Best Practices for Optimising Your Hosting Service for WordPress
To ensure you get the most out of your hosting service and that your WordPress site runs smoothly, it’s helpful to check these best practices. By following these tips, you can enhance your site’s performance and resolve common issues.
1. How can I ensure my hosting resources are optimised for WordPress?
To optimise hosting resources for WordPress, regularly monitor your resource usage via cPanel’s Resource Usage tool. Pay attention to CPU, RAM, and disk space to identify any potential bottlenecks. If you notice high resource consumption, consider upgrading your plan using our Change Plan tool to accommodate increased traffic. Here’s a guide: How to change the hosting plan of a cPanel service.
2. Why is it important to keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated?
Keeping your WordPress installation, themes, and plugins up to date is essential for security and performance. Enable automatic updates where possible and regularly check for manual updates in your WordPress dashboard.
Using the WP Toolkit’s Smart Update feature can streamline this process. Smart Update analyses your WordPress updates, identifies any changes, and determines whether to apply them, all while ensuring that your production site remains intact. This is helpful because it minimises the risk of compatibility issues, allowing you to keep your site secure and updated without manual oversight.
3. Why should I use the latest PHP version and enable “opcache”?
Using the latest PHP version can significantly improve your site’s performance and security, as each new version typically includes optimisations and fixes. Some older websites might not be fully compatible with the latest PHP versions, so it’s important to check your site’s compatibility before upgrading. Additionally, enabling the “opcache” PHP extension helps cache frequently used scripts, reducing the need for reprocessing on every visit. This can lead to faster page load times and reduced server load, enhancing overall performance.
4. How can I optimise my WordPress database for performance?
An unoptimised database can slow down your site and cause errors. Regularly clean and optimise your WordPress database using plugins like WP-Optimize or WP-Sweep. Removing unnecessary data, such as post revisions and spam comments, can significantly improve database performance and speed up queries.
5. What caching solutions should I implement for WordPress?
Since our servers run on the LiteSpeed web server, using the LiteSpeed Cache plugin is the most efficient caching solution for optimal performance. LiteSpeed Cache reduces load times by serving static content quickly and optimising dynamic content delivery. This significantly improves server response, enhances user experience, and reduces strain on your hosting resources, making it the ideal choice for our hosting environment.
6. How do I set up a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for my WordPress site?
Using a CDN can significantly enhance your site’s load times. Services like Cloudflare, QUIC.cloud, and KeyCDN help distribute your content across multiple global servers, reducing latency and ensuring faster access for visitors regardless of their location.
In addition to speed optimisation, Cloudflare offers a DNS proxy service with advanced security features. Cloudflare’s protection includes DDoS mitigation, SSL encryption, and bot prevention. Their CAPTCHA system blocks bots from scraping sensitive information like contact details, phone numbers, and email addresses, ensuring better privacy and security for your site.
7. How do I optimise my images for faster loading times?
Large images can significantly slow down your site. Use image optimisation plugins like Smush or Imagify to compress images without sacrificing quality. Ensure you’re using the correct file format (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics with transparency) and take advantage of lazy loading, so images are only loaded when users scroll to them.
8. Why should I limit the number of plugins installed?
Each plugin adds extra code to your site, which can lead to slower performance, including a sluggish WordPress dashboard. Having too many plugins can also increase the risk of compatibility issues and security vulnerabilities. It’s recommended to only install plugins that are essential and actively being used. Regularly review and deactivate or delete any unnecessary plugins to keep your site running efficiently and securely, while maintaining a responsive dashboard.
9. How do I test my website’s speed and performance?
Use tools like GTmetrix, Google PageSpeed Insights, or Pingdom to test your site’s load times and pinpoint areas for improvement. These tools provide insights into server response times, script loading, and image optimisation, allowing you to address specific performance bottlenecks.
10. How can I ensure my website remains secure on your hosting platform?
Regularly update your WordPress core, themes, and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities. Additionally, consider implementing security plugins like Wordfence, a powerful CMS-based firewall that offers enhanced protection by monitoring for malicious activity, including DDoS attacks, while providing real-time alerts and detailed security logs. Utilising these tools alongside our server-side security will significantly bolster your site’s defenses against potential threats.
If you’ve completed these steps and are still encountering issues, feel free to reach out to our technical support team via a Support Request, Live Chat, or by phone at (03) 8399 9483.