5 Tips to Speed up a WordPress Blog

WordPress is an incredibly convenient and feature-rich blogging and content management software. It’s possible to set up any type of site you want using it, from a casual blog to a sophisticated online store.

One obstacle that some users run into, however, is that their WordPress sites don’t run as fast as they’d like. This can make it hard to retain visitors and it can even harm your search engine rankings. To help you overcome such problems, here are a few tips that will speed up your WordPress site.

1. Choose a Good Theme

Your theme can make a difference when it comes to your site’s speed. If you find that your site is running slower than you’d like, you might experiment and see if using a different theme makes a difference. If you’re starting a new site from scratch, you might look for a quality premium theme that will help ensure that your site runs as smoothly and quickly as possible.

If you need help to look for good WordPress themes, you can start with  100Wpthemes.com, a popular website run by my buddy. The site has a lot of resources related to WordPress themes.

2. Use the Right Web Host

Web hosting is another factor that can impact your site’s speed. If you really want to make sure your site is running as fast as possible, your best bet would be to choose a web host that specializes in WordPress, such as WP Engine. For more about this, visit their site at  WPEngine.com.

This costs a little more than regular shared hosting, but if you want top level support, security and speed for your site, it can be worth it. The next best thing would be to choose a well regarded, experienced web hosting company that is set up to run well with WordPress.

3. Use a Caching Plugin

A good caching plugin is an effective way to immediately speed up your site’s performance. This type of plugin caches web content (in the memory, or file systems) so that they don’t have to be called up from the database or other servers every time a visitor returns to your site.

A very effective plugin that can be downloaded for free is WP Super Cache. If you install this plugin, you may notice that your site loads faster right away. For more information, see:  WP Super Cache.

4. Optimize Your Images

Images can enhance the appearance of your site, but they can also slow it down. One solution to this is to minimize the use of images on your site, or to stick with smaller or low resolution ones. Another, more appealing solution is to optimize your images.

There is a WordPress plugin that will automatically optimize your images. This is called WP Smush.it and once it’s installed you won’t have to do anything else. This plugin can be downloaded at:  Smushit.

5. Use a CDN

A CDN or Content Delivery Network is an efficient way to make your WordPress site run faster. It will cost you a monthly fee, but if you are serious about running a fast and well managed site, this could be your answer. A CDN essentially takes the pressure off your server by providing you with access to multiple data centers around the world.

One of the most popular CDNs is MaxCDN. They offer several different plans that can accommodate individuals or businesses of all kinds. You may want to look into this or another CDN. For more about MaxCDN, see: MaxCDN.com.

Conclusion

We’ve looked at a few of the best ways to speed up a WordPress site. Once you start seeking solutions, you’ll find that there are many of them available. Remember that everything about your site, including your theme, plugins and web hosting company, all have an effect on your site’s speed.

Naturally, speed is only one aspect of your site, but it’s an important factor. A faster site will mean visitors will spend more time there and are more likely to return. It will also help you with SEO. That should give you plenty of motivation to find ways to speed up your WP site!