Can I Optimize an Existing Site for Speed?
Regarding site speed, search engines and users are susceptible, and a slow website will cost you business and organic rankings. In this article, we will share tips on speeding up your website. We advise our clients seeking ultra-fast online experiences to develop a custom theme that addresses all their specific functionality with the least amount of code. However, if you want to keep your existing site and still optimize it for speed, there are a few things you can do:
1. Optimize Images
One of the biggest culprits of slow websites is large images. The file size is automatically saved when you upload a photo to your website. This can add up quickly and make your website slow to load. To optimize your images, you can use Photoshop or a free online tool like Optimizilla. These tools will help reduce the file size of your images, without compromising on quality.
2. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN is a network of servers that host your website’s files. When a user visits your website, the files are delivered from the closest server to them, which helps speed up the loading process. There are several CDN providers available, such as Cloudflare and MaxCDN. These services are typically priced based on your website’s traffic.
3. Minimize HTTP Requests
HTTP requests are the requests your browser makes to load a webpage. The more requests a page has, the slower it will load. To minimize HTTP requests, you can combine files into as few files as possible. For example, combine all your CSS and JavaScript files into one file. You can also use a tool like Gzip to compress your files, reducing the number of requests.
4. Use a Caching Plugin
A caching plugin creates a static version of your website’s files. This static version is then stored on the user’s computer, which speeds up the loading process the next time they visit your website. Some caching plugins are available for WordPress, such as W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache. These plugins are typically free to download.
5. Optimize Your Theme
Settings WordPress is a popular content management system that can create a website. Out of the box, a commercial theme is not very fast. However, there are several settings you can tweak to optimize it for speed. You can adjust some of the settings, the number of posts to display on a page, the number of comments, and the number of plugins to use. You can also enable caching and minify your CSS and JavaScript files.
6. Use a Quality Hosting Provider
One of the most critical factors in website speed is the quality of your hosting provider. If you are using a cheap or shared hosting provider, your website will likely be slow. Instead, you should invest in a quality hosting provider like WP Engine or DigitalOcean. These providers offer fast and reliable hosting, which will help speed up your website.
7. Develop a Lean Custom Theme
Instead of relying on a stack of 3rd party plugins, develop a custom theme that looks exactly like your current one but avoids the bloat of code from unnecessary code and years of changing hands. You should also use a custom page builder with only the necessary elements and call ReCaptcha for the on-demand contact form.
