5 Quick Wins to Speed Up WordPress Load Times

Your websites load time can make or break its chances of success. This is important stuff, so its no wonder that how to speed up WordPress is always a hot topic in the WordPress-sphere. For lightning quick websites, lucrative rewards await:Google has confirmed that site speed is a ranking factor in its algorithm. Fast websites rank higher and generate more traffic.This is part 1 of our quick two-part series on how to speed up WordPress.5 Quick Wins to Speed Up WordPress Load Times (Part 1)5 MORE Quick Wins to Speed Up Your WordPress (Part 2)Fast-loading websites improve the user experience, resulting in more page views, time on page, and other important metrics. Fast websites mean happy visitors.A sluggish website can kill your conversion rate – a drop of 47% for an extra 2-second wait. Fast websites enjoy high conversion rates and a healthier bottom line.Weve heard all the upsides before, though, yet many of us still ignore the warnings and plod along with unoptimized website s.What gives?The easiest way to speed up WordPress in under an hourIn my opinion, its an issue of time and a lack of confidence. The time part is self-explanatory, of course, but to inexperienced WordPress users, buzzwords like optimization are intimidating. Articles on speed optimization contain lots of technical talk, resulting in many WordPress users (wrongly) believing that they cant do it, so they focus their efforts elsewhere.This simply isnt the case, though. Anyone can speed up WordPress and enjoy lightning quick load times, and today, were going to prove it.So heres my promise to you: 5 steps, each taking less than 10 minutes (most take under 2), that even an absolute beginner can perform. The end result: a much faster website.Before you start, test your website speed using the free Pingdom tool. In about an hour when were finished, I want you to test it again to see how much faster your website is!1. Get yourself a good web hostIf you only take one thing from this list, le t it be this one.No amount of on-site tweaking and optimization can undo the damage of a bad web host. So make life easier for yourself by spending 10 minutes or so selecting the right hosting provider for your website.I know, I know  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ bargain-basement prices can be tempting. But these hosting services are cheap for a reason: they cram so many websites onto their servers that each site can only use a tiny fraction of the resources available.Remember: running a successful website starts with choosing a good host. Get the foundations right, and everything else will click into place.High-quality hosting doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg either. ThemeIsle recommends SiteGround for shared hosting and Flywheel for managed WordPress hosting – prices start from $3.95/month and $15/month respectively.To learn exactly why we recommend these companies and not the others, please check out our detailed reviews and comparisons over on the CodeinWP blog:Best WordPress Shared Ho sting Providers by the NumbersManaged WordPress Hosting: The All-You-Need-to-Know Guide Time taken: 10 minutes to sign up with one of our recommended hosting services.2. Use a caching pluginBehind your hosting service, caching is probably the next best way to speed up WordPress. Its so effective that caching can result in a 10x speed gain over a non-cached website.Adding caching is as simple as installing a caching plugin – and we recommend W3 Total Cache if youre looking for a free solution.If youre willing to invest in your site speed, check out WP Rocket noticeably better performance than W3 Total Cache.The out-the-box default configurations work perfectly well with both plugins, so you can enjoy the speed benefits the moment you hit activate. Time taken: 30 seconds to install a plugin.3. Optimize the WordPress databaseA well-organized filing cabinet helps you to find your files more quickly, right? This is the principle at play when it comes to database optimization â₠¬â€œ remove the clutter, and your server can retrieve and display your web pages faster.Like caching, database optimization is something you can benefit from instantly – simply install and activate the WP-Optimize plugin. WP-Optimize Clean, Compress, Cache. Author(s): David Anderson, Ruhani Rabin, Team UpdraftCurrent Version: 3.0.12Last Updated: September 24, 2019wp-optimize.3.0.12.zip 98%Ratings 11,586,621Downloads WP 3.8+Requires Again, dont worry too much about complex configuration screens  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ its safe to trust in the plugins presets. Time taken: 30 seconds to install a plugin.4. Remove unnecessary PluginsInstalling WordPress plugins is a trade-off between adding cool functionalities and slowing your website down.Now, Im not going to tell you to uninstall all of your plugins just to speed up WordPress – that would be silly, and deny you some of the features that make your site function.However, when it comes to plugins, less is more.Its surprising how quickly our websites become overloaded with plugins, usually without us even realizing it. Test this out if you dont believe me. Navigate to wp-admin / Plugins and see how many you have installed – I bet its more than you think.Of course, theres no perfect number of plugins. However, Im going to go out on a limb here and say that the amount installed on your site right now is too many.Work your way down the list of plugins, asking yourself, Do I really need this one? If your answer isnt a resounding yes, you dont need it. Trim the fat and uninstall any unnecessary plugins. Time taken: 5 minutes to go through your plugin list and delete any surplus to requirements.5. Update your websiteAlthough were always told to update our websites, I know that Im guilty of pretending I didnt see the five or six update notifications waiting for me in the WordPress dashboard.Failing to update is definitely bad practice, though – and were talking about updates to the core, theme, an d plugins here.Speed often isnt a priority of updates – updates tend to focus on introducing new features and patching up known security issues. However, over time, any bloated code is improved and optimized, and gradually that translates into small speed improvements.So if youre using software thats a few versions old, you can expect to see the biggest improvements from hitting the update button. You should be updating for reasons other than speed anyway – so just enjoy shaving a few fractions of a second off your sites load time as an extra bonus. Time taken: 30 seconds.Final thoughtsAnd that concludes our list of 5 quick wins to speed up WordPress.Putting todays post into action should take no more than 10-15 minutes. Some steps are more effective than others, admittedly, but when fractions of a second can have a serious impact on your conversion rate, every moment counts. With each step stacked on top of each other, you will see a significant improvement in your we bsites load times.However, if you really want to speed up WordPress then your adventure does not start and finish with the items in todays list – theres far more to it than that! If you want to learn more about speed optimization, I recommend signing up for our excellent and free email course on site speed. Sign up here:Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips.