Top 5 Reasons Your WordPress Website Is A Huge Mess
1. Tons of File Requests
WordPress themes are quick and simple for web designers to set up and manage, but they come at a cost. Every time you visit a page on your website the browser needs to load all the assets (CSS, JavaScript and Images) required for that theme. The more assets there are, the longer it takes to load a page, and WordPress themes come with a TON of different Javascript and CSS files. The slower the page load, the lower your website’s Google rankings will be, with less social engagement and fewer conversions. WordPress themes have thousands of assets because of all the different features and functionality they provide with each and every theme.
When we build websites at Siguro, we build them so there is one Javascript file and one CSS file. They compile all the necessary code into one single request so your website loads super fast for your website visitors.
2. No Image Compression and Old Formats
One of the main culprits for slow websites is images and videos. Your WordPress website will most likely be using the raw image you uploaded yourself which will probably be a PNG or JPEG image. In the past few years, a new image format has been introduced that is up to 60% more efficient than JPEGs, and 50% more efficient than PNGs. This new format is called WEBP.
Using a next-generation image format like this can make a huge difference to your sales especially when it comes to E-Commerce sites. 70% of visitors will be viewing your website on a mobile device, often using slower 3G or 4G connections and with 40% of visitors waiting no more than just 3 seconds before leaving a website you better make sure your product photos are compressed and optimised.
We build all our websites to automatically convert, optimise, compress and resize every image you upload so that your website visitors are loading the website in under 1 second.
3. No Caching Setup
WordPress doesn't cache pages meaning slower page speed. That's because every time somebody visits a WordPress page they make a new request to the server, which has to process the code of that page and send it back to your visitor.
You can install a caching plug-in like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache to help with this but this can cause elements or pages on your website to break and WordPress is inherently dynamic.
When we build websites with our custom CMS, we have full and total control over what parts and pages on your website are cached as we custom build all our websites from scratch instead of using pre-built themes. This means your website will load super fast and never break because of caching issues.
4. Updates and Adding Functionality
Adding additional functionality to your existing WordPress website is usually either difficult or impossible. WordPress was built specifically for blogging, and their Plugin marketplace has enabled developers to build tools that allow you to add on extra features to your site. The cost of web development can continue long after the project has been completed with agencies charging either monthly/yearly maintenance packages or invoicing when periodic events happen like new updates or installations are required; this is more common than not when agencies opt for using WordPress as the Content Management System for your website.
5. Security Issues
WordPress is used by over 60 million websites, which makes it a target for hackers. In fact, WordPress sites were attacked 2.9 million times in the last year. WordPress is super vulnerable to attacks for a few reasons:
There are so many WordPress websites and that attracts hackers to focus their attention on WordPress because they can develop one tactic and reuse it across many websites at once
WordPress uses a database to store the content of your website which means it’s vulnerable to SQL injections, one of the most popular forms of attacks on websites
Users install plugins from developers that haven't been verified as reputable or are junior in their abilities allowing hackers to exploit this
