How to Make WordPress Faster<\/h2>\n
When it comes to making WordPress faster, 2 things matter most:
\n–\u00a0 Hosting
\n–\u00a0 Optimizing WordPress<\/p>\n
a) Choose a great WordPress host<\/strong><\/h3>\n99.9% of webhosts support WordPress. So, when it comes to the question \u2018Which is the best WordPress hosting solution\u2019 you\u2019re actually asking: \u2018Which is the best hosting solution?\u2019 Honestly, it\u2019s very hard to give an answer to this question. The best answer would be, it depends<\/strong> (on your needs.)<\/p>\nThere are some research sites like Netcraft that provide monthly reports on the most reliable hosting solutions. However, most of the hosts there, are for businesses and cost over $100 monthly. On the other hand, you can go with the most popular solutions (following the logic: if they\u2019re popular and a brand, they must be at least above average.)<\/p>\n
Another thing you definitely want to do before deciding to deal with a web host is to check out the business via BBB. In my experience, there seems to be a high correlation between the BBB rating for the company and the actual reliability that the company will offer.<\/p>\n
To get to the point, which hosts do I recommend?<\/p>\n
\n- Hostgator.com<\/strong> (I personally use it for more than a year). HostGator are ThePlanet resellers (and ThePlanet is ranked as one of the most reliable hosts by NetCraft is some of their reports). Hostgator also has A+ BBB grade.<\/li>\n
- GoDaddy.com<\/strong>, has an A+ BBB grade and I heard very positive reviews from friends. They aren\u2019t mentioned by Netcraft in many of their reports, though.<\/li>\n
- Hosting4less.com <\/strong>– I was surprised to see this company consistently ranking in the top 10 on Netcraft monthly reports, after investigating them I found they have an \u201cA\u201d grade from BBB and existing for quite a long time. So all data indicates they\u2019re great.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Please be aware I haven\u2019t mentioned many well-known hosts in this list. I was shocked to see that many of them (I don\u2019t want to mention any names) aren\u2019t even BBB accredited businesses!<\/p>\n
b)\u00a0 Optimizing WordPress<\/strong><\/h3>\nBy optimizing WordPress, I mean caching and compressing EVERYTHING (CSS files, the WordPress database and so on.) Obviously, you want some automated solution to do all this for you.<\/p>\n
Okay, so we need a caching plugin. Many people prefer WP-Super-Cache<\/a>. However, my tests have shown very small or almost no significant improvement in performance <\/strong>when using this plugin. I just used this tool<\/a> and measured my blog\u2019s performance before and after I got the plugin enabled.<\/p>\nOne plugin that improved my blog performance significantly was <\/strong>W3-Total-Cache<\/strong><\/a> (the creator is the Chief Technology Officer at Mashable.)<\/strong><\/p>\nProof: Here\u2019s a screenshot of my blog speed without any caching plugin:<\/p>\n
![\"before](\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/before-caching.png\" "\\"before-caching\\"")
<\/p>\n
Now, here\u2019s a screenshot with WP-Super-Cache enabled:<\/p>\n
![\"after](\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/after-super-cache.png\" "\\"after-super-cache\\"")
<\/p>\n
As you can see, this plugin not only didn\u2019t improve my blog performance but also made it worse!<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s try WP-Total-Cache:<\/p>\n
![\"after](\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/after-total-cache.png\" "\\"after-total-cache\\"")
<\/p>\n
The speed improved by 300%! Why?<\/p>\n
Conclusion: WP-Super-Cache is way more popular than WP-Total-Cache. However, if something is popular it doesn\u2019t have to mean it\u2019s better than the less popular alternatives!<\/p>\n
How to Make WordPress Safer<\/h2>\n
Here\u2019s a checklist of some of the basic things to make WordPress secure:<\/p>\n
\n- Do you use the latest WordPress version?<\/li>\n
- Is your computer clean of viruses and spyware? Key loggers can steal your username and password<\/li>\n
- Is your password strong enough? Do you have numbers and special characters?<\/li>\n
- Have you changed your default \u2018admin\u2019 username? See how.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Honestly, while researching, I found many posts on how to secure WordPress but they all seemed to be repeating what is said in the WordPress Codex<\/a> on this topic. So go and read it, better do that than read hundreds of fancy posts on new techniques to secure WordPress. Get the basics right before attempting something advanced.<\/p>\nI don\u2019t recommend you use this plugin unless your blog is extremely popular (gets 50k+ visitors per day.) Let\u2019s be real here\u2026most hackers attack the most popular blogs manually<\/strong>. Not many go after the less popular ones (they might use automated tools for the less popular ones but if you upgrade your installation regularly and use some basic plugins for protection like WP Security Scan<\/a>, you\u2019re safe.)<\/p>\nAlso, be sure to backup WordPress. Oh, and forgot to tell you, that\u2019s my site by the way. Feel free to subscribe if you want to. I hope you\u2019ve learned a lot!<\/p>\n
