If you publish on the web, then you will be completely aware of your search engine results positioning (SERPS) for specific keywords. However one of the newer aspects of the Google algorithm is called Caffeine, where Google now considers the performance of your site as a major contributor to user experience, and so it should. If you use wordpress to publish like me, then understanding the fact the trade off with having a great publishing engine is performance. Wordpress is database driven and noticeably slower than a pure html driven website.
Here are some advanced tips for getting your publishing performing:
W3 Total Cache
If you have used wp super cache then you know all about caching pages on disk or memory so that visitor calls to your site don’t have to go to the database to retrieve the content. W3 Total Cache goes a step further, and adds gzip compression, minifies your css and js files and adds caching to the database. Its a classic one click install from the wordpress site, and will add at least 10% performance of your site. Make sure you uninstall wp super cache and any other caching or optimisation software you have.
Get Thesis
Ok a new a theme might seem daunting, but if you want your blog to be clean and seriously SEO friendly then this is one to get. It completely distinguishes your content from your design – so what? – well this ensures that evey wordpress upgrade or customisation you do is totally supported and doesn’t bring your blog down. Then you can customise the whole site for colours, styles and fancy widgerydoos to your hearts content in a point and click interface. No Coders needed. Thesis is here.
Google Webmaster Tools
Set your blog up in the webmaster tools and go into the labs section and check two things; 1) Make sure that the Google bot reads your site clearly and reports back what you want it to. This will pickup on any redirects or badly formed content you may have. 2) Check the site performance. This is what Google will be using as part of its caffeine algorithm, although its not clear where you need to be to be fully optimised in their eyes – just try and get it as close to the dotted line as you can. If its under then go and buy yourself a beer!
PageSpeed
In Firefox you can install a plugin called page speed. This will analyse the downloads for the page you are viewing on your site and advise on what changes you need to make. Its important to pay heed to these because Google themselves seem to be recommending it, and they are using the same algorithm. To use page speed you need another plugin called firebug. Its all easy to install and when you’ve done it, select firebug from the tools menu.
Get a VPS
Getting a website hosted is quick and easy nowadays. I use Hostgator simply because the support is amazing. I can go online any time of the day via chat and have an issue taken care of and believe me I’ve had issues. Most people use normal web hosting instead of VPS and cost-wise running an unlimited domain site should be well under a tenner a month. The problem is you are sharing the server with who knows what – and it could well be a spotty teenager providing info on the best hacks for Xbox – for which he’s getting millions of hits per day. The next logical upgrade used to be a dedicated server but now there is a step in between which is the future of cloud provisioning. A “virtual private server” – VPS is a slot on shared hardware that can be provisioned in seconds and to you its completely dedicated but most importantly the resources are dedicated to you as well. Being a virtual server allows you to grow it according to demand so if you become an overnight celeb by accidently twittering about the demise of Cheryl Cole you can recover quickly by extending the resources of the server to cope with the demand. VPS.net has a new service where its offering VPS nodes which are replicated so should one fail a new one can be provisioned instantly. This is what the larger companies do anyway and I run hundreds of virtual servers for my work. When I get setup with VPS.net watch this space, in the meantime I’ve gone with hostgator and you can too.
CDN
Content Delivery Networks store your cacheable data on their network so that wherever your visitors are in the world they can retrieve your site into your browser as if it was in your next door neighbours garden. It massively speeds up delivery and when you get serious about your blog or website performance you will want to be doing this. Solutions available from Akamai and NetDNA , and maxcdn.com among others. (As I write maxcdn.com have a special of $10 and I’ve set this blog with them, so I would recommend you do to. It takes 5 minutes as long as you have W3 Total Cache – If you need help setting it up, let me know and I’ll do a HowTo.)
