5 Simple Free Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress Site

Got a Slow WordPress Website?

There are some really simple things you can do right now (anybody can do these things without any technical knowhow) and get an instant increase in speed for your WordPress based website. Is your website slow? Ok -so follow these steps and see it load faster!

Tip 1 – Install WordPress Plugin W3 Total Cache

Easy Web Performance Optimization (WPO) using caching: browser, page, object, database, minify and content delivery network support.

1. Log into your WordPress site
2. Install plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/)
3. Go to Performance > General Settings
4. Add the settings below and click save.
5. That’s it.

I recommend these settings (depending on your web host):

• Page Cache – Enable
• Page cache method: Disk: Enhanced
• Minify: Enable
• Minify Mode: Manual
• Minify Cache Method: Disk
• HTML Minifier Default
• JS minifier JSmin
• CSS minifier Default
• Database Cache: Enable
• Database Cache Method: Disk
• Object Cache: Enable
• Object Cache Method: Disk
• Browser Cache: Enable
• · Verify rewrite rules: Yes

Everything else unchecked or disabled.

Tip 2 – Install WordPress Plugin Smush It

Reduce image file sizes, improve performance and boost your SEO using the free WPMU DEV WordPress Smush API.

This plugin is very easy to use.

1. Log into your WordPress site
2. Install plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/)
3. Go to Media >  WP Smush
4. Click Bulk Smush Now

It runs for x minutes and then gives you a summary of how much your images are reduced in file size and will load faster.

Tip 3 – Setup Cloudflare

Cloudflare is really easy to setup and takes only a few minutes and is free. Go to https://www.cloudflare.com and create a free account.

1. Log into Cloudflare
2. Click “add site”
3. Enter your website address (it will scan it, then in 1 min click continue)
4. That’s it.

You now have a good first level of security setup against attacks.

You have saved bandwidth on your server and your site is served from a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

It can also minify your JavaScript and CSS for you.

Tip 4 – Disable Social Sharing Plugins

• Pros:  People can click a button to share your website on social media.
• Cons:  Most of them (if not all) slow down your website dramatically.

Tip 5 – Disable Social Comment Plugins

• Pros:  People can add a comment to your blog posts without logging in (if they have an account or are logged in socially).
• Cons:  Most of them (if not all) slow down your website dramatically.

Even if you just set up caching and reduce the file sizes of your images your WordPress website will see dramatic improvements. If you want to see more improvements in speed currently you will have to follow our technical tips.

Content Author: Sam Deering (http://www.fullstack.com)