Why is WordPress Performance Optimization Important?<\/h2>\n
Optimize essentially means to make the most of something and in the context of this guide, we\u2019re talking about helping you get the best out of your WordPress website. As you\u2019ll soon see, site performance improvements can be achieved in many different ways.<\/p>\n
How you choose to optimize your website may depend on your site\u2019s goals. While we all have different goals for our websites, if yours happen to be related to increasing traffic, generating more leads, making extra sales, or simply offering a positive user experience, the advice in this guide\u00a0on how to optimize website performance is for you.<\/p>\n
I think we can all agree that having a website that performs better, whatever that performance looks like, is a good thing and something we should all be focused on.<\/p>\n
How to Optimize WordPress Performance for Non-Techies<\/h2>\n
Optimizing your website for improved performance can sometimes feel like a never-ending journey. There\u2019s always more you can do to enhance or improve your site. However, don\u2019t let that put you off!<\/p>\n
By leveraging the Pareto principle<\/a>, and taking advantage of the 80\/20 rule, you can get most of the results from a small number of activities. Then, if you\u2019re still hungry for better website performance, you can tackle the larger tasks to squeeze a few extra percent from your website\u2019s performance metrics.<\/p>\n Before we get started, it\u2019s highly recommended that you start monitoring your site\u2019s current performance levels. As there\u2019s no one size fits all approach to website performance optimization, this process does involve some testing. Therefore, you\u2019ll need to be able to track your results to see what works for your unique combination of website configuration, audience, and goals.<\/p>\n Some tools to help measure website performance include:<\/p>\n Signing up with Pingdom allows you to automatically track your site\u2019s loading times at regular intervals. Alternatively, you can simply take before and after measurements each time you attempt to optimize your website performance.<\/p>\n Installing Google Analytics on your WordPress website<\/a>\u00a0gives you the ability to understand your website visitors in countless ways. Popular metrics to track include visitor numbers, traffic sources, and time on site. You can also set up custom goals and track their conversion rates too, such as form completion rates, downloads, sales, and more.<\/p>\n If you run a more complex website, such as a membership site, then there are a number of other tools you can use to monitor the performance of your business<\/a>. For those with more individual needs not covered by these tools, leave a comment below and I\u2019ll get back to you with a solution.<\/p>\n Now we know why you should optimize your website performance as well as how to measure it, it\u2019s time to look at the quick wins that can deliver most of the results.<\/p>\n The quick wins in this guide on how to optimize website performance are mainly focused on improving site speed.<\/p>\n Why? Because if you improve your website\u2019s loading times, you can expect performance improvements across the board. From better visibility in the search engine results pages<\/a>, more traffic to your site, and improved goal conversion rates<\/a>, boosting site speed is one of the best ways of optimizing website performance.<\/p>\n Thankfully, there are a number of ways non-techies can improve site speed to optimize website performance:<\/p>\n Many websites start out on cheap, entry level, shared hosting packages. If that applies to your site, then upgrading to a high-performance alternative could yield instant results in terms of improved loading times. Switching hosts might sound complicated, but using a tool like WPBackitup <\/a>\u00a0to migrate your site makes it a lot less stressful. \u00a0Many of the better best web hosting companies also offer free site migrations as part of their onboarding process.<\/p>\n You might end up paying a bit more for better web hosting, but you\u2019re sure to see improved loading times and all the benefits associated with greater site speed. \u00a0Here are just \u00a0a few of our favorites:<\/p>\n Caching is quite a complicated process. Thankfully, with the right tool, it can be very easy to implement and can considerably improve the loading times of your website. While a good web host might take care of caching for you, if not, installing a plug and play tool like WP Rocket can yield some great results<\/a> in just a few clicks.<\/p>\n Using a content delivery network (CDN)<\/a> will distribute your website content to data centers around the world. This ensures that no matter where your visitors are located, they won\u2019t have to wait long for your content to load. Like caching, CDNs are relatively complicated to understand but easy to implement.<\/p>\n Large files, especially images, can really slow down your website. Therefore, it\u2019s well worth optimizing your existing content as well as all content you add to your site in the future. When it comes to quick wins that will improve website performance, going back and optimizing your old content might not seem like one of them.<\/p>\n Thankfully, there are free plugins<\/a> that will take care of this for you. In just a few clicks, these plugins can optimize all the images you\u2019ve already used on your site, as well as any you add in the future \u2013 definitely a quick win!<\/p>\n The above ways to optimize website performance are mostly set and forget. Once you\u2019ve done the initial work \u2013 which in most cases is simply pressing a few buttons \u2013 you should be able to sit back and reap the rewards of a faster loading website.<\/p>\n The actions in this step, however, should be carried out on a regular basis to ensure the smooth running of your website.