re going to find it difficult to perform well. Thinking about switching to video content, whether it’s showing off your products or just providing a quick tutorial, could be a good move.
Poorly Arranged Content
If your posts are laid out in a way that doesn’t make sense, it’s going to confuse your readers. When we read a post, we like to feel that we’re learning something new. If you’re using a blog platform like WordPress, it’s easy for new posts to be buried under a mountain of less important content. Adding another post at the bottom of the pile isn’t going to help matters.
Making sense of your content is key to getting your readers to keep coming back for more. If it’s hard to find the information you’re looking for within the first few minutes of landing on the page, chances are your readers won’t stay for long.
To optimise your site speed, you need to work on keeping your content easy to find. Make sure that each post is accompanied by relevant keywords so that when someone does a quick Google search, their search results point them straight to your content. This might mean reviewing your content and making sure that all of your posts are filled with these essential keywords. An easy way to do this is to download a free tool like Google Keyword Planner. Doing this regularly is going to make a significant difference to how well your site performs.
Overuse Of Javascript
Most WordPress sites are built with a combination of HTML and Javascript. While this might provide more flexibility and allow you to put the site design exactly where you want it, it comes with a heavy cost. If you’re including too much Javascript, your site is going to load painfully slow. Even if you do everything else right, a poorly implemented Javascript feature is going to hold you back.
Shiny Surfaces Vs Substance
While shiny surfaces and sleek designs are tempting, they often come at a price. Not only do they make your site look awesome, but they can also make it more accessible to everyone. If you want to provide a good experience for yourself and your readers, using slick design elements is probably not the way to go. Instead, you should prioritise substance over style. This means taking the time to develop a good theme which doesn’t bombard your users with annoying ads or force them to click through dozens of prompts to access what they want. Instead, it provides a good user experience by minimising the number of times your users have to enter their email address or phone number.
There are plenty of easy ways to make your WordPress site load faster. From minimising the amount of code you use to create the site to investing in some fancy hosting, these tips are going to help get you there quickly.