The loading speed of a blog is as important as the loading speed of an online store. The Internet provides a fast connection to information and services users seek. Any delay in attaining the desired result leads to a loss in traffic traction and user volume. So, for every blog owner, it is important to ensure that the blog loads within less than two seconds.

This article will help you optimize and speed up your WordPress blog in the easiest manner.

Top Tips to Optimize and Speed Up WordPress Blog:

1. Check Your Web Hosting Services:

At the time of launching your WordPress website, did you buy an optimized WordPress hosting or some cheap hosting plan? An optimized WordPress hosting service can be expensive but rewarding. It dramatically speeds up the loading time. A good optimized WordPress hosting auto-scales the WordPress website when the traffic is huge without crashing the website.

So, if you have not been using an optimized WordPress hosting plan, it is the right time to change it.

2. Use WordPress Cache Plugins:

Caches and unwanted data on the WordPress blog can slow down the loading process even if you are using the best WordPress themes. Cache plugins ensure quick accessibility to website content. It swiftly stores data to prevent the server from overloading.

When a visitor accesses your website, the WordPress server retrieves data from your WordPress database, puts it in an HTML file, and shares it with the visitor. Cache plugins simplifies the process of creating an HTML page with PHP and saving it to share it with visitors when required.

3. Update Plugins:

Sometimes, overuse of plugins and even outdated plugins can slow down the WordPress blog. Test each plugin to remove, add, and update any outdated plugins. If you want help, you can use Query Monitor, a plugin that tests and sends you a report of any defective plugin that might be causing performance-related problems.

4. Optimize Media Files:

Too much use of photos, videos, graphics, and illustrations can slow down a website. Compressing the media files can help you optimize the website speed without having to remove any media. You can download and use any free media optimization plugins in the WordPress directory to speed up the loading time.

5. Compress the WordPress Website Size:

When it comes to WordPress websites, it is said that the smaller it is, the faster it gets. Keeping the size of the WordPress small is the best thing you can do to improve user experience. GZip compression optimizes the website for the search engine by reducing the size of the HTML files and JavaScript, enabling the web crawlers to index your website more quickly.

6. Declutter the Homepage:

Just as it is important to compress and optimize the entire website, it is also important to declutter the homepage. Remove unwanted widgets and tools on the homepage, as they can slow down the website. Also, keep the content short. It is recommended to show only a preview of the content and not the entire content on the homepage. The shorter and cleaner your homepage is, the faster your blog will load.

7. Go For Light Weight Themes:

Some of the best WordPress themes are light in weight. Go for the themes that are minimalistic and compact. Heavy themes should be avoided if you are expecting great traffic. When customizing the website, you may want to use sliders, galleries, footers, and widgets to make your website look attractive. However, overuse of them can slow down the website and turn away the visitors.

8. Separate Comments and Long Content:

Some of your content or blogs may receive great response from readers and they may leave comments. You need to paginate the comments to ensure quick loading. Similarly, long-form content can also slow down page loading time; paginating may help. Most WordPress themes can paginate the content. But in case they are not doing so, you can manually do it by opening the single.php file in the editor dashboard and insert <?php wp_link_pages(); ?> in the WP loop.

Conclusion:

Your users, when logging in to your website, spend valuable time getting the desired result. If their time is not valued, they may leave your site and may never return. In short, you can lose valuable customers if you don’t optimize the website speed. With the above-mentioned tips, you can easily update the loading time of your website and keep the customers returning. A quick loading time is good for customer retention as well as Google ranking.