How to Make Craft CMS Faster

Did you know that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load? Yet most Craft CMS sites we audit take twice that long. Here's where things get interesting...

Your beautiful Craft CMS site might be a Ferrari in terms of design, but is it performing like a rusty bicycle? Let's cut through the confusion and uncover what's really bogging down your digital presence.

Think of your website like a highway during rush hour. Every unoptimized image, unnecessary plugin, and bloated script is like another car clogging up the lanes. But here's the kicker: most sites get them completely wrong.

Those Massive Image Files...

Your stunning hero images are secretly sabotaging your load times. A single uncompressed 5MB photo can be the difference between converting a visitor and watching them bounce faster than a rubber ball on concrete.

Plugin Overload

Craft's plugin ecosystem is incredibly powerful, but with great power comes great responsibility. That fancy animation plugin you installed? It might be injecting 200KB of JavaScript that runs on every single page load.

Truth is... most developers add plugins without considering the performance cost. The reality? Each one is like adding weight to a runner before a marathon

Server Situations That Make You Cringe

You wouldn't run Olympic sprints in flip-flops, so why host your business website on bargain-basement hosting? Did you know that upgrading from shared hosting to a properly configured VPS can cut load times by up to 70%?

The Real Question...

What's the real cost of your slow site? Beyond the obvious user experience issues, Google has made page speed a ranking factor. Every second of delay could be pushing you further down in search results, right where your competitors want you.

But can you transform these speed obstacles into opportunities?

Images typically make up 50-80% of a webpage's total weight? Yet most Craft CMS sites we encounter are hemorrhaging performance points with images that are about as optimized as a monster truck in a fuel efficiency contest.

Why Already Have Thousands of Images? No Problem.

"But what about all our existing images?" The question we hear from every established site owner. Truth is, ImageOptimize has you covered with its built-in bulk optimization task. Run it once, and watch as years of bloated images transform into lean, mean, loading machines.

Infact, every 100ms of improved load time can increase conversion rates by 1%. With image optimization alone, we've seen sites shave full seconds off their load times

ImageOptimize isn't just another plugin, it's possibly the highest ROI performance enhancement you can make to your Craft site today.

Among the sea of caching options, Blitz stands head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to Craft CMS. But here's the kicker: most developers install it with default settings and call it a day.

Blitz doesn't just cache your pages, it strategically stores the exact components needed for maximum speed while maintaining dynamic functionality. You can set different expiration times for various content types, keeping your high-traffic pages fresh while letting rarely-changed content stay cached longer.

With proper Blitz configuration, you can catapult your site speed by up to 300-500% while reducing server load dramatically.

Third-party plugins and scripts can contribute to the bloat of a Craft CMS installation in a few ways:

By adding additional code and assets (e.g. JavaScript and CSS files) to the site, which can increase the size of the pages and slow down the site.

By using server resources (e.g. CPU, RAM) to run their own processes, which can decrease the overall performance of the site.

By adding additional database queries to the site, which can increase the load on the database server and slow down the site.

It's important to be selective when choosing third-party plugins and scripts for your Craft CMS site, as adding too many can lead to a slower and less efficient site. It's also a good idea to regularly review the plugins and scripts in use on your site to ensure that they are necessary and up-to-date.

Tuning Your Craft CMS Server: Finding a Host That Fits

Craft CMS is like a finely-tuned sports car: it requires the right fuel and conditions to perform at its best. When you're shopping for a hosting garage, there are two key factors to keep in mind:

Performance: You wouldn't put regular gas in a Ferrari, right? Look for a host with high-octane servers and a track record of reliability. Server-level caching and other performance boosters can give your site that extra edge.

Compatibility: Just like you can't put diesel in a gasoline engine, Craft CMS needs a host that supports the right version of PHP and other software requirements to purr smoothly.

So where can you find this hosting sweet spot? At Brilliance, we trust Servd to keep our clients' Craft CMS sites running in top gear. Here's why:

Servd is like a pit crew that's trained specifically on Craft CMS. Their shared hosting, VPS, and dedicated server options are all tuned for optimal Craft performance. Think of it as premium fuel for your website.

But Servd doesn't just focus on raw horsepower. They also prioritize handling and safety, with features like server-level caching, CDN integration, and automatic scaling. It's like having traction control and airbags for your site's performance and reliability.

Plus, Servd goes the extra mile with white-glove maintenance services. They'll keep your Craft CMS plugins and themes up-to-date, monitor security, and even handle backups. It's like having a dedicated mechanic to keep your site in peak condition.

We've covered the key areas you need to address to get your Craft CMS site running at top speed:

Optimize your images: The ImageOptimize plugin is your friend here. It compresses images without sacrificing quality, so your pages load faster.

Leverage caching: Blitz is our go-to caching plugin for Craft CMS. It reduces server load and speeds up response times by serving cached versions of your pages.

Eliminate bloat: Be selective with third-party plugins and scripts. Regularly audit your site to remove any unnecessary code that's slowing things down.

Tune your server: Choose a host that's optimized for Craft CMS, with fast servers, solid uptime, and server-level caching. We recommend Servd for their performance and Craft-specific support.

The Bottom Line: By following this checklist and staying vigilant, you can ensure your Craft CMS site is always performing at its best. Your visitors will appreciate the fast, seamless experience, and you'll reap the rewards in higher engagement and conversions.

Brilliance is a 5 star rated and certified SEM Rush Agency partner that specializes in web development, SEO and Digital Marketing. We have bright and talented people dating back to the 90's when the internet first became a thing.

No project is too complex. We love to tackle new challenges and equally we love making our clients happy and want to believe that in one way or another we have increased the quality of their business and their professional lives.