WordPress makes a lot of things easy. With it you can quickly create a great looking website, and one that is packed with features. However, as time goes on, your WordPress site may not function as well as it could. This will result in a slower experience for your users and it may take you longer to get things done. To keep this from happening, here are 5 things you can do to optimize your WordPress website and make things run a little smoother.
Choose a Good Hosting Provider
First, you’ll want to make sure your WordPress site is installed on a solid hosting provider. Not all WordPress hosting plans are created equal, and some are much better than others. By taking the time to choose a provider that won’t slow down your site, you’ll ensure that your website remains fast for a long time to come. Luckily, even if you’re currently on a provider that you don’t like, it’s not hard to make the switch over to another provider. So, take some time to consider your options and find the WordPress hosting provider that’s best for you.
Security Plugins
Next, you’ll want to ensure that your WordPress site is safe. This goes for not only your own files on there, but the information your visitors provide you with. The last thing you want is someone hacking your website or stealing your customer’s data. To protect yourself, look for some WordPress security plugins. These will help to protect your data from hackers, who could end up causing long-term damage to your website. They are easy to install and once you do you likely won’t have to think about them again, resting easy knowing your site is safe. If you’re not sure what plugins to use, try checking what plugins your competitors use, and any plugin detector will help you do just that.
Image Optimization
One common reason that WordPress sites slow down is because of the images you’re using. If your website is using a lot of images, and if these images aren’t optimized for the web, they’ll slow down the experience for everyone one of your visitors. Images take time to load, and the larger the file size the longer it takes. Get yourself a WordPress image optimization plugin to help reduce the file size of your images. Page speed plays a significant role in how happy visitors are with your site and reducing the size of your images can go a long way towards speeding things up.
SEO Plugins
If you want people to find your site, you need to appear within search results. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen unless your site is optimized for search engines. Search engines have different criteria for what they’re looking for in a webpage when determining how to rank them. By keeping this criterion in mind, you can optimize your page and start climbing the ranks.
With some WordPress SEO plugins you can quickly edit and format your website to make search engines happier. Find a plugin that will allow you to easily edit title tags, image alts, and which will analyze your keyword usage within blog posts. There’s a lot that goes into Search Engine Optimization, but with a good WordPress plugin, the process becomes a lot easier.
Organize Your Content Tree
Finally, you’ll want to take some time to think about how you structure your content. Each post you create should go under an appropriate category, and certain categories should fall under others. For example, if you have a business that sells desserts, you may have major categories like “Cupcakes”, “Birthday Cakes”, “Cookies” and more. Then under one of these categories you may have different flavors, baking tips, recipes, etc.
By having a clear structure to your content you’ll make it easier for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. This will save them time and give them a better experience. It will also help with your SEO efforts, as search engines like Google love to see well-structured content.
Focus on WordPress Optimization
While using WordPress is great, it’s not ready to go right out of the box. There are a few things you need to do in order to optimize it and make it the best it can be. By using the above advice, you can greatly improve your WordPress site, and give everyone who visits it a better experience.
So, take some time to examine your own site and think about where you need to make some changes. Then set aside some time to put those changes into action. Doing so will result in more return customers, more people finding your site on search engines, and then in turn a more successful site. Good luck!
