TIP 5 > Plugins, More is Good, Right? (Speed Optimisation)
Todays’ tip is one of my most preached…stand up on my soap box and shout it out with a megaphone!
The use of too many plugins will seriously slow your WordPress site down, it will undoubtedly negatively affect it’s performance.
I say too many plugins purely because not using any plugins at all would obviously defeat the purpose of using WordPress in the first place…
WordPress is after all popular because it offers plugins to perform almost any task you require.
When it comes to plugins, I’d suggest that you spend some serious thinking time working out exactly what tasks you need your site to perform.
Some common examples that plugins are used for are Ajax Search, Lazy Loading, Social Media shares, Lightbox, ad management, related posts, sliders, sidebar management to name just a few.
It’s always better if at all possible, instead of using multiple plugins that do each of these tasks, you should try and find a single plugin that handles all, most or at least some of these tasks.
Of course, this may not always be possible, but with a little bit of investigating you will be amazed at the range of plugins available which will cover multiple jobs.
When using plugins sure they are compatible with PHP 7 and above.
If you’re clever, choosing your theme carefully can put you at a wonderful advantage straight away as a lot of the jobs you need your WordPress site to perform may already be catered for within the theme software itself, so you don’t have to install a plugin at all!
Recent Comments
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Hi Douglas, glad you're finding value in my latest series of posts. I appreciate your feedback. Have a great day :)
Hi Renee, it pays to be aware of the plugins that you're installing and be on the look out for any negative impact that they may have on your website performance. Thanks for your comments. Have a great day
Another issue with plugins is that some do not play well with others. But I believe it is important to speed test a website after a plugin is installed and activated to see if it negatively impacts speed. Yesterday, I was watching a very successful internet marketer doing training on SEO optimization that was getting him #1 ranking on Google SERP. He showed his plugin page which showed 20 active plugins. Obviously, the number of plugins did not impact his ability to rank #1 on his keywords. Nor did I see any page loading speed issues when I visited his website later. But then again he was using the Content Delivery Network (CDN) provided by his website host.
Hi Glen, thanks for sharing some great points. I'm with you on the plugin practice...plugins when interacting with other plugins can throw up some peculiar problems. Also in regard to CDN, which is an all together whole new subject in its own right... in terms of content delivery and the speed in which it loads, it allows a local client to download static content from a closer source rather than span the internet to source the content from its origin. Hope you are enjoying my posts so far and I appreciate your feedback. Have a great day.
Hi Anthony
Thank you for this share, much appreciated. You've been in this business since the year my daughter was born, she turns 21 this year! Wow! You must have a lot of value to share. I shall be going through your tips.
Blessings
Louise
Hi Louise, wow, how to make me feel old lol. It seems only like yesterday :) My own daughter turns 18 in a few months. Thanks for your interest and I look forward to hearing your feedback. Have a great day.
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I hope to learn what this means soon but it is brilliantly logical and mentally bookmarked. Thank You
Hi John, thanks for your comments. Yes, this is a learning process, gaining knowledge which will hopefully advance us forward. Have a wonderful day.
Peaseful thoughts👍