Speeding up WordPress on Shared Hosting Kevin Cristiano [email protected] 

Do you feel like your site loads like a …. 

Why is Speed Important • Why do you care about the speed of your sites? • Because your readers care • The Google Factor • So what can we do about it? What are our options on Shared Hosting 

How to Speed up WordPress • Stay up to Date- Update WordPress Core! • Core is faster today than previous versions 

Hosting Matters • It’s not just about price – “Unlimited” doesn’t exist • Read the Terms of Service (TOS) • Call them – ask questions – If they won’t answer a question to get a new customer, how will respond if you call for support WordPress.org Hosting Page Links to Hosting Sites listed below 

Themes • Where do I get a good theme? – WordPress Theme Repository • How do I know it’s a ‘Fast’ Theme – Use a plugin called “Display Queries” to see what the theme is doing to the database – Test Site 

Plugins • Plugins: Avoid Plugin Overload 

Settings • Home Page – How many Posts are you loading? 

Media • Images What format should I use • Use the smallest size possible that preserves quality – In general jpg for photos • Resize to the published size • Don’t resize on the fly • Set your Media Settings to match your theme • Gravatars: Check your Discussion Settings • Video – Use a service built to handle streaming video like YouTube or Vimeo 

Sharing and Widgets • Social Media Buttons and Counters – How many times will they load each page • Call home each time they load • Balance your content needs with speed considerations • Widget Areas – Be judicious about what you load – Load dynamically – Use Widget Logic or Display Widgets 

Database Tweaks • Post Revisions – Manage The amount of Post revisions stored in your database • Revision Control Plugin 

Database Tweaks • Optimize your database – Ensure best performance by keeping your database clean – WP Optimize is a plugin that will assist you in doing this 

To Cache or not to Cache • Once you have addressed Hosting, Theme and Plugin issues. Look at Caching Both Plugins are reliable with a solid history. • Which Plugin to use? • W3 Total Cache • WP Super Cache 

Finding and fixing Speed Issues • Testing Your Site with External Tools • Ismyblogworking.com • Pingdom Tools • Yslow (extensions for Firefox and Chrome) • Page Speed from Goohle 

Questions? 

Contact Info Kevin Cristiano [email protected] @kcristiano http://www.tadpole.cc 

Links Hosts • http://www.liquidweb.com/web-hosting/ • http://www.siteground.com/wordpress-hosting.htm • http://www.westhost.com/web-hosting/ • http://laughingsquid.us/ • http://mediatemple.net/wordpress-webhosting.php • http://www.bluehost.com/wordpress_hosting • http://www.dreamhost.com/ • http://page.ly/ • http://wpengine.com/b/