The more technology advances, the more impatient we become. We’ve all stood in front of the microwave, muttering for it to hurry up. And while browsing, we’ll rarely wait more than five seconds for a page to load. So if your website is slow, you’ll lower your leads and raise your bounce rate. Beyond that, pages that load slowly are penalised by the Google algorithm. The faster your pages open, the more visitors Google sends your way. Ideally, you want your site to load in 3 seconds or less. If it pushes to 5, you lose up to 47% of web visitors – they’ll just navigate away, or click ‘back’ to their search and pick the next website on the list.
Find the right host
So what measures can you take to speed up WordPress site pages? Many times, slow speed is because of heavy images and dense layouts. It might also a problem with your host. Select one that offers:
- optimised loading,
- adequate bandwidth,
- and effective redundancy measures to reduce downtime.
Other times, your website gets bogged down by excessive stored data, so use an automated cache cleaner to clear unnecessary bits and bobs. Multiple cache coaches are available as WordPress plug-ins, and some are free. Organise your database and libraries too. It helps you locate files more easily and frees up memory by cutting down clutter. And yes, there are plug-ins for automated database decluttering.
Not all plug-ins
Ironically, as you add plug-ins, you need to get rid of others to keep WordPress speed in check. Some are outdated, or no longer compatible. Or maybe they’re defaults you’ve never utilised. Evaluate your dashboards and disable/delete any add-ons you haven’t used in the past three months. They slow your roll and leave you open to malicious code as well. Finally – though this should probably have been the first point – keep all your plug-ins, themes, and templates up to date. It only takes a click, and you can set it to auto-update if you’re likely to forget. For more tips on speeding up your WordPress site, contact Studio Licious Group today.
