WordPress is brilliant, but it can be slow if you don't optimise it properly. I've seen too many Swindon businesses with WordPress sites that take forever to load, and it's killing their conversions. The good news? Most performance issues are fixable, and you don't need to be a server expert to sort them out.
In this guide, I'll walk you through the techniques I actually use to make WordPress sites fast. We'll cover caching, database optimisation, image compression, and the stuff that actually makes a difference. No fluff, just things that work.
Why Performance Actually Matters
Right, so your website is slow. Big deal, right? Wrong. Slow websites lose visitors, rank lower in Google, and convert worse. It's that simple.
Google uses page speed as a ranking factor. If your site loads slowly, you're not going to rank as well. Plus, people don't wait around. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, visitors will go elsewhere. For Swindon businesses, that means lost customers and lost revenue.
Performance optimisation isn't optional—it's essential. If you want help speeding up your WordPress site, get in touch and we can discuss what's slowing it down and how to fix it.
Caching: The Biggest Performance Win
Caching is probably the single biggest thing you can do to improve WordPress performance. It stores frequently accessed data so you don't have to regenerate pages on every request. Think of it like keeping a copy of your most popular pages ready to go, instead of building them from scratch every time someone visits.
Page Caching
Page caching stores fully rendered HTML pages, so visitors get served a static page instead of WordPress having to process PHP and query the database every time. It's like having a pre-made sandwich instead of making one from scratch for every customer.
Popular solutions include:
- WP Super Cache – Simple, free, and effective
- W3 Total Cache – Comprehensive but can be complicated to set up
- WP Rocket – Premium, but it's brilliant and worth the money if you can afford it
- LiteSpeed Cache – Excellent if your host uses LiteSpeed servers
If your host supports server-level caching (like LiteSpeed or NGINX FastCGI cache), use that instead of a plugin. It's faster and doesn't add overhead. For most Swindon businesses, a good caching plugin is enough, but if you're getting serious traffic, server-level caching is the way to go.
Object Caching
Object caching stores database query results in memory, which dramatically reduces database load. For high-traffic sites or sites with lots of dynamic content, Redis or Memcached can make a huge difference.
For most small businesses, object caching isn't necessary. But if you're running WooCommerce or getting decent traffic, it's worth considering. If you're not sure whether you need it, let's chat about your specific situation.
Database Optimisation: Cleaning Up the Mess
WordPress databases get messy over time. Post revisions pile up, spam comments accumulate, expired transients hang around—it's like digital hoarding. All this unnecessary data slows things down.
Regular database cleanup can significantly improve performance. Use plugins like WP-Optimize or WP-Sweep to clean up:
- Post revisions (WordPress saves every version by default—useful, but it adds up)
- Spam and trashed comments (they're not doing anything, get rid of them)
- Expired transients (temporary data that's expired but still in the database)
- Unused plugin data (plugins leave data behind when you delete them)
I set up automated database cleanup for all the WordPress sites I manage. It's one of those maintenance tasks that's easy to forget but makes a real difference. If you want help setting this up for your site, get in touch.
Image Optimisation: Making Images Actually Load
Images are usually the biggest thing slowing down WordPress sites. I've seen sites where images account for 80% of the page weight. That's ridiculous, and it's easily fixable.
Compression and Modern Formats
Use tools like TinyPNG or plugins like Smush to compress images. But here's the thing—WordPress 6.5 and later supports AVIF, which is a modern format that offers even better compression than WebP. If you're on WordPress 6.5+, you can upload AVIF images directly.
For most Swindon businesses, WebP is a good middle ground—better compression than JPEG/PNG, and it's supported everywhere. AVIF is even better, but browser support is still growing. I usually serve AVIF when the browser supports it, with WebP and JPEG fallbacks.
Lazy Loading
Lazy loading means images only load when they're about to enter the viewport. WordPress includes native lazy loading support, so you don't need a plugin for this. Just make sure it's enabled (it should be by default in recent WordPress versions).
This is particularly important for pages with lots of images. There's no point loading images that are way down the page if the visitor might not even scroll that far.
Plugins and Themes: The Performance Killers
Not all plugins are created equal. Some are brilliant, some are terrible, and some will slow your site to a crawl. The same goes for themes.
Choosing Plugins Wisely
Before installing a plugin, ask yourself:
- Does it add unnecessary database queries? (Check with a query monitor plugin)
- Does it load scripts on every page when it's only needed on one? (Common problem)
- Is it actively maintained? (Check the last update date—if it's been years, avoid it)
- Does it follow WordPress coding standards? (Badly coded plugins can break things)
I've seen sites with 30+ plugins, half of which aren't even being used. That's just asking for trouble. Keep your plugin count low, and only install things you actually need.
Hosting: The Foundation of Performance
Your hosting environment makes a huge difference. You can optimise everything else, but if your hosting is rubbish, your site will still be slow.
PHP Version: This Actually Matters
Use PHP 8.2 or 8.3 if possible. Benchmarks show PHP 8.3 outperforms PHP 7.4 by about 10-15% in request throughput. That's a significant improvement just from upgrading PHP.
Make sure OPcache is enabled and properly configured. It caches compiled PHP code, which speeds things up dramatically. Most hosts have this enabled by default, but it's worth checking.
If you're on shared hosting with an old PHP version, consider upgrading to managed VPS hosting. The performance improvement alone is often worth the extra cost. If you're interested in managed WordPress hosting that's optimised for performance, check out my hosting service or get in touch to discuss your needs.
Server Resources
Make sure you've got adequate RAM and CPU. WordPress can be resource-intensive, especially with plugins and themes. If your site is slow and you're on the cheapest shared hosting plan, that's probably why.
CDN: Serving Content Faster
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to serve static assets from locations closer to your visitors. If your server is in London but your visitor is in Manchester, a CDN can serve images, CSS, and JavaScript from a server closer to them. It makes a real difference to load times.
Cloudflare has a free tier that's perfectly adequate for most small businesses. It's easy to set up and can improve performance significantly.
WordPress Core Updates
Keep WordPress updated. WordPress 6.5 and later includes AVIF support, performance improvements, and security fixes. If you're running an old version, you're missing out on performance improvements and leaving yourself vulnerable to security issues.
I handle WordPress updates as part of my maintenance service—if you want someone to keep your site updated and optimised, check out my WordPress maintenance service or get in touch to discuss your needs.
Monitoring and Testing
You can't improve what you don't measure. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest to monitor your site's performance. Track things like:
- Time to First Byte (TTFB) – How fast your server responds
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – How long until the main content loads
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – How much the page shifts around while loading
- First Input Delay (FID) – How responsive the page is to user interaction
These are Google's Core Web Vitals, and they affect your search rankings. If your site scores poorly on these, you need to fix it. I help Swindon businesses improve their Core Web Vitals scores—if you want help, let's discuss what's slowing your site down.
Putting It All Together
WordPress performance optimisation is an ongoing process. By implementing caching, optimising your database, compressing images, choosing quality plugins, and using good hosting, you can significantly improve your site's speed.
The key is doing the basics right: good hosting, proper caching, optimised images, and keeping things updated. You don't need to do everything at once—start with the biggest wins (usually caching and image optimisation) and work from there.
If you're a Swindon business with a slow WordPress site, I can help. Whether it's a one-off optimisation or ongoing maintenance, get in touch and we can discuss how to make your site actually fast.