We are always trying to make our WordPress site loads faster because it is a known fact that slow loading website will make you lose web traffic and potential customers.
Do you know that visitors spend an average of 3 seconds on a site to allow it to load? So, if your website is not loading faster, you are losing visitors!
What is the easiest way to make WordPress faster?
Glad you ask this and in this post, you will discover 8 steps you can take today (yes, like right now) to make WordPress faster.
But before that, make no mistake as the blame should not on WordPress. Installing a stock WordPress theme such as Twenty Seventeen and zero plugin will allow your site to load under 1 second even with the below average web hosting service.
When you start installing premium themes and plugins to make your WordPress experience better, your loading speed will take the hit almost instantly — from an average of 1 second to over 5 seconds!
So, what can you do to make your WordPress faster? Here are some of the best tips you can start today and without hiring a website developer.
1. Choose a well-coded WordPress theme
A good WordPress theme goes a long way and in this case, the theme is going to impact the speed of your site.
Great WordPress themes doesn't take forever to load and as a matter of fact, it takes only a faction of the time to load.
I use StudioPress for this WordPress site (and almost all my other sites) because it is fast, well-coded and doesn't come with bloatware.
2. Choosing the right web hosting company
There is no wrong going for a cheaper web hosting solution if you are not affordable for premium WordPress hosting such as WPEngine.
There are many web hosting solutions that starts between $2 to $5 per month for hosting a small website. The most important parts about choosing the right web hosting company are:
You can go through a full list of the best cheap WordPress hosting services (click to read the complete comparison).
If you are looking for a good WordPress hosting, I highly recommend Cloudways for affordability and scalability. I even use Cloudways to host this blog.
3. Install only useful plugins
How many plugins do you have under the hood? On average, most of us have around 10 to 12 WordPress plugins installed and active.
While there is no perfect number for the number of plugins installed, the best solution is always to install the minimum number of plugins.
The more plugin you have installed, the slower your WordPress website will load.
If you want to know which plugin is dragging your WordPress speed to snail-mode, install P3 Profiler and run a test.
Want to know which plugin is dragging your site down? Run a test using P3 Profiler plugin to determine the culprit!
4. Uninstall plugins that you don't use
Are you keeping inactive plugins and not uninstalling them? You should always make it a point to uninstall plugins that you don't use.
Leaving inactive plugins in your WordPress site will not only slow down your site but it will also affect your site's security.
5. Be wary on theme builders
There is high demand for theme builders in today's market because it is easy to use and creating website from scratch is way much easier.
However, using theme builders can easily cause your website to load slower than usual.
Most theme builders come with multiple elements and customization to help you design the perfect website layout.
The only problem is that it comes with a truckload of CSS and codes which will slow down your website loading speed.
Looking for the best WordPress theme builder? I highly recommend Divi 3.0 for performance, speed and affordability.
6. Install cache plugin
Cache plugins help to speed up your website in many ways. While premium WordPress hostings often come with inbuilt cache feature, you probably need to install your own cache plugin if you are using a lower end WordPress hosting service.
The easiest cache plugin to configure is WP Super Cache and you can pretty much set it up (automatic) in just a few clicks.
Of course, W3 Total Cache is a great alternative but it certainly comes with several advanced configuration.
Click here to setup your W3 Total Cache correctly for faster loading speed.
7. Remove unwanted CSS
Removing unwanted CSS is a great way to speed up your overall WordPress site.
The process of removing unwanted CSS isn't a walk in the park. It certainly takes some coding skills and knowledge. You can read this post to learn more about it.
If you are using Thrive Architect (or Thrive Content Builder), you are in luck!
There is an option for you to remove unwanted CSS files when you are building WordPress landing pages with Thrive Architect.
The removal of Theme CSS allows your website to load lesser CSS files and thus, improving the overall loading speed.
If you know a thing or two about CSS and coding, it is always best to remove unwanted CSS codes from your site to avoid slow loading speed.
BONUS
Are you looking for a good theme builder? Thrive Architect is one of my top favorite after Divi 3.0. Read my full Thrive Architect review and see how it can help you create powerful landing pages in just a few clicks (without making your site loads slower)!
8. Use a content delivery network (CDN)
If you want to make your website loads faster, then start using a content delivery network (CDN).
A CDN speed up your website by keeping static files in various datacentres around the world. This allows faster distribution of files to your visitors as they will be getting partial files from the datacentres nearest to their locations.
CloudFlare and Incapsula are two of the best free content delivery network that will help fasten the speed of your website and provide a layer of additional security.
Want to make your website speed even faster? Try using customized CloudFlare Page Rules for massive loading speed. Click here to read more the full guide.
Making WordPress Faster Today
Are you ready to make your WordPress loads faster?
I hope you find the above 8 tips useful and if you have something to share, leave a comment and I'll take a look at it!
