WordPress is the most used website builder in the world, responsible for 40% of the websites on the internet. WordPress is a simple and easy-to-use platform that can be used by anyone who understands the basics of coding. It is flexible and has thousands of plug-ins that allow you to customise to how you like.
WordPress is a great platform but it does have some issues. The user interface can be slow and overall website performance can be poor for the user which can lead to a high bounce rate. In this article, we are going to look at some of the best methods to optimise the speed of your website and make it a more user-friendly experience.
How To Improve Website Speed
There are many simple things to improve for your WordPress website however, there are a few things that you may not be able to do. Therefore, you will need a web developer to do that line of work for you. Nevertheless, here are the simple methods to improve the website speed.
Use A Good Hosting Service
One of the easiest methods to improve your website speed is to use a good hosting service. Now, you may already have a good hosting service however, people usually go cheap on this site and slow down their website.
The hosting server is responsible for your website files and delivering them to the user so it is important that this is quick.
Choose The Right Theme
Picking the most complex website theme may not always be the best. The more design aspects that a theme has, the more code it has on the backend which takes longer to load. There are over 31,000 WordPress themes available so you are spoilt for choice. Not all of these themes are free so you will have to pick and choose the right one for you. If you have to pay for the theme then yes it is an extra cost however, the quality of that theme will be better and the performance will also be much better.
Optimise Imagery
Optimising imagery is something that many people forget and, it can slow down a website dramatically. Some images can have a very large file size so it is important that these are optimised to reduce that file size and improve load speed.
Some websites will use imagery throughout their website which may not be a good idea. These images may also take up the whole screen which can lead to them having a large file size. Reduce the sizing of images on your site as well as optimise them to improve load speed.
Have Caching In Place
When a user visits your website, they will have to load every single file, image and code on the page. However, if you have caching in place, the user can load up the website much quicker on their second visit.
There are numerous plugins which can be used to help with this that may have to be installed by a web developer as they will need customising to your needs. Those that have fewer customising optimisations can be installed by you, however, they are not completely perfect so maybe consider a better-quality caching system to help with your website speed.
Remove Plugins That You Don’t Use
Plugins are one of the main causes why a website would be slow because they can build up on the backend of a WordPress site. To ensure that your website is performing at its best, it will be best to remove the plugins that are no longer in use as they are likely using a lot of code. However, if you have a drag and drop plugin to help create your pages, you may not want to remove that.
Before removing any of your plugins, consider deactivating them before you do remove it. If there are no changes to your website once it is deactivated, it can then be removed from your website.
Reduce The Use of Third-Party Tools
Third-party tools can also be a reason why a website may be slow. The reason is that they add additional code to your website, taking it longer to load. Additionally, they can cause some security issues as they can track the data of the user without their knowledge.
Some third-party scripts that can be added to your site include chat boxes, videos from YouTube or Vimeo, adverts, social media feeds, analytic services and much more.
There are so many things that can slow down your website but SEO experts will help reduce your third-party tools because they know the impact. For example, an SEO agency in Yorkshire will encourage you not to use chatbots as they not only slow down your performance but also track the data of a user that the user may not authorise.
Summary
There are many things that can slow down a website due to adding additional code to your website. Additionally, there are things you shouldn’t go cheap on such as your website theme and your hosting. These can be essential to keep your website performing to its best, without the user waiting a while for your website to load up or move to the next page.
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