Do you want to speed up WordPress Blogs? About 6-years ago when I first attempted blogging and failed miserably, I had a blog with 87-plugins and about 70 of them were activated. I spent so much time in building the theme and at the end of it all, the blog became too complex and eat so many resources. I was told to fix the high CPU resource by host or they will boot me out.
A lot of bloggers are more interested in the design than in delivery great contents, what I realized was that, I was the only one interested in the numerous widgets and sidebars and they didn’t propel the blog any further. It was a lesson, learned by experience which obviously is not good. Learning by instruction has always been a best bet and since I got that idea I have never looked back.
Now that you have decided not to learn by experience but by instructions, I will quickly walk you through very important steps to speed up your blog.
Credit: Highwinds
Speed Up WordPress Blog
1. Optimize Database
For me, this really speed up WordPress Blog, and improves the health of your blog. You would see greater results if your WordPress database is optimized monthly. This is an excellent tutorial by Siteground on how to optimized PhpMySql database.
2. Update
While you are trying to speed up WordPress blogs, the authors of your theme and plugins are always on their feet, tying new ideas for optimal performance. Each time you see an update notification, always try to apply them. In the case where it is a WordPress update, always back-up your Blog before attempting to upgrade to the latest version.
Updates could break your theme or plugins, if you upgrade and this happens, you can always fall back to your previous version while you try out other alternatives in your localhost installation.
This is only a precautionary measure, very little reported cases of broken blogs have been reported due to a WordPress upgrade.
Must Read: 5 Important Factors To Consider Before Choosing A Web Host
3. Remove Irreverent Widgets
To speed up WordPress blog, you need to be man-smart, I know you love that Widget but do your visitors care about them? Try to find out if they care about it and once you reach a conclusion that the conversion rate is very low, it is best to do away with it. As a blogger, you have to know that your blog isn’t about you and what you like. The moment it is hosted and becomes accessible, it becomes about everyone and since everyone is greater than only you, you have to work in the direction of everyone and focus on delivery great contents.
4. Caching
So much have been said about WP-Super Cache and W3 Total Cache, obviously they are the best out there and I recommend you choose either of them. I once used WP-Super Cache, and I am currently exploring other great plugins, I would talk about the experience at a latter time if I do not return to WP-Super Cache.
Increase The Speed Of Your WordPress Blog: More Tips
Introducing P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler)
I can’t go on with this article on how to speed up WordPress blog without talking about P3. Now, this is the most vital tool that can help you decide what’s slowing up your WordPress and causing High CPU usage. Believe me, this is my favorite WordPress plugin and I really have to give thumbs up to the author, GoDaddy.
Tip: 8 Recommended WordPress Plugins To Power Up Your Blog
P3 Plugin Performance will scan your entire WordPress blog and Plugins, detailing what is responsible for loading time impact. You would be surprise to see what’s causing the problem; most times it is the plugin you love most. The only option friend is to do away with it and find an alternative that consumes lesser resources. If it’s something that don’t bring value to your blog, removing it entirely without sourcing for any alternative would be absolutely fantastic.
Again, I will leave you with a P3 installation guide by WpSquare.
Speed Up WordPress Blog: Under The Hood
Introducing WP Smush.it
When I completed this article, I had no idea of the great importance of this exciting plugin; WP Smush.it. This plugin works like a charm, it will reduce all your image file sizes and overall improve performance. If you haven’t already installed this, I will like you to do so as soon as you can.
This is how you increase the speed of WordPress blogs, I hope this has been helpful. Here me hear your experiences.
Last Updated: March 2, 2015.
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30 Comments
Emmanuel
Hey Senior Editor Nosa,
Are you saying the ball is now in my court? Okay, thank you. I will have my say now.
I like the point you raised about updating anytime the need arises.
That of course s indeed very key!
Nosa E Nosa
Spot on Emmanuel. 🙂
Babanature
Hello Nosa,
I can see that you have finally move to wordpress platform. That’s nice 🙂
You know, to make site faster you actually need these tips you pointed out. And also, it is good to minify your js html files and also reducing your images will also boost your blog performance.
Nosa E Nosa
Hi Babanature,
Just like I promised, the next time you come visiting, you could see an entire new blog.
I am glad you love it, I had to work 100-hours to ensure the integration is near perfect.
I have noted your advice and will see how they are implemented. The list? Everything there has been implemented here and it’s the reason I decide to write about it to help others.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead. 🙂
Pritam
I totally agree with your points you have mentioned here.! Loading time of website is also very important aspects for SEO.
I will follow all your points and hope it will increase speed of my blog..
Thanks
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Pritam,
I really hope you can implement them and they work for you. Also know that too many JavaScript can also reduce blog’s loading time.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Cristina
I searched About this Article Many Time . Now I am Happy By Find It . Thanks A Lot dear writer .
Nosa E Nosa
Hi Cristina,
I am glad your search lead you here. I hope these tips if correctly implemented works for you.
Obasi Miracle
Firstly I must commend your new blog design, You did the right thing by moving away from blogger.
I have my personal take on blogger, 0% love for and %40 hatred for pro-guys who still uses it, there are few stigma attached with it when looked from a pro angle.
I knew ’twas your courage that motivated your move, my take on the topic is that your tips are awesome and already implemented on my tech blog.
