How to Speed Up Your WordPress Website

Hi guys, in this blog, we’re going to see how you can speed up your WordPress website.

Let’s say you have a website, and when someone opens your site, it takes a long time to load, forcing your users to wait for each page to display. What if you want to speed up your site and make it load faster? You can do that by following this guide.

After following this guide, you’ll be able to increase your site’s speed by up to twice its current speed. When a visitor opens your site, it will load quickly, and all your pages will load faster.

Having a fast website is very important because if your site is slow, your visitors might leave, and you could lose revenue. A fast website also has a better chance of ranking on Google, bringing you more traffic.

In this guide, we’re going to explore different ways to speed up your website.

I’m Afghan Bitani from Grow Jani. Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

• Steps to Speed Up Your WordPress Website:
  • Step 1: Check Your Website’s Speed
  • Step 2: Reduce Image Size
  • Step 3: Enable Page Cache
  • Step 4: Use Good Hosting
  • Step 5: Use a CDN
    • 1: Create a Cloudflare Account
    • 2: Add Your Site to Cloudflare
    • 3: Update Your DNS Settings
    • 4: Update Name Servers with Your Domain Registrar
    • 5: Verify Your Changes on Cloudflare
    • 6: Optional – Configure Additional Cloudflare Features
    • 7: Install the Cloudflare Plugin on WordPress (Optional)
    • Final Check
• Conclusion
• FAQs

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Steps to Speed Up Your WordPress Website:

Step 1: Check Your Website’s Speed

First, let’s see our site. To speed up our site, we need to check the current speed.

1. Go to the speed test page: First, let’s check the speed of our website Click ➜ https://websitespeedtest.org/
2. Enter your site’s URL: Copy your website’s URL and paste it into the speed test tool.
3. Get the load time: After clicking ‘test,’ you’ll see the load time, which indicates how long it takes for your website to load completely. For example, if your site’s load time is 3.0 seconds, it means it takes 3 seconds to load fully.

Now that you know your site’s speed, let’s see how you can increase it.

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Step 2: Reduce Image Size

One of the easiest ways to speed up your website is by reducing the size of images. When someone visits your site, the browser takes time to load all the images. Reducing the size of these images will make your site load faster.

1. Install a plugin: Go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins, and click ‘Add New.’ Search for ‘WP Optimize’ and install it.
2. Reduce image size: After installing the plugin, go to ‘WP-Optimize’ in your dashboard. Click on ‘Images’ and select all images. Then, click ‘Compress the selected images.’ This action will reduce the size of your images, making your site load faster.
3. Check the results: After compressing your images, refresh your site and recheck the speed. You’ll likely see a reduction in load time.

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Step 3: Enable Page Cache

Enabling a page cache can significantly improve your site’s loading speed. A cache stores copies of your site’s pages, reducing the time it takes to load them.

1. Enable cache: Go to your dashboard and find the ‘Cache’ option. Enable it.
2. Check the speed: After enabling the cache, recheck your site’s speed. You should see a reduction in load time, indicating that your site now loads faster.

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Step 4: Use Good Hosting

The hosting company you choose plays a crucial role in your site’s speed. A high-performance server will ensure that your site loads quickly.

1. Choose good hosting: We recommend using Hostinger for high-performance servers.
2. Select the right server location: Make sure to choose a server location close to your visitors. For example, if most of your visitors are in India, select a server in India to reduce load times.

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Step 5: Use a CDN

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) can further speed up your site by distributing copies of your data across multiple servers worldwide.

To add your site to Cloudflare, follow these steps:

1: Create a Cloudflare Account

1. Visit Cloudflare’s website: Go to cloudflare.com.
2. Sign up: Click the “Sign Up” button and create an account by entering your email address and password.

2: Add Your Site to Cloudflare

1. Log in: Once you’ve created an account, log in to Cloudflare.
2. Add a site: Click the “Add Site” button. You will be prompted to enter your website’s URL. Copy your site’s URL and paste it into the provided field, then click “Add Site.”
3. Select a plan: Cloudflare offers various plans, including a free option. Choose the plan that best suits your needs and click “Continue.”

3: Update Your DNS Settings

1. DNS configuration: Cloudflare will display a list of your current DNS records. Review these records to ensure they are correct.
2. Change your name servers: Cloudflare will provide you with new name servers. These need to be updated in your domain registrar’s settings. This process involves replacing your existing name servers with the ones provided by Cloudflare.

4: Update Name Servers with Your Domain Registrar

1. Log in to your domain registrar: This could be GoDaddy, Namecheap, or any other service where you registered your domain.
2. Navigate to DNS settings: Find the DNS or Name Server settings for your domain.
3. Replace name servers: Replace the current name servers with the ones provided by Cloudflare. Ensure you replace all the existing name servers with the new Cloudflare ones.
4. Save changes: Save your changes to update the DNS settings.

5: Verify Your Changes on Cloudflare

1. Check name servers: Return to Cloudflare and click the “Check Nameservers” button. It may take a few hours for the DNS changes to propagate.
2. Complete setup: Follow any additional prompts to finalize your Cloudflare setup, such as configuring security and optimization settings.

6: Optional – Configure Additional Cloudflare Features

1. Enable HTTPS: Cloudflare can provide SSL/TLS encryption for your site. Go to the “SSL/TLS” section and select your preferred SSL/TLS mode.
2. Optimize settings: Explore Cloudflare’s dashboard to enable features like caching, performance optimization, and security settings tailored to your site’s needs.

7: Install the Cloudflare Plugin on WordPress (Optional)

1. Go to WordPress dashboard: Log in to your WordPress admin area.
2. Add Cloudflare plugin: Go to “Plugins” > “Add New” and search for “Cloudflare.”
3. Install and activate: Click “Install” and then “Activate” to enable the plugin.
4. Connect your account: Go to the Cloudflare plugin settings and enter your Cloudflare account details (email and API key). The API key can be found in your Cloudflare account under “My Profile” > “API Tokens.”

Final Check

After completing these steps, your site should be fully integrated with Cloudflare. Check your site’s speed and performance to ensure everything is working correctly. You can do this by running another speed test or using Cloudflare’s analytics tools to monitor your site’s traffic and performance.

By following these steps, you can leverage Cloudflare’s CDN, security, and performance features to enhance your website’s speed and reliability.

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Conclusion

Remember to follow the steps outlined in each section to ensure your website is optimized for speed. A faster website not only improves user experience but also boosts your chances of ranking higher on search engines, attracting more traffic and potentially increasing your revenue.

Thanks for Reading.

Take care,

Bye-bye.

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FAQs