Speed Up Your WooCommerce Store Using these 21 Powerful Steps (2023 Ultimate Guide)

Are you a small business owner who has recently added a WooCommerce store to your online presence? Or, maybe you’ve been selling online with WooCommerce for a few years and are seeing diminishing returns, requiring you to look into how to speed up your store to reverse the downward trend? No matter what your current situation is, this article is here to provide you with the 2022 ultimate guide to speeding up your WooCommerce store. Below are 21 powerful ways to speed up your WooCommerce store, and set yourself up for the most success going into the future.

21 powerful ways to speed up your WooCommerce store:

1. Utilize a Content Delivery Network (CDN) – A CDN will drastically speed up the delivery of your website’s pages and media, as well as visitors from different regions around the world.

2. Use a Quality and Reliable Hosting Provider – A good hosting provider can make a huge difference in improving your website’s speed.

3. Keep WordPress and WooCommerce Up-to-Date – Make sure all your files are running the latest version to maximize efficiency and speed.

4. Use a Cache Plugin – A caching plugin ensures that pages are stored as static files, which enhances loading speed and decreases the load on the server.

5. Remove Unnecessary Plugins – Unnecessary plugins can slow down your site due to conflicts between the code and extra processing time.

6. Minimize Image Sizes and File Types – The bigger the file size the more time the download takes. Compress and reduce image size to improve loading speed.

7. Limit External Resources – External resources can slow down your page loading, limit their usage or remove them completely.

8. Remove Unused Widgets – Widgets are great for giving your website an enhanced look, however too many can cause speed related problems, so try to remove all unnecessary ones.

9. Enable Gzip Compression – Gzip compression will significantly reduce the size of files sent from the server to the visitor’s browser, thus speeding up the loading times.

10. Use Browser Caching – Browser caching will store files, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files in the visitor’s browser, which in turn decreases the loading time.

11. Minimize HTTP Requests – The higher the number of requests, the longer the loading time. To optimize, limit HTTP requests and combine elements wherever possible.

12. Clean Up the Database – Clean up your WordPress database by removing redundant entries, removing unwanted drafts, and removing excess comments.

13. Implement Lazyloading – Lazy loading is the technique of loading page elements only when they are needed, which reduces the initial page loading time by completely eradicating the need to load certain page elements.

14. Disable Pingbacks and Trackbacks – Pingbacks and trackbacks can slow down your website’s loading due to the response sent out. To reduce server load, disable this feature by going to Settings -> Discussion and de-selecting the “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)” option.

15. Defer JavaScript Files – Deferring JavaScripts will allow the browser to load them last, so the above-the-fold content can load first, improving the user experience.

16. Optimize Your WooCommerce Theme – If you haven’t optimized your WooCommerce theme you are missing out on a few simple (but effective) techniques that can be used to speed up the frontend of your store.

17. Optimize WooCommerce Add-ons – Always check to see if there are any other ways to use add-ons more efficiently, such as multi-site support or CDN delivery for media files.

18. Enable Keep-Alive – Keep-Alive is an HTTP header that is sent between the browser and web server which tells the web browser to maintain the connection with the server. This will help load pages quicker as repeated requests don’t have to be made.

19. Invest in Automation – Automation can save a lot of time and free you up to work on higher value tasks. If a task requires a human touch you can still outsource it to an automated assistant, such as Zendesk Chat.

20. Use Wireframes To Test – As with any website, use wireframes to test how fast your store works on different browsers and devices.

21. Consider A Faster WooCommerce Store Platform – WooCommerce is great but you may want to consider using a faster store platform such as Shopify or BigCommerce.

Following these 21 tips will allow you to speed up your WooCommerce store and make it easier for customers to navigate and purchase items, thus increasing sales. You’ll also benefit from better SEO rankings and higher visibility online in the long run. With these tips and some dedication, you can take your WooCommerce store to a whole new level.

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