Soumi Biswas In the modern jungle that is the digital realm, nobody, and I mean not a single person, wants to deal with a website that stumbles and leaves visitors staring at a loading screen that feels like an eternity. As frustrating as such experiences are for users, the fact remains that companies stand to lose much more when their websites transform into digital sloths. Unfortunately, countless WordPress websites suffer from the crippling effects of inadequate optimization. These digital laggards face a grim reality that treads beyond just dissatisfied customers and lost sales: for starters, Google and other search engines frown upon slow websites, burying them deep in the search results. Then there is also the fact that a slow website is a sure shot conversion killer, with every second of delay increasing the likelihood of a user bouncing off your website.
Of course, one can always get started with dealing with this problem through some rudimentary solutions, such as selecting the right hosting provider, robust plugin management, etc. However, these workarounds may not always suffice and that is why I have put together this handy list of advanced WordPress optimization techniques.
However, before we delve into the how, let us quickly also see what you stand to gain from such optimization.
Speed Dividends: The Power of WordPress Performance Optimization
1. Improved User Experiences (UX)
It is no secret that sluggish websites induce frustration, prompting users to swiftly click away, a.k.a – the dreaded ‘bounce.’ Google’s study lays it bare too – a mere increase in page load time from 1 to 3 seconds spikes the bounce probability by a staggering 32%. That is a chunk of potential visitors lost due to seconds, not minutes.
Enter WordPress performance optimization: just the antidote you need for this speed conundrum. Optimization allows you to not just speed up your site but also take the user experience to the next level. After all, a swift loading WordPress site is the key to ensuring visitors are able to access content without needless delays. And in today’s cut-throat digital world, this is the foundation of success.
2. Boost SEO Rankings
Standing out in today’s digitally-led market is a crucial factor shaping online visibility and for that you need search engines. And as everyone knows, search engines, including Google, prioritize user experience, with speed constituting a vital component. Why? Well, you know, because users prefer websites that do not take forever to load. So, a slow site essentially equals poor user experience, prompting premature exits.
To cut a long story short, search engines reward faster websites with higher rankings.
So, where does WordPress performance optimization come into play? Google’s research reveals that page speed directly impacts mobile search rankings; i.e. without optimization, websites risk obscurity in search results.
It may also help to know that improving WordPress performance isn’t just to boost user experiences — it also helps signal to search engines that your site is of high quality.
3. High Conversion Rates
Every single click, scroll, and interaction on your website is basically potential that you are yet to leverage. The catalyst that transforms this potential into tangible results is WordPress website performance optimization. You see, a high-performing website is not about simply keeping visitors engaged; it is a powerful tool to drive conversions for your business.
And we all know by now that rapid website loading fuels user actions — the good kind, be it making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or filling out a contact form. According to a Cloudflare study, a 7% drop in a website’s conversion rate for every 1-second delay in page load time. It, then, serves as a stark reminder of the crucial role WordPress performance optimization has come to play in helping companies achieve their business objectives.
4. Top-Tier Scalability
Business growth, as desirable as it is, brings its own set of challenges. Picture this: you are running a marketing campaign, and suddenly, your website experiences a tidal wave of traffic. Just what you were aiming for, right? However, the question, and a rather critical one at that, remains – can the website handle such a surge? Not without proper performance optimization, it cannot.
This is where scalable websites come in handy: they can effortlessly navigate increased traffic without compromising on performance.
Website performance optimization helps in this regard by ensuring that your site’s infrastructure, from the hosting environment to the backend processes, is robust and resilient.
Advanced Techniques to Optimize WordPress Website Performance
Let us get straight to it, folks.
5. Caching
Okay, what if your website had a short-term memory that made it, i.e. the website, really, really quick AND efficient — both at the same time. That is caching for you, by the way. What happens here is that a version of your site is saved so that it does not need to reload every time a user visits. As a result, the speed is instantly boosted and the user experience is rendered seamless. In fact, all of this is achieved while lightening the load on the server.
Plugins such as W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache, help greatly with the implementation of caching solutions. They help make faster load times the norm, while also ensuring that website visitors are delivered a speedy user experience across the content.
6. Leverage Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
CDNs basically provide multiple doorways to your website, with all these “doorways” strategically scattered across the globe. What that means is that CDNs function as global storage hubs, string copies of your website on servers worldwide. What makes this technique especially top-notch is the fact that it helps ensure users access the content from a server that is located closest to them.
The impact of CDNs is also significant, especially for websites that enjoy a global audience. This is because load times are reduced dramatically with CDNs. Before you ask, services such as Cloudflare and KeyCDN are among some of the most popular CDN solutions currently available in the market.
7. Minify CSS and JS and Optimize Images
In order to achieve the kind of website speed one needs in the modern market, it is imperative to shed unnecessary weight and you can do that by minifying CSS and JS files. What I mean by that is you practically have to surgically remove redundant characters such as spaces and comments. The market offers plenty of tools, including Autoptimize, to simplify the process of such elimination.
But the weight reduction does not end here, for the heaviest contributors to a webpage’s size are usually images. Thankfully, you have image optimization to help in the department. Tools such as Smush and ShortPixel are excellent resources to help you reduce image size and that too without sacrificing quality.
The pursuit of an optimized WordPress website is multi-faceted, i.e. you will need to rely on basic techniques as well as an arsenal of techniques that go beyond the basics — all depending on your business’ individual requirements. Today, we focused on the latter type of optimization techniques: starting from caching to leveraging the global reach of CDNs. It may also help to remember that every strategy discussed above serves a singular purpose: speed. But that is not to say that the benefits do not extend far beyond just fast websites.
So, as you embark on the path of advanced WordPress optimization, feel free to put these techniques to work. And if the need arises, getting in touch with professionals, such as the ones at eWay Corp, is a great way to optimize too.
