Tired of slow speed of WordPress blogs? Try these simple steps
Are you a Blogger on WordPress? Are you tired of the slow download speed of your blog? Are you tired of constant complaints about your page taking ages to load?
With the advent of blogging, WordPress, an open-source content management system, became a household name amongst internet users. The software provided a platform to millions to voice their views and thoughts on any subject, through mediums such as blogs, video blogs (vlogs), podcasts etc. If you are a regular blogger or an aspiring one, make sure you read ahead! Here are a few easy-to-follow tips to optimise the download speed of your WordPress blog. If you are a beginner in the blogging world, these tips should give you a headstart.
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Not enough emphasis can be laid on the download time for your blog, but the foremost would be the first impression. Those initial few seconds in loading can make or break your readership, a few second here and there can leave all your hard work to be rendered useless. Hence, time is of the essence.
Moreover, Google has started assessing the speed of the site for its SEO listings. If the speed of the site is slow, one is bound to languish at the bottom of Google search results, sharing a slot with bottom feeders.
Some easy tips to improve the site speed are:
Choice of WordPress host
One of the major drawbacks for a sluggish download speed is the choice of WordPress Host. Working on the blog doesn't just end at the content, do some research on hosts, check reviews and do speed tests, Pingdom will come handy, before deciding on the host. If the site is taking longer than 2-3 seconds to load, choose a different host. Check out WP Engine, a fast and highly recommended host for WordPress users. Do not blindly chose hosts who provide tall claims, such as ‘unlimited page views’. They might offer some perks, but it might come at the cost of reduced speed. Hence, losing out on potential followers.
Optimise your images
Images will always be the holding points to your blogs, but if they pull down your speed then upload images of reasonable size.
We know you don't want to compromise on quality, but it becomes extremely cumbersome to compress every picture individually. Plugins like Short Pixel and SmushIt are handy here, they compress the size of pictures without reducing the quality. Install a WordPress Cache Plugin
Using a Cache Plugin can help in reducing redundant steps which hamper speed. This is especially important if one does not use a managed WordPress hosting. Super Cache Plugin is a well-known plugin which increases site speed.
Use of content delivery network
Bloggers across different geographical locations may experience different speeds to your site. This occurs mainly because of the location of the host servers. For instance, an Indian viewer would find it longer to download a site, whose host server is in the UK. This can be sorted by using Content Delivery Networks (CDN). It collects all static files like images, Javascript, etc. and lets the viewer download them from a server nearest to the viewer. A few effective CDNs are – Free CDN, Max CDN and Cloudfare CDN.
Control the flow of ad scripts and pop-ups
It is important to understand that third party scripts on your page are essential, but at the same time its traffic must be controlled. One must be aware of the source of third party scripts and its impact on the site's performance.
Pingdom helps in showing the source of such scripts. Optin Monster is a plugin which helps in managing such traffic from third party scripts.
In order to optimise the speed of the site further, one needs to add one more layer of optimisation. Even after managing ad scripts and pop-ups, there are other sources of media scripts as well. Plugins like Lazy Load let basic written content load first, and then the associated pictures and videos.
Stopping pingbacks and trackbacks
WordPress is bound to interact with sites which have features of pingbacks and trackbacks. This won't reduce your interaction with followers but speed up your site. It's like managing the comments and backlinks on your site, you can choose what to keep and what to discard.
It is thus important to understand these basics in order to optimise viewership for your site. It will definitely lead to good user experience and better viewership counts. So if you are on the journey to becoming a successful blogger, this is a must-read guide for you. Read, apply, and enjoy! Let us know your experiences in the comments below.