Running A Slow Blog? Try This 5 Simple Steps To Speed That Slow Blog

“I love my blog” – I know you must have heard me say that about a million times, but that’s how the feeling is when you are in love with something spectacular, right? Because I love my blog, I always look for new and exciting ways to improve its speed and make it more ‘user’ friendly :). I do believe that without speed, our blog is as good as dead, right? So let me ask you this question – how fast is your blog?

speed-slow-blog

Many blogs we have today load sluggishly maybe or because of what the blogger did to his/her blog knowingly or unknowingly.  Why do you play with your blog codes, when you do not know anything about coding or Why do you have that much plug-ins? I’d like you to answer those questions within you.

Benefits of running a fast blog

Must Read: Top 5 Must Have Plugins For A Better WordPress Optimization

There are a lots of benefits surrounding a fast blog and few of the benefits are stated below:

– Adsense earnings will increase

– Your traffic will increase and stable

– It will improve your Alexa rank

– It will improve your blog search visibility

– Your bounce will reduce

– Add your benefits here 🙂

5 Best Ways To Speed Up A Slow Blog

frustrated-lady-on-pc

We all want our blogs to be reliable to our readers, right? So improving our blog speed is also one way to make our readers stay and wanting more from our blogs.

So on this note; I am bringing my first step, which is:

Cut down as many plug-in as possible

Must Read: 3 Simple Steps To Protect Your WordPress Blog Today Like A Soldier

How many plug-in(s) do you use on your blog? plugins are great for our blogs, right? It can indeed open ways for unlimited possibilities. It can make you do whatever you think of turning your blog into and more… but as great as our plugins may look, it can shut down your blog if you abuse its privileges :).

Plugins do use up a lot of our database resource, so the more your plug-ins the more your database gets heavy which will lead to your blog sluggishness. Here is how it goes::: Heavy database → → leads to slow blog → → eventually gets crash → → your host provider ask for an upgrade or move out.

What to do?

– Try to minimize your plugin to its minimal

– Remove plugins that’s not so important

– Remove similar plugins that do the same or similar works

Optimize your blog and databases professionally

Our database is the main structure of our blog, hope you know that? “Any” problem our database encounters, affects our blog.

Now tell me, how many times do you check and clean your database? Do you know that all the plugins you have been uninstalling for months or years is piling up in your database? If you don’t do something about that, you are going to wake up some day and discovered that your blog has crashed.

I have previously written a post on how to take good care of your database – you should read it here: How To Permanently Uninstall Any WordPress Plugins

Reducing or minify your html, js and JavaScript files are the best way to keep a good speed. And how do you reduce your file size? By using the W3TC plugin, you can make your blog run fast. You can learn how to configure and use your W3 total cache here: How To Speed Up Your WordPress Blog With W3 Total Cache (W3TC)

Images are beautiful but…

Image(s) helps our blog look unique and more interesting to read. Every blogger you come across (even i) will advise you to use image on your blog posts. As they say “Images can express a 1000 thoughts” (hope I got it right) :). But do you know that images that are not optimized can drag your blog load time?

How can I optimize my images?

Before I use any image on my blog, I make sure I reduce the size using photoshop and then after uploading it, I use smush.it plugin to reduce the size even more :). Now you can see that I have reduced my blog load time.

If you do not have photoshop or any online image “re-sizer”, then smush.it plugin is just the best choice for you.

Your host can be your worst nightmare

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Your host provider has a big part to play in making your site load faster, so it is best to pay more attention when selecting a host provider.

How do I know the best host?

– Make a proper research before buying any host

– Cheaper hosting is bad and can kill your blog

– do not provide what they promise and lots more…

Hey, if your host is not providing you with what they should, move on to the next :).

Content Delivery Network (CDN) can be your friend you know…

Let’s face it; most of the hosting providers out there are just not worth it because they can literally kill your blog. So using a CDN service for your blog might just be the best thing you could ever think of.

What CDN actually does is, it serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance. There are paid CDN that can work brilliantly for you but in case you do not have money to pay for CDN, they are free ones out there that can serve you as better as the paid ones.

Do This:

Making your blog load fast is not that hard – I am 100% sure that your blog will load faster if you can carry out the above tips.

Must Read: 5 Key Ingredient On How To Become A Better Blogger

I will still be dropping more tips on how to make your blog load faster but before then, I’d like you to input your take on the topic at hand :).

