Websites should load fast, and by fast I generally mean “as fast as Google / Facebook, etc.” This includes a WordPress website. A good test of your site’s speed is to visit from your mobile device connected directly to a cellular network (not WiFi). Then compare load times to Google. If your site is noticeably slower, you should have it reviewed. Here are some quick options to move the needle on your site’s performance:

  1. Hosting. Not all hosting is created equal, and if you’re on a shared server, there’s a chance another site unrelated to your organization is dragging down load times. Premium managed hosting like that offered by WP Engine is the move, and we can help you migrate your site.
  2. CDN. This stands for “content distribution network” and simply means your site is cached at various locations around the globe and is then served from the nearest server, so if someone visits from Europe, they’ll receive the site from servers there rather than California or New York, and so forth. This impacts speed. WP Engine includes a native CDN feature that we can set up with a click. You can also use a free CDN service such as CloudFlare.
  3. Reduce Images. Often too-large images reach their way onto WordPress websites. Consider installing the plugins Smush and Imsanity, and running these to reduce image sizes.

Questions about these or other WordPress issues? Contact us to start a discussion, and consider our free digital audit, which includes a review of performance. We’ll be happy to make recommendations based on what we discover.