Introduction to Optimizing WordPress for Website Speed

Nile Flores@blondishnethttp://blondish.net

Objective

A basic guide to help you to optimize WordPress for a better user experience.

Areas that this presentation will cover:

❏ General tips❏ Plugins❏ Themes❏ Cache❏ CDN❏ Images❏ Database

In the beginning...

WordPress was slick when you first installed it, but adding a theme, plugins, and content just makes it slow down.

Updates are important!

Keep WordPress core, themes, and plugins up-to-date.

Some updates actually include speeding up certain areas of your site.

Optimization: Plugins

Plugins: Use what you need

Deactivate plugins that you’re not using.

Use Plugins Responsibly

You can use as many plugins as you want, but if it’s breaking your website, or even slowing down your website, then perhaps it’s time for a plugin diet.

Plugin Organizer

For those who can’t code, this allows you to control what plugins can run globally, or on specific post types (posts, pages, custom post types.)

https://wordpress.org/plugins/plugin-organizer/

Optimization: Themes

Theme Choosing

❏ Sometimes too many theme options may be a bad thing.

❏ Don’t forget to choose a responsive theme!❏ Don’t be afraid to test the theme for speed

on a beta or development site.

Website Speed TestersPingdom - http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/GTMetrix - http://gtmetrix.comGoogle PageSpeed - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/WebPagetest - http://www.webpagetest.org/

Cache Plugin

W3 Total Cache - http://bit.ly/O6hDMyWP Super Cache - http://bit.ly/1nywhqgWPRocket (premium) - http://wp-rocket.me/

There are a lot more out there. Google “Recommended Settings…” to help set up your Cache Plugin

Wait...

That last slide… please be careful. Most of the cache plugins shouldn’t be combined.

#notallthethings

CDN

❏ Cloudflare - http://cloudflare.com❏ MaxCDN - http://maxcdn.com

A content delivery network or content distribution network (CDN) is a large distributed system of servers deployed in multiple data centers across the Internet. - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_delivery_network

Optimization: Your Host

Look for or ask if the web host has or offers:❏ Memcache❏ Varnish Cache❏ APC/ OpCache❏ “Website Booster”

Optimization: Images

A CDN helps, but you may want to use a plugin like WP Smush to strip out all the extra stuff, and overall, reduces file size.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/

Optimization: Database

WP-Optimize - http://bit.ly/1FnSMu5

❏ Repair and Optimize Tables❏ Remove extra revisions❏ Remove trashed comments

…. and much much more!

Wanna Optimize More?

If you’re code savvy, or just want to learn more, here’s some great resources on Optimizing WordPress:

❏ Codex: WordPress Optimization - http://bit.ly/1JzVEHd❏ WordPress Optimization Guide - http://bit.ly/1dkctde❏ How to Optimize WordPress for Better Performance - http://bit.

ly/1PwXwVY❏ Battle of the Image Compression WordPress Plugins - http://bit.

ly/1HUFQi5❏

Nile Floreshttp://blondish.netDon’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter. :)

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