What other method do you use to speed up your blog? Do tell us by using the comment box below and let’s make the post more fun.

Do you have comments, questions and thoughts you’d like to share with us? Then please do, by using the comment box below. Remember that your comments, questions and thoughts are highly welcome and appreciated.

Let’s Be Social

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47 Comments

  1. Hi Babanature,

    I just realize that image has cause trouble for my blog. You just say it right, it’s beautiful but …. Going to check for it. Thanks for this post my friend 🙂

    1. Hello Okto,
      Images do slow down our blogs but many of us blogger do not know about this. Glad you will be doing something about those images Okto 🙂
      Do have a best weekend start buddy 🙂

  2. Nice recommendations Babanature, i have followed your guide to improve my blog’s speed and after testing the site i have noticed a significant improvement generally.

    Thanks for sharing…

  3. I agree with all the points mate !
    Excessive use of plugins can slow a blog down – we can check which plugin is affecting the performance though P3 profiler plugin .. If none of the plugins is responsible for slowness , then the images in the posts may be the reason and if not then its surely the bad hosting service responsible for making a blog slow .Thanks for sharing the information .

    -Pramod

  4. Hello babanature nice and informative post. I use every method as stated. But when i use cloudflare cdn it degraded my images quality. Is there an option to solve this. Anyway Thanks for sharing this awesomme content. Have a good day 🙂

  5. Hello babanature, that’s some great tips from you, I have personally followed your tips and must say it is one of the most valid one out there.

    Hopefully I will try implementing them in my future clients blog to give them always great blogging experience.

    Keep giving us more excellent tips like this one. Thanks a lot

    1. Thanks for the kind words Obasi. I love dropping simple steps for bloggers so they can grasp what i am saying and i am glad you understand and have implemented it on your blog.
      Thanks for the comment and do have a nice weekend start

  6. Great Tips, Babanature 🙂

    We do definitely do need faster blogs, especially since the attention span and patience of internet users has dramatically decreased.

    I try to keep my plugins under 20 – uninstall any that I don’t need and find more plugins that can do the work of 2 (so one plugin for two different things :D).

    I also use P3 Performance plugin to analyze which plugins take the most out of my loading time (so I can either find a replacement or just disable the plugin).

    As for CDN, I tried using Cloudflare (they are great, but I ran into problems every now and then). I don’t think I would be using any CDN for a while, just shared hosting 😉

    Perhaps I could buy VPS hosting? Once I get my upcoming blog established 😀

    Anyways, thank you for the tips 🙂 Appreciate it!

    1. Hello Jeevan, glad you liked the tips 🙂

      You do know how to keep your plugin in check. I always advice bloggers to limit their plugins to 19 and maximum to be 20 any further than that, is just a waste of resource.
      I have not used the p3 performance plugin before but with what you just say, it can surely be helpful.
      CDN are helpful for those that has higher traffic or those that do not have a good host, so if you are to buy VPS, CDN will not be necessary.

      Thanks for your lovely comment. do have a brilliant weekend 🙂

  7. Hi Babanature,

    You’re absolutely right by mentioning these various ways to take care of a slow blog. I think if your blog is slow and takes time to load, you’d simply lose lots of traffic and thus your earning, for those who are into Adsense etc.

    I do pretty much the same things you mentioned, though the CDN part works only sometimes, while at other times I notice more of issues it has with some other plugin, or perhaps it’s Cloudflare, or perhaps both of them one really doesn’t need. I’ve to check this part out as yet.

    Nice tips nevertheless, and I think everyone would love to know about these for sure.

    Thanks for sharing. Have a nice weekend

    1. Hello Harleena,
      It is good to know that you are also cleaning your blog properly and that feels good, doesn’t it?
      The reason you are having problem with cloudflare is probably because of you actived the minify mode. Most plugins do not run on minify mode :). i am sure that if you can turn of the minify mode, such problem will not persist.
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your wonderful comment, do have yourself a blessed weekend 🙂

  8. Hi Babanature, great tips indeed. . Speed is one of the necessary aspects for successful blog, since google consider speed for better seo ranking. . . W3 total cache is one of the best cache plugin. . Great post . . Thanks for sharing 🙂

    1. Hello Adithya,
      You are right – most people still don’t know the importance of a speedy blog. W3 total cache is indeed one best plugin every blogger must have 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment, do have a perfect weekend…

  9. I think paid CDN is a service that can’t be achieved with free CDN, you said “…free ones out there that can serve you as better as the paid ones.”

