One of the easiest ways to speed up your WordPress website is, quite simply, streamline the design.
Your website may look wonderful but there is nothing more frustrating for a visitor than to get to it and then have to wait or wade through reams of design elements just to get to where they want to go.
This is truer of websites that are packed with hundreds of pages of content, even with a structure in place. Sometimes, visitors find it much easier to just go back to the search engine and find another website.
So, how do you streamline your website, speed it up and reduce bounce rate?
Use Categories the Right Way
It is so tempting to want everything to be original that many people tend to pick weird and wonderful categories, ignoring the simple ones.
You might think you are being clever but all you are doing is muddying the waters for your visitors. Simple, accurate categories make their experience so much easier and so much nicer that they are more likely to come back to you.
If you choose a category that is too generalized, or it just says what they content type is, if a visitor likes your content, they have no way of finding anymore like it.
You could, of course, use a related post plugin to direct them to more but these tend to be a little unreliable.
It might seem a bit unwieldy to do, but the best way is to choose your categories first and then add the relevant content afterward. Make sure that the category and the content match in purpose as well, so visitors can easily find their way around.
Navigation Should Be Clear
When your website begins to expand, and you have a community and lots to offer, navigation around your website must be clear.
Some people have a “start here” page that so that first-timers can see what the site is all about but that will depend on the subject of your website.
Make sure that your content is categorized properly and then include a menu that shows subcategories or put the categories into a sidebar.
Making your website easy and quick to navigate is one of the best ways to improve user experience and speed up navigation around your site.
Distinguish Between Content
Your main content should be clearly distinguishable from the sidebars and other stuff on your main page. If your readers can’t see any difference, it gets very difficult to read and they will soon give up. User a border, whitespace, clearly defined headings, etc. to make it easier. If your sidebar blends into your main content, pick another theme, a simpler one that is faster and clearer.
Get Rid of Broken Links
This is a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many sites are littered with these. Not only do they irritate visitors to your site, they use up precious resources in loading. See our guide to removing broken links easily.
Make Use of Tabs
A tab is useful for when you have a post that isn’t particularly important, and it isn’t long enough to warrant its own page but is still useful enough in its own right. Tabs help to split your content down into different content, leaving your main page focusing your main reason for having a website in the first place.
It might seem like doing all of this will just add to your website but, provided you use the right theme and don’t overdo the additions, your WordPress site will be easier for your visitors to navigate, somewhat faster and will reduce bounce rate – always a good thing!