Prepare Your WordPress Site for Increased Traffic

[wisly.k]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for tips and strategies on how to get a WordPress website ready for an increase in traffic. Your expertise would be incredibly valuable.

[Annie_P]

When your website experiences a surge in traffic, it indicates that your content is well-received by your audience. However, depending on your server setup, you might encounter stability or performance problems due to the sudden increase in traffic.

With some simple preparations, you can shield your site from the typical problems of traffic surges. Let's go through the steps.


Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN or content delivery network, is designed to deliver crucial website content swiftly and efficiently. Its primary aim is to minimize latency, reducing the time it takes for a website to load. CDNs address latency issues due to physical distances by establishing a distributed network spanning numerous data centers worldwide.


Caching Plugin

The quickest and most straightforward method to enhance the speed of your WordPress website is by introducing caching. Caching involves utilizing RAM to retain frequently visited pages of your site within the server's cache memory, thereby reducing the time needed to access those pages. This approach includes compressing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files to expedite page loading times.


Optimize Images

Enhancing website performance significantly can be achieved by optimizing the images utilized on your site. You can resize images using software like Photoshop or another image editor before uploading them to your site. Alternatively, you can streamline this process using a dedicated tool such as JPEGmini.

• Compressing: It reduces the image size without significantly compromising its quality. Utilize web tools like Compressor.io for quick image compression.
• Resizing: Excessively high-resolution images may not add value and could slow down your site. Resize the images to match their container dimensions.
• Caching Images: Since images are static content that doesn't change based on user requests, they can be served from the cached copy instead of the server.
• Clearing up the WordPress media library: WordPress retains all uploaded images, even unused ones. Accumulating too many images can consume server storage and have a detrimental impact on your site's speed.

Uptime monitoring

With your website fully optimized, your server should effortlessly manage traffic spikes. However, if your traffic patterns remain unpredictable or you're concerned about your site's availability, consider using an uptime monitoring service. These services perform regular checks to ensure your site is online and promptly alert you to any accessibility issues.


Keeps your site secure

WordPress users can utilize a variety of plugins to enhance security, incorporating features such as access monitoring and firewall protection. These measures safeguard your site from unauthorized access & help prevent DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, which can severely impact performance.

• Update WordPress: To ensure you receive the latest bug fixes and security patches, updating your WordPress installation regularly is crucial. Furthermore, remember to update your themes and plugins to ensure their compatibility with the latest WordPress version and proper functionality.
• Use secure admin login credentials: Avoid using easily guessable usernames and passwords, such as your name. Enhance their complexity by incorporating numbers and special characters for increased security.
• Install SSL certificate: A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate encrypts data transmitted between your WordPress website and its users, preventing hackers from accessing visitors' personal information.

Repair broken links

Broken links, URLs that return error messages when visited, can result from various factors such as incorrect addresses, back-end misconfigurations, or server issues.

While fixing broken links doesn't directly impact a website's performance and security, it plays a crucial role in enhancing user experience. To make the most of traffic spikes, it's essential to ensure that your web visitors don't encounter any errors. Moreover, broken links can hinder search engine indexing, affecting your website's ranking.

WordPress SEO tools like Ahrefs and Google Search Console can be employed to identify and address broken links on your website swiftly. You can resolve these issues by modifying your pages' .htaccess file or permalinks. Another option is to utilize a plugin like Broken Link Checker, which simplifies identifying and fixing errors through a single-screen interface.

1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Scroll down to the Plugins and choose Add New.
3. Search for the Broken Link Checker plugin
4. Click on Install Now and Activate it.



5. Once activated, navigate to the Link Checker.
6. Go to General > Status > Found X broken link.
7. Upon accessing the list of broken links on your site, you can quickly address them by hovering over the specific broken link that requires attention. Then, you can choose "Edit" or "Unlink" to initiate the repair process. In cases where you come across a false positive result, you can select "Dismiss" to disregard it.