The speed of your blog is as important today as it has always been. The average internet user is not a patient person, and if your blog takes more than five seconds to load then it is highly likely they will quickly move on and will never return.

So we have a list of plugins that will help speed up your blog, and every single one of them is free.

Webhost

Before we look at these plugins it is is important to make sure that you are using a webhost that is offering a decent speed, as with some things in life you get what you pay for, if you go with a free host, or a $1 a month host, then you are not going to get as fast a speed as you would with a host who might charge a little more.

One such host I’d highly recommend is BlueHost who have a basic plan for as little as $3.95 a month

WordPress Theme

Have you thought if your theme has been optimised for speed? The sad truth is that if you have a free theme then it probably isn’t. Normally ones that have been speed-tested will cost money, but what is a one-off investment of $50 if it means more visitors to your blog?

You can find a ton of them over at Theme Forest.

OK, lets get on with the free plugins to speed up your blog.

1. W3 Total Cache

With over 1,000.000 downloads W3 Total Cache is one of the most downloaded plugins around. This plugin will minify, compress and cache your files and make your blog load a lot faster. This plugin has a lot of options and is perfect if you are happy to dive into it.

2. WP Super Cache

This is pretty much the same as W3 Total Cache, but more suited to those of you who are not so comfortable diving too deep into your blog, just turn it on and let it go.

3. Check and Enable GZIP Compression

This plugin zips your files and is then sent to your visitors and will increase page speed as well as saving on bandwidth.

4. Compress JPG & PNG Images

Images on your blog can slow down the loading time, this plugin scales the images down in size.

5. WP Optimize

It isn’t all about the files on your blog, you should also pay attention to your database as well, and that is where this plugin comes into play. WP Optimize will clean up and optimise your database at the click of a button.

It isn’t necessary to install all five of these plugins, it is recommended to install one of the cache plugins at the very least.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay