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Speeding up WordPress
  on Shared Hosting




                 Kevin Cristiano
                 kcristiano@tadpole.cc
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

 • Which Plugin to use?
   • W3 Total Cache
   • WP Super Cache


 Both Plugins are reliable with a solid history.
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
kcristiano@tadpole.cc
@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/