There is nothing more frustrating than visiting a website that takes forever to load. Oftentimes, you will find yourself clicking the ‘close’ button and moving on. When it comes to site speed, there are no shortage of contributing factors to which some you have no direct control over (i.e. server issues, downtime, etc). In a fast-paced environment, we find ourselves spoiled with high speed internet and the ability to make transactions within the blink of an eye. Quite frankly, time is money. If that doesn’t do it for you, how about this?

A one-second delay in page load time yields:

  • 11% fewer page views
  • 16% decrease in customer satisfaction
  • 7% loss in conversions

And that’s just one second! It is no wonder then that a site with load times of even just a little more than five (5) seconds overall has a higher bounce rate than its faster counterparts. Site Rockstar understands all of the hidden variables behind a site’s performance and does its best to ensure that these types of issues have a minimal impact. However, it is still just as important for website owners to be proactive about the performance of their own sites. When it comes to your WordPress site, there are some things that you can start doing today to optimize your site, improve its speed and minimize latency.

  1. Choose a hosting plan that fits your needs. Ever heard of the saying that you get what you pay for? Depending on the size of your site and its core functions (i.e. eCommerce, dedicated blog, portfolio, etc), going cheaper may not always be the best option as it’ll end up costing you in lost business and unhappy visitors. You want to have a hosting package that offers you the speed, memory and other necessary resources that you will need in order for your website to function properly and seamlessly.
  2. Reduce the size of your site’s media assets. One of the biggest threats to the speed of your site is the size of images and other media. Chances are, the bigger the size of files being served by your website the longer the load times will be regardless of the end user’s internet speed. It is a good practice to imagine that all of your visitors have slower internet connections. Optimize your images, reduce the number of self-hosted videos, keep your site’s pages as streamlined as possible and keep everything concise.
  3. Keep the total number of active plugins low. Plugins are quite effective, convenient and very useful in helping get your WordPress website jumpstarted. However, it is a double-edged sword. Having too many plugins that are active will increase the number of requests that one’s browser makes when loading your website. This will inevitable slow down your website, so try to keep the overall number of active plugins low. When looking for plugins, consider your reasoning for doing so and if there is an alternative.

At Site Rockstar, we understand all of the ins and outs and work diligently to keep your website up and running. Our maintenance plans will help keep your website up and running efficiently. Don’t lose business or valuable leads because your website is taking too long to load. If you take care of your site, it will start taking care of you. It is your first impression to many of those who visit you for the first time on the web. Let’s make it a strong one!