    Yes you might be right if you talk about small traffic, however small traffic can be handled by shared hosting.

    Nice visiting you man, see you next time! Kind regards!

    1. Hello Daniel,
      Yes, Paid CDN can’t be compared to the free CDN out there, but the free ones do word better and can serve your blog as any paid CDN but with less feature :).

      Thanks for stopping by and do have your self a nice weekend 🙂

  10. Hi Babanature,

    This is a great post and I’m sure information a lot of people don’t really take into consideration. I know that my first major issues came when I learned that my plugins were never deleted from my database. I had a lot too.

    I do everything you have on this list accept the cache plugin of course but I think I’ve shared with you before why I don’t. Until I start having issues then I’m leaving that alone.

    I’ve been told about the Content Delivery Network but was told that it’s really best for high traffic sites such as ecommerce sites. Maybe when I have my product up I’ll look into that because I do intend to have a very high traffic site once that’s up. See, thinking positively my friend.

    Great share and great information here. Thank you for putting this together and I definitely agree on all these points too. Don’t wait until you start to have problems because going back and fixing them all is no fun at all.

    ~Adrienne

    1. Hello Adrienne,
      Thanks for the sweet complement :). Ah… I know most newbie don’t know about their plugins and the effect it has on our database, so it is good to always remind them of it so they won’t face that dreadful issue called “database crashed” :).

      Sure, CDN are for high traffic blogs or blogs that are on the shared hosting with high traffic and even best for those that are on bad host… I do hope you get the traffic you’re looking for and we all are waiting to see your product :).

      You are definitely right my friend. Have your self a brilliant weekend 🙂

  11. Interesting post Baba,
    Nothing can be really sweet as having a fast loading blog because, it has so many benefits just like the ones you mentioned above.

    It’s therefore of utmost important to try as much as possible to see how we can better reduce the loading time of our site because, it will help to boost the success of the blog.

    Thanks for sharing Bro.

    1. Hello Theodore and thanks for the complement :).
      Having a fast blog is indeed one exciting feeling doesn’t it? I believe every bloggers should always maintain their blog because the better you take care of your blog, the better it yield better income 🙂
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment. do have a nice weekend 🙂

  12. Hi Babanature,

    Great tips on how to speed up a site. I used to have a slow loading site, I never realized that so much went into trying to improve the speed of your site.

    I now do pretty much everything on the list to speed up the site. I signed up with CDN about a month and a half ago. It was the best money I spent…my site is no longer loading extremely slow like it used to.

    Great tips that can definitely help anyone improve their website speed.

    1. Hello Susan,
      You know, Many bloggers don’t know about how to clean their blogs until they have database issues or a crashed blog. Glad you know about how to fix your blog and you took measures before it can cause more harm to your blog.

      You sure did spent wisely when you optin for a CDN, it is helping by blog to sustain its speed :).
      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your comment, do have a nice weekend 🙂

  13. Hey Babanature,

    I’m always open to ways to make my blog faster. I went through a challenging experience a couple of weeks ago. I had so many plugins on my blog that it got to a point to where I couldn’t even access my backoffice. So I had to call my host provider to help me. As a result I had to uninstall a lot of the plugins I had. After doing that, it seem like my blog was a speed demon 😉

    I’ve heard of CDN but never knew what it really did. I’m going to have to do some research on it. Thanks for sharing these tips!

    1. Hello Sherman,
      You know what i like telling most bloggers who wants to take care of their blogs? Learn how to permanently uninstall a plugin. Uninstalling a Plugin goes beyond just uninstalling it from the admin panel. Thank God you got your blog back to normal 🙂

      Do have a blessed weekend

  14. Hi Babanature,

    This is a hot topic at the moment – you give some great tips in this post and I’ve done just about everything you suggest here apart from using a CDN network. I recently had a cache plugin installed on my blog, I try to keep on top of my plugins and most of my images are hosted on Flickr via an embed code, which I think helps.

    1. Hello Sue,
      From what you just said, it shows that you’re indeed taken good care of your blog :).
      Flickr is indeed a nice way to host images, it can indeed help speed up a blog…
      Thanks for stopping by and do have a great weekend 🙂

  15. Hi babanature,

    Blog speed is one of the most important factor in blog SEO and success in general. Thank you so much for sharing these great tips and resources which would surely help me speed up my blog. Time to analyze my blog and check which plugins I can remove.

