Speed and performance in WordPress are critical to the success of your website, and even more so for an e-shop, whether you sell in Greece or abroad. A slow site drives visitors away and lowers conversions, and search engines such as Google rank slow pages lower. Here are the key steps to make your WordPress site faster.
1. Choose the right hosting
Good hosting is the foundation of a fast website. Choose a reliable provider with WordPress-optimised plans, such as Hostinger or Bluehost.
2. Install a caching plugin
Caching reduces server load by serving static versions of your pages. Plugins such as WP Fastest Cache or W3 Total Cache do the job well.
3. Optimise your images
Unoptimised images weigh your site down. Use tools such as TinyPNG or plugins such as Smush to compress images without losing quality.
4. Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
A CDN stores copies of your static files on servers around the world, cutting load times for every visitor. Popular options include Cloudflare and Sucuri.
5. Reduce HTTP requests
Limit the number of external requests your site makes, and combine and minify your CSS and JavaScript files.
6. Use speed-optimised themes and plugins
Choose well-coded themes and plugins built for performance, and avoid heavy, bloated themes that slow your site down.
7. Optimise your database
Cleaning up your database regularly improves performance. Plugins such as WP-Optimize make it easy.
8. Enable lazy loading
Lazy loading delays images and videos until the visitor actually scrolls to them, which cuts the initial page load time.
9. Don’t host video and audio yourself
Instead of uploading video and audio to your own server, host them on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo and embed them.
10. Run the latest PHP version
Newer PHP versions bring significant speed and performance gains. Make sure your server runs the latest supported version.
Follow these tips and your WordPress site will be noticeably faster, giving visitors a better experience and improving your position in search results. These are just a few of the practices we use when we build and optimise e-shops. Get in touch to find out more about our e-shop service.
Want help growing your business? Talk to the DonDigital team about a website, an e-shop or ad campaigns.