There are some research sites like Netcraft that provide monthly reports on the most reliable hosting solutions. However, most of the hosts there, are for businesses and cost over $100 monthly. On the other hand, you can go with the most popular solutions (following the logic: if they\u2019re popular and a brand, they must be at least above average.)<\/p>\n
Another thing you definitely want to do before deciding to deal with a web host is to check out the business via BBB. In my experience, there seems to be a high correlation between the BBB rating for the company and the actual reliability that the company will offer.<\/p>\n
To get to the point, which hosts do I recommend?<\/p>\n
- \n
- Hostgator.com<\/strong> (I personally use it for more than a year). HostGator are ThePlanet resellers (and ThePlanet is ranked as one of the most reliable hosts by NetCraft is some of their reports). Hostgator also has A+ BBB grade.<\/li>\n
- GoDaddy.com<\/strong>, has an A+ BBB grade and I heard very positive reviews from friends. They aren\u2019t mentioned by Netcraft in many of their reports, though.<\/li>\n
- Hosting4less.com <\/strong>– I was surprised to see this company consistently ranking in the top 10 on Netcraft monthly reports, after investigating them I found they have an \u201cA\u201d grade from BBB and existing for quite a long time. So all data indicates they\u2019re great.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Please be aware I haven\u2019t mentioned many well-known hosts in this list. I was shocked to see that many of them (I don\u2019t want to mention any names) aren\u2019t even BBB accredited businesses!<\/p>\n
b)\u00a0 Optimizing WordPress<\/strong><\/h3>\n
By optimizing WordPress, I mean caching and compressing EVERYTHING (CSS files, the WordPress database and so on.) Obviously, you want some automated solution to do all this for you.<\/p>\n
Okay, so we need a caching plugin. Many people prefer WP-Super-Cache<\/a>. However, my tests have shown very small or almost no significant improvement in performance <\/strong>when using this plugin. I just used this tool<\/a> and measured my blog\u2019s performance before and after I got the plugin enabled.<\/p>\n
One plugin that improved my blog performance significantly was <\/strong>W3-Total-Cache<\/strong><\/a> (the creator is the Chief Technology Officer at Mashable.)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Proof: Here\u2019s a screenshot of my blog speed without any caching plugin:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nNow, here\u2019s a screenshot with WP-Super-Cache enabled:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nAs you can see, this plugin not only didn\u2019t improve my blog performance but also made it worse!<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s try WP-Total-Cache:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nThe speed improved by 300%! Why?<\/p>\n
Conclusion: WP-Super-Cache is way more popular than WP-Total-Cache. However, if something is popular it doesn\u2019t have to mean it\u2019s better than the less popular alternatives!<\/p>\n
How to Make WordPress Safer<\/h2>\n
Here\u2019s a checklist of some of the basic things to make WordPress secure:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Do you use the latest WordPress version?<\/li>\n
- Is your computer clean of viruses and spyware? Key loggers can steal your username and password<\/li>\n
- Is your password strong enough? Do you have numbers and special characters?<\/li>\n
- Have you changed your default \u2018admin\u2019 username? See how.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Honestly, while researching, I found many posts on how to secure WordPress but they all seemed to be repeating what is said in the WordPress Codex<\/a> on this topic. So go and read it, better do that than read hundreds of fancy posts on new techniques to secure WordPress. Get the basics right before attempting something advanced.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t recommend you use this plugin unless your blog is extremely popular (gets 50k+ visitors per day.) Let\u2019s be real here\u2026most hackers attack the most popular blogs manually<\/strong>. Not many go after the less popular ones (they might use automated tools for the less popular ones but if you upgrade your installation regularly and use some basic plugins for protection like WP Security Scan<\/a>, you\u2019re safe.)<\/p>\n
Also, be sure to backup WordPress. Oh, and forgot to tell you, that\u2019s my site by the way. Feel free to subscribe if you want to. I hope you\u2019ve learned a lot!<\/p>\n
- GoDaddy.com<\/strong>, has an A+ BBB grade and I heard very positive reviews from friends. They aren\u2019t mentioned by Netcraft in many of their reports, though.<\/li>\n