Thanks for sharing and also do have a great week ahead of you
Nosa E Nosa
Lol, I was going through my spam bot, and I saw your comment. Sometimes bots can be wrong. I will keep checking for genuine comments.
On the migration? It was something that was bound to happen sooner or later and I am glad it happened now. Your thoughts on Blogger and WordPress is similar with what I have.
Your blog runs perfect, thanks for visiting. 🙂
Ashutosh
Hi Nosa,
Thanks for sharing some of the most important points to speed up blogs. Increasing the page load time as well as page response time is gaining importance as Google has also decided to consider it in its search algorithms.
All the points mentioned in your post are quite important but I would like to suggest that using W3 Total Cache is also a great way to increase the blog page spee. It may be a little tricky to configure but if you follow step by step instructions then it is simply fun. In fact, I have activated it on my blog and you can see yourself the speed of my blog.
Thanks for sharing your insights about page speed.
Nosa E Nosa
Hi Aushutosh,
You are absolutely correct. Google has made page load time an important factor in search ranking. This means that with contents being great and fantastic knowledge of SEO, once could still suffer in search ranking due to poor load time.
I haven’t tried W3 Total Cache, but your blog loads very fast. That can only mean one thing; that W3 Total Cache reviews are genuine.
Thank you for visiting friend 🙂
Ashutosh
Yes it is quite effective, although I had to work a bit hard to configure it properly but it has given a good page speed to my blog.
Thanks for your prompt response and believe me, I loved visiting your blog.
Nosa E Nosa
Wow, I am elated to hear that.. I love what you are doing in your blog also. It’s really fantastic.
I will really consider W3TC at some point.
prince
One thing i found out about lazy loading is that it is mostly caused by lots of irrelevant widgets like you mentioned with these awesome tips i will try to work on my blog’s peed thanks dude
Nosa E Nosa
Spot on bro..
Himadri Subrah Saha
Hello, i have installed the plugin W3TC but still my blog loads lately. It takes a lot of time. I do not like this and hopefully my readers who are form the part of the world where internet speed is an issue will also not like it. Can you please have a look at my blog and suggest me how can i make it load quickly? I have read all your points. I am not sure which one will work for me. I really want to know.
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Saha,
I have just gone through your blog and the load time isn’t that great. I would like to know how many plugins you have installed. And did you allow Plugin Performance Profiler scan your plugins? If yes, I would like to know the impart percentage of all your plugins on your blog.
Floating social icons have also be reported to case slow load time. You can also search if you have an alternative that suits you.
It doesn’t have to float. Anyone who is interested in sharing your post will do so, you don’t have to force it on people.
Hope to hear from you soon. 🙂
Olamosh
Thanks for this piece… truly i once make some mistakes while starting blogging. Just keep installing all plugins, not even making attempt of going dirty with raw codes… Thanks for this writeup, i learn something that can i can even quickly implement in my blog…
Nosa E Nosa
Hi Olamosh,
We all make mistakes at one point in our lives, but we will when avoid making similar errors. WordPress makes life so easy with plugins, that you want to install all of it even when a simple line of code can do the maggic 🙂
It’s a great feeling to know that you learnt something from this piece. Thanks for reading and have you hit the subscribe button? If you haven’t, there can’t be another better time than now.
Have a great weekend ahead friend,
Kenny Colvin
Nosa,
THANK YOU so much for this article. I NEEDED this, my site th=ook about 10 seconds to load everytime. After reading this I cut it down to like 3 secs. THANKS AGAIN.
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Kelvin,
At 7 Seconds? That’s pretty lovely. You miss out in search ranking if your blog loads after 10, seconds. Before moving to WordPress, my blog took as much as 8 seconds and that was because I added tons of JavaScript.
Now, this WordPress blog sits comfortably at a little above 4 seconds,
Have a wonderful weekend and hope to see you some other time.
Ugee
Hello Nosa, Nice tips! 87 Plugins? That’s Ridiculous. If I were the hosting company I would have kicked you out without even mailing you. Thanks for sharing these tips, they are really helpful.
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Ugee,
That’s the price for ignorance 🙂 I think I know better now and I am tying my best to help people who had or having similar mindset as I did a couple of years ago.
Thanks for visiting mate.
Have a great day 😀
kapil
Is there any ways to increase speed in blogger blog,my blog’s average loading time is 7.68 seconds,how can I reduce that to something like 3-4 seconds?
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Kapil,
It depends on amount of Javascript you have running on your blog. Cutting down on the amount and replacing Javascript functions with HTML code if appropriate can really help.
Lawrence
All the points you highlighted were clinically taken and I am ready to adhere to every single points
Thanks for this sumptuous presentation.
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Lawrence,
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you get a better result with this few tips.
Do have a nice day.
Tharun
My blog seems to be loading bit slow when compared to previous days and found your article. Hope it may help me. I have some question for you off the topic. Does server location is responsible for traffic locations? LIke hosting site in INDIA doesn’t get more traffic from US?
Thanks for these tips and I think these surely help me.
Nosa E Nosa
Hello Tharun,
Absolutely not. Your server location doesn’t control your traffic location. What causes traffic location is your content and keyword. If I start talking much about India. and targeting that region with keywords, I will surely get traffic from India, the social networks like FB groups and pages you share your contents, also influences the location of traffic.
Basically, a site hosted in India and talking about PlayStation and Xbox One will surely get traffic from US..
You get the drill? If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to ask pal.
Do have a nice day friend. 🙂