  16. Hi Babanature,

    The principle is great. The benefits are clearly stated.

    1. I use 15 plugins on my blog. Do you think it is too much?

    2. About the database. In an older post of yours you talked about the importance of changing the default name of the database and about the fact this can be dangerous, if you don’t know what are you doing.
    How can I change the default name (wp_ … ) in a safe manner?

    Have a wonderful day

    1. Hello Silviu,
      Thank you for that 🙂

      15 plugin is great. 20 should be the maximum for a better speed blog 🙂

      Yes i still remember that you ask me that question. And i have come up with a nice answer; You can change the prefix of your database with the help of a plugin called “Better wp security”. here is the download link http://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/

      Hope that answers it all? If not please do ask more and i will gladly give a reply 🙂

  17. Thanks for the reminder babanature. It’s very important to have a fast blog. A slow blog pisses off visitors especially new ones.

  18. hello Babanature,
    This is indeed a brilliant post which I strongly believe will help all wordpress users. I’d truly like to ask you jus one question; how do I make my BlogSpot faster than usual? is there a remedy for that? Thanks as I patiently wait your answer 🙂

    1. Hello Bello,
      Thanks for seeing the post as a brilliant post, i do appreciate that :).
      Sure, you can speedup a slow blogger blog with some few tips; like reducing your post showing on your front page, reducing your widget codes. you template can also cause your blog to slow down. I might even write a post on how to speed a blogger blog. just watch out 🙂

  19. Hi Babanature
    This post was really informative. I really liked it and thanks a lot for this valuable information.. However I do have a few doubts, which is the best platform to upgrade a domain from the free platform of WordPress. And how does it work. Could you please explain, if you do not mind…..I understand that you are an internet consultant so you might be knowing on where to start and how….I have been searching for some time for the right answer. waiting to hear from you.

    1. Hello Jeny,
      Wordpress platform is one of the easiest platform to operate on, and you should know that there is a big difference between the WordPress.com and wordpress.org platform. WordPress.com has limited options and does not allow you to use or change some certain things but wordpress.org give you the ability to do what ever you like with it. So i will advice you to get a hosting plan and install the wordpress.org platform for it will help you and your blogging carrier.
      Any question please do not hesitate to ask…
      Have a nice week ahead

      1. Hi Babanature
        Thanks for the prompt reply….a few more doubts….Is Bluehost or Hostgator best, as from what I get to understand, Hostgator is cost effective. Moreover, I would like to know on how to start the entire process of getting my wordpress.com blog site that I have now to a self hosted site and how could I apply for adds ….Since I am not a technical person, though I have collected so much info from the net, the more I read, the more it gets confused. If you could mail me in detail, it would be highly appreciated. Thanks a lot for your time and consideration.

        1. Hey Jeny,
          I am not using bluehost or hostgator si i wouldn’t know which is good, because two of my friends that uses them had problems with their sites till they migrated.
          migrating your wordpress.com to a self hosted site is very easy to do. And i believe i have written about that sometime back…
          Which adds are you talking about?
          Collecting information around the net is one great way to go, but still it is good to have a technical person, so when you go wrong, he/she can clean your mess :).
          Thanks for stopping by Still Jeny. Do have a nice week ahead

  20. Hi Babanature,

    I think, opening of blog page is always effected by images and excessive use of plugins too.It effect our work sometime make us feeling like give up.

    Nice and appreciated effort by you.

    Regards,

  21. Thanks a lot 4 dis gr8t tips. But I will be greatful if u stress more on blogger blogspot platform. Thanks and I am looking 4ward 4 ur replay soon.

  22. I just recently went through and did this. And it helped a little. Now the perceived load of the site is very fast. The test times on the sites like Pingdom and Google are still showing 3-5 seconds.

    But I have to disagree about WordPress plugins. Its not HOW MANY – its what are they doing. You could have 80 plugins that are doing simple tasks like adding styling elements to your blog and they shouldn’t affect the overall performance of the site.

    On the other hand you could have one or two plugins that do a lot of work – like Jetpack, WP Popular Posts, WordFence – just to name a few. Which could adversely affect your blogs load time as it has to do a lot of stuff in the background to work properly.

    Its important to figure what the problem plugins are and either find an alternative solution or live with them depending on their usefulness. I’m currently hovering at around 30 plugins and the site still loads pretty quick. (As does yours btw!) Its all a matter of finding that balance that offers you both speed and functionality.

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