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How to Improve the Effectiveness of Your WordPress Website

(Follow this guide to improve the effectiveness of your WordPress website and wow your audience)

WordPress is a top choice for any website design company when it comes to creating a stunning business website. In fact, more than 43.3 percent of websites on the internet are on WordPress. Creative agencies love WordPress because of the variety of themes and plugins it supports and how effortless the navigation is.

However, branding agencies also notice that your WordPress website can turn out to be a nightmare if it is not properly optimized. It can create huge bottlenecks and completely impair user experience, leaving your customers frustrated. Luckily, there are some easy tips you can implement to boost the effectiveness of your WordPress website. Based on the experience of top web design firms in Los Angeles, here’s what we recommend:

Don’t skip optimizing your images

Images are a crucial asset to take your WordPress website to the next level. But simply crowding the website without any optimization can cause more harm than good. To ensure that each image on the website actually helps in conveying the message you want them to, here’s what you should keep in mind:

  • Before you add any images to your WordPress website, reduce the file size. Ideally, you should aim for 150kb or less. However, make sure that reducing the file size doesn’t compromise the picture quality. If the image is extremely pixelated, your audience won’t appreciate it.
  • Most website developers do not consider image resolution while uploading images. The resolution, which is expressed in dots per inch or DPI, has a direct impact on the picture quality. The higher your DPI, the better the resolution. A higher resolution is not always good news, as it can make the website sluggish. So aim for 72 DPI, which is a comfortable image resolution for most websites.
  • While WordPress is compatible with most image formats such as JPG, PNG, or GIF, pay attention to which one you should choose based on the type of image you are uploading. For example, in the case of featured images or product photos, JPG is a great choice as it supports over a million colors. However, in the case of logos or social media icons, PNG is a better option as you can retain the transparent background while saving the images.

Choose a run-of-the-mill theme

The theme of your WordPress website is one of the first things that visitors will notice. How your website looks and feels is determined by your website theme. While you may be fond of a particular style or color, it may not necessarily translate well on the screen. Therefore, you need to be careful about choosing the website theme. Here’s how you can ace your theme game:

  • Pick a theme that is aligned with your overall vision.
  • More customization increases your chances of success as you can stand out from your competitors
  • Avoid choosing an extremely busy theme that can be distracting for the audience. Keeping it simple works more than you think
  • Ensure that the theme you choose is compatible with mobile devices, as a vast majority of traffic is from mobile users
  • Don’t go for a theme that doesn’t have sufficient developer support available. Themes that have been around for a while receive excellent developer support and are better suited to your needs if you want the website to perform as per expectations
  • Pay attention to the cross-browser compatibility of your theme to attract all types of visitors to your website. The more inclusive your website is, the better the chances of receiving quality traffic
  • Test the shortlisted themes by loading a demo on desktop and phone browsers. This is a great way to find out whether there is any lag

Pay close attention to the hosting service

Web hosting service is a key cog in the wheel if you want to have a highly effective WordPress website. The hosting platform serves the right files to visitors when they look up your website. The best efforts to optimize the effectiveness of your website can go in vain if your web hosting provider doesn’t do a stellar job.

When shortlisting your service provider, bear in mind that the speed and uptime guarantee are some of the key considerations to take into account. Ideally, you shouldn’t settle for anyone who doesn’t provide close to 100% uptime. Additionally, you also want a provider that guarantees excellent customer support in case you run into trouble. Other good to have features of your hosting platform includes provision for automatic backups, issuing updates wherever necessary, and flexibility in their subscription plans.

Caching matters more than you think

Caching is an automatic process that takes place whenever someone visits your website. The browser loads every file and line of code on the page so that they can view the website. Through caching, the information remains stored in the browser so that the loading process can be accelerated whenever they come back to your website.

Keep in mind that you need to install the right caching plugins on your website to enable this. Going for improper caching settings can completely backfire and slow down your website completely. Here are some guidelines to achieve proper caching settings on your WordPress website:

  • Always use a single library for images that can be linked throughout the website
  • Design your URLs to be caching-friendly and ensure that they stay consistent
  • Since cookies are difficult to cache, use them sparingly
  • Refrain from adding any user-specific information within the URL you are using on the website

Opt for a stellar content delivery network

In simple terms, a content delivery network refers to servers located in different geographical locations. Their main job is to work together and deliver the information to the user from the server that’s closest to the user’s location. CDN helps to reduce the distance between the visitor’s server and yours to ensure that the website loads efficiently and quickly.

One of the key considerations to keep in mind when choosing the CDN is where is the majority of your user base located. Ideally, CDN you select should have POPs that are closer to the geographical location of your user. In case your website receives traffic from across the globe, you may need to opt for a CDN that has POPs spread out all over.

However, this can mean incurring additional costs.

Also, check whether the chosen CDN supports the delivery of personalized content. Since personalization is the fastest way to build customer loyalty, this should be a non-negotiable in your list when looking for the ideal CDN partner.

Pay attention to the file sizes of CSS and Javascript

When it comes to your WordPress website, CSS and JavaScript are two crucial elements to boost it beyond the HTML code. But since the server will need to send these files each time a visitor requests the loading of a page, you need to be more mindful of their sizes. Smaller the file size, the faster your website will load without diluting the functionality and aesthetics of your website. Get rid of any unnecessary codes that can make the files much bigger and slow down the performance of your website.

Final words

Getting your WordPress website to perform beyond your expectations is not an unrealistic goal. Get in touch with professionals who can make it happen. SPIN Digital, a Los Angeles-based web development company, has an excellent team who can make this happen. Schedule a demo right away and witness the results for yourself.

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