Over the last two days I have gone from the easy – trimming graphics and reducing page lengths – to the quite difficult – editing your header and footer files. Today’s article sits somewhere in between.
The first comment on would like to make regarding any blog, no matter which platform you use, is good housekeeping. How often do you actually look at your blog and analyze what you have on screen and what you have going on behind the scenes.
The first area to look at is your presentation screen – your front page. Does it sell you and your articles or is so cluttered with graphics and icons that the eyes having difficulty settling in one spot. I know this is more a marketing tip than speed, but the two are closely related. Often less can be more. If you are trying to monetize your site, don’t fall into the trap of signing up for every offer that comes along hoping to make a little from lot. Every one of those icons or banners – particularly if they access a third party’s site, can slow your page down. I have had a variety of ads on this page, from Adsense to Widgetbucks and now Rubicon. Adsense has been known to be slow. Widgetbucks can be very slow and Rubicon is also slow. Put all three together, particularly on page where the sidebars load before the content, you will have a horribly slow page. You will not make any money if your reader has left before the page has finished loading, so less can often mean more.
Plugins are the next area to look at. Check all the plugins that you have activated. Do you really need that plugin. If not, then deactivate it. Even better, take it out of your plugin directory. A simple trick to is to just move it to a plugin backup directory. If you ever need to re-install the plugin, you can copy it back.
Having mentioned plugins, there is one plugin that you should look at using. WP-Cache is a plugin that works by storing frequent pages in a cache. When a users browser asks for that page it is called from the cache rather than being regenerated from the database. It can offer real speed gains particularly if you receive a lot of traffic. Be sure to read and follow the installation procedures carefully. My understanding of caching is that it works by rendering the page and saving the rendered page. When the page is called (loaded) again the browser does not have to interpret the PHP and convert it to HTML – the job has already been done. Since incorporating it I have notices a slight speed increase – but then – I don’t exactly have a high traffic situation.
If you incorporate a lot of the tips mentioned in these three articles you will notice an increase in your page load times. This makes for a far more satisfying experience for the visitor. The key to successful blogging is not to get the visitors, it is to get them to return frequently. If you have an attractive, well written and speedy blog – they will return. Fail on anyone of these keys and you may well fail to attract that returning visitor.
If you have enjoyed this mini series feel free to subscribe via RSS or better yet via email. Check back frequently as I have many more articles waiting to be written. If you have any speed tips feel free to leave them in the comments section. If you have an article that offers other speed tips, leave a link to that article in the comments section so that others can connect. I would like to put together an article with all the links to well written WordPress or general blogging tips.
To all my readers, I take this opportunity to wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year.
Thanks for the good advice!
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