\u00a0 Some website housecleaning tasks you should consider adding to your schedule include:<\/p>\n To be honest, depending on what type of website you run, you might only have to complete the above steps a few times. You could even automate some of them by installing a few more plugins<\/a>. However, they are certainly something you should do at least once. Then see what effect they have on your site\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n The above five steps are the quick wins that can help optimize your website performance, even if you\u2019re not a techie. However, if you\u2019re hungry for more results and are willing to put in a bit more work, this list of website performance optimization tips should point you in the right direction:<\/p>\n Some WordPress themes can be bloated, badly coded monstrosities that might look good, but are in fact negatively affecting your site\u2019s performance. Upgrading to a more robust, streamlined, and fast loading theme can help improve usability, loading times, and goal conversion rates. However, switching WordPress themes can be a complicated job so proceed with caution and always take a full backup before getting started.<\/p>\n Not for the feint hearted or non-techies, cleaning up your website\u2019s code is something that could end in disaster. But if you\u2019re using a custom built theme, then it might be worth hiring someone to examine the code to see if any improvements can be made.<\/p>\n If your website has accumulated a lot of posts and pages over the years, then you should consider carrying out a content audit<\/a>. This typically includes updating older posts, removing duplicated or irrelevant articles, and combining similar content. Not only can auditing your content help make your site easier to navigate, it can even help improve its visibility in the search engines and drive more traffic.<\/p>\n One way to make your website perform better against your goals is to improve the amount of traffic it receives. More targeted visitors should result in better goal conversion rates. Carrying out search engine optimization (SEO) work on your site is another good way to grow your audience. Some SEO approaches to consider include:<\/p>\n SEO is a long game so this definitely isn\u2019t a quick win in the quest to optimize website performance. However, it\u2019s something that should be on your to-do list for a rainy day. \u00a0If you need a little help with SEO optimization, checkout our post:\u00a0WordPress SEO Tips: 6 Techniques To Open Traffic Floodgates To Your Site<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maybe your website is getting enough traffic but just isn\u2019t delivering the results. Perhaps your website copy isn\u2019t doing its job and isn\u2019t persuading your visitors to take action. While you could hire a copywriter or conversion rate optimization (CRO) expert, this is something you can try tackling yourself.<\/p>\n WordPress CRO tools like Divi Leads<\/a> and Nelio A\/B Testing<\/a> make it relatively easy to split test your copy. This allows you to experiment and discover which variations resonate best with your audience.<\/p>\n With five quick ways to improve site performance and some more in-depth approaches to consider, you should have lots to be getting on with. Even checking off one of the quick wins should see the performance of your website improve. Just remember to track your site\u2019s performance before getting started so that you can measure your results.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the first action you\u2019re going to take to optimize your website\u2019s performance? Let us know in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This article is a guide on how to optimize WordPress performance. The objective here is to help you improve your WordPress website so that it delivers better results, whatever your goals. This advice is focused on helping non-techies optimize the performance of their WordPress websites, with as little effort as possible. However, we\u2019ll also briefly touch on some more advanced tactics you can consider for the future. A word of warning, though, before attempting to optimize and improve your site or updating and modifying it in any way, it\u2019s highly recommended that you backup your WordPress website first, just in case something goes wrong. You have been warned! Bonus: Get\u00a0the\u00a0How to Optimize WordPress Performance Cheat Sheet – \u00a0This cheat sheet will outline all the steps and tasks identified in this post\u00a0to help you put these recommendations in practice. Why is WordPress Performance Optimization Important? Optimize essentially means to make the most of something and in the context of this guide, we\u2019re talking about helping you get the best out of your WordPress website. As you\u2019ll soon see, site performance improvements can be achieved in many different ways. How you choose to optimize your website may depend on your site\u2019s goals. While we all have different goals for our websites, if yours happen to be related to increasing traffic, generating more<\/p>\nHow to Measure Website Performance<\/h3>\n
![\"Optimize](\"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.wpbackitup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Optimize-Website-Performance-Pingdom.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.wpbackitup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Optimize-Website-Performance-Analytics.jpg\")
<\/p>\nQuick Wins to Optimize WordPress\u00a0Performance<\/h2>\n
Improving Site Speed<\/h3>\n
![\"Improve](\"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.wpbackitup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Optimize-Website-Performance-Site-Speed.jpg\")
<\/p>\nStep #1: Upgrading Your\u00a0Host<\/h4>\n
\n
Step #2: Install a Caching Plugin<\/h4>\n
Step #3: Make use of a Content Delivery Network<\/h4>\n
Step #4: Optimize Your WordPress Content<\/h4>\n
Step #5: General WordPress Housecleaning<\/h4>\n
\n
What\u2019s Next?<\/h2>\n
Tip #1: Change Your WordPress Theme<\/h3>\n
![\"Upgrade](\"https:\/\/round-lake.dustinice.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.wpbackitup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Optimize-Website-Performance-Theme.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTip #2: Clean Up Your WordPress Code<\/h3>\n
Tip #3: Carry out a Content Audit<\/h3>\n
Tips #4: Deploy Some SEO Techniques<\/h3>\n
\n
Tip #5: Optimize Your Copy<\/h3>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n