Most slow WordPress sites are slow for the same handful of reasons. Work through these in order and measure after each change using GTmetrix or PageSpeed Insights.
1. Install a caching plugin
Caching turns dynamic PHP pages into static HTML and is usually the single biggest improvement. See our LiteSpeed Cache article for setup.
2. Compress and resize images
Uploading a 4000px phone photo for a 600px slot wastes bandwidth on every visit. Resize before upload and install an optimiser such as ShortPixel or Imagify to serve WebP.
3. Remove what you do not use
Deactivate and delete unused plugins and themes. Sliders, page builders, related-post plugins and live chat widgets are common offenders.
4. Use a lightweight theme
Themes bundled with dozens of demos load far more CSS and JavaScript than you need. GeneratePress, Astra, Kadence and Blocksy are fast, well-maintained choices.
5. Run a current PHP version
PHP 8.1 or newer is substantially faster than PHP 7.x. See our article on changing your PHP version.
6. Clean the database
Post revisions, spam comments, expired transients and orphaned metadata accumulate over years and slow every query.
7. Put a CDN in front
Cloudflare's free plan serves your static files from locations close to your visitors, which matters a great deal for an audience outside Nigeria.
If the site is still slow after all of this, open a ticket with a link to your GTmetrix report and we will check the account's resource usage from the server side.
