WordPress, over the last 12 years as become one of the most popular content management systems on the market. As it currently stands almost 25% of all websites have been created using WordPress and this likely to increase in the near future. Each minute WordPress attracts new customers because it is simple to use and it does have a large number of loyal fans along with a marketplace that offers a whole host of plugins at no extra cost, which means its popularity is not likely to wane any time soon.
There is no doubt that people love WordPress but just like everything else, this content management system does have its downsides. Some complain that sites are often slow to load as many of the websites are running older versions whilst some have databases that are in a bit of a state and other choose to install too many plugins. Therefore, this blog post will highlight the five best plugins that you could use to get the most from your WordPress site to make it more efficient.
To ensure that you are making improvements, before installing a plugin make sure that you use your something such as Google Speed Insight to measure any gains. There are many plugins that you can use but it’s also important to choose the right hosting provider first which often has the biggest impact on speed. We suggest you compare them using a site like hostingwatcher.com and get the best deal.
Autoptimize can help you to minimise your websites CSS and Javascript easily. As soon as this is installed it works by condensing and minimising scripts as well as all cached HTML. It is simple to use thanks to a simple interface and it has a number of options for both beginners and more advanced users.
Using WP Smush will help you to decrease the size of images without the loss of any quality. It also compresses any images that you may already have on your website as well as the ones that you upload.
WP Super Cache can help to make your website faster but understanding how this works requires an understanding of how the site works. As your website constantly carries out and commands and makes requests, WP Super Cache takes an image of the website and any movement and then it makes a static copy. Therefore, when someone visits your page it then uses the pre-loaded files to deliver your website at a faster pace. The downside of this is the fact that any updates made will not be visible but you are able to set a schedule so that it can capture snapshots when you want. Installing this plugin comes with the recommendation of cleaning your cache on a regular basis or even using the built in cache flush.
The Insanity plugin is an odd sounding plugin but it works by compressing images and scaling them down. It comes with a number of options and it makes use of some of the built in scaling functions of WordPress. It can convert BMP files to JPG which means there is no requirement for you to convert endless amounts of images in order to maximise the
As a website is made of files and databases, each time a plugin is installed or even a theme there is an alteration made to the database. Over time, when these plugins are removed and table stays on the database and as this could build up over time it will add some kind of lag on to the site. It can be difficult to understand what you should and shouldn’t keep which is why WP Optimize a great plugin. It works by optimizing your databases through removing any junk that is not required. It can also optimise your database to help keep the site running and smoothly as possible.