First, Check Your Speed
I’ve got a brand new shiny WordPress Theme for my Out of the Office website: Rosalie
Time is of the Essence
The reason for this change of heart is that I was getting concerned about the amount of time it was taking to load my website. I was getting bored waiting so, obviously, if it was annoying me, a reader would not have the patience to wait for the site to load. I used the Page Speed Insights to check the speed and I was totally SHOCKED to find it was 21 which is SLOW.
According to Page Speed Insights
- 0-49 is slow
- 50-89 is average
- 90-100 is fast
You could also try analysing speed on GTmetrix.com which provides helpful information on how to fix issues.
The Smaller the Better
The Page Speed Insights gives you lots of information about how to speed up your website but if you’re not a computer programming whiz, it’s rather hard to understand what action to take.
However, even I understood that one thing I should do was to compress my images as some of them were HUGE. And I mean HUGE!
First I tried compressing my images using my own software but I discovered that this didn’t keep the quality so I had to search for other solutions.
If your hosting plan (such as Bluehost) allows, you can use a plug in such as Smush It but if not there are other options….
I used Image Optimizer to compress my images. Try it – it’s great and there are many other websites which will compress your images for free whilst keeping the quality.
This site and post may contain affiliate links from Amazon, Bluehost, Grammarly, Zazzle, WordPress, Shutterstock, Society6, Teepublic, Redbubble and if you click on a link and purchase a product from that website I will earn a small fee (which will go towards getting me Out of the Office!)
Check out your Theme
And I also decided to try a different theme to see if that would improve the situation.
Changing themes is always a worry; even if you view all the demos, you still think:
- Will your new theme look good?
- Will the theme cope with your formatting?
- Will your images work?
- Will your links still work?
- If you don’t like it, can you revert successfully to your old theme?
Test It
I have a private test site where I test out new themes before I try them on my main site ….. but, of course, as my test site is a free plan for obvious reasons, I can only test free themes.
Although it’s a worry, when you press the button to change your theme, I’ve always found that it’s easy and successful to revert to your old theme.
More Speed
If you want to keep your website fast and reactive for your visitors.
- check the Page Speed regularly
- cut out unnecessarily large photos and graphics
- check your links work
- cut out videos and galleries if applicable
- try a simpler theme
- Cut out links to Instagram / Goodreads etc.
Choose Your Host
There are plenty of great webhosts you can use with your WordPress theme, such as Bluehost, Squarespace, Godaddy or WordPress.com themselves. Some allow more space saving widgets than others.
Investigate all your options!
More Speed = Higher Rankings
Faster websites rank higher in google searches and faster loads equate to more conversions. So, if you are running an affiliate site to make money online you need to keep an eye on your speed.
Happy blogging!
© Michelle Le Grand
Out of the Office
Le Grand Art Blog
My Zazzle Store
Artweb
Out Of The Office 