If you are having issues with your website load time or are just looking to make improvements. Here are a few tips that will help you speed up your WordPress site.

First you want to make sure you are on the latest version of WordPress. You also want to make sure that all your active plugins are up-to-date.

Next, remove any images you no longer need. Images take longer to load than text, so removing the ones you are not using will help decrease the time your pages take to load. 

If you have way too many images, you can use a plugin like Media Cleaner to scan your site and look for images not in use, so you can safely remove them.

You also want to remove any plugins you are no longer using. This will help avoid conflicts and loading extra resources you don’t need. 

One thing to note is that some plugins will save data to your database. I’d recommend using a plugin like Plugins Garbage Collector to scan you website and see if you have any leftover date that you need to get rid of.

Once you have reached this point, use a plugin like WP-Optimize to clean up the database, optimize it for faster loading and remove anything you no longer need, like deleted content and old revisions.

The final step is to use a plugin like WP Rocket to cache the website and minimize the load time. Here is a great article with info on how to set it up https://onlinemediamasters.com/wp-rocket-settings/

To recap, here is the list of steps:

  1. Make sure WordPress and all your active plugins are up-to-date
  2. Remove any images you are no longer using
  3. Remove any plugins you don’t need
  4. Optimize your database
  5. Install a caching plugin

The only other recommendations I would make are: 

  • Backup your website before you make any changes, this will help you restore your website if something goes wrong or you remove something you needed.
  • To test how you are doing, use the GTmetrix tool to scan your website and see what other improvements you can make to decrease your load time.
  • If you still have issues after making all these changes, look at your theme, it might be the reason for the slowdown. Check out my other post on what to look for in a WordPress theme or get in touch with me, I can help you with the development of a custom theme