Imagine this: Someone has found your website and is interested in your services. However, the moment they click on one of your landing pages, they notice that they’ll have to wait longer to read the content. Unfortunately, this negative user experience has compelled them to leave your site.
Statistics suggest that even a three-second load time increases the bounce rates by 40%. Moreover, slower websites can lead to a loss of USD 2.6 billion in sales among retail companies. According to Chron, business owners only have a few seconds to grab a website visitor’s attention.
That’s why you need to ensure each web page loads faster. Let’s say your website was built on WordPress. On average, this content management system (CMS) powers at least 36.28% of the top one million websites.
Do you want to increase your WordPress site’s page load time amidst this competition? In that case, you’ll need WordPress maintenance. Let’s learn more about how these maintenance services can increase load time.
3 Main Reasons Your WordPress Site Is Slow
Do you want to know why your page loads are slower than your competitors? Ideally, unoptimized images, lack of a content delivery system, excessive ads, and conflicting themes can affect it. Apart from these, the main possible causes include the following:
#1. Unreliable Web Hosting
Unreliable web hosting operates on low bandwidth and cannot handle high traffic spikes and volumes. This can lead to unreliable, low-performance services that make data slow to load.
#2. Plugin Overload
There are over 59,000 free plugins on WordPress. But that doesn’t mean you’ll make plugin updates every other day. While these add functionalities and unique features to the website, they also negatively affect the loading speed. Moreover, poorly coded plugins can increase load time, leading to a bad user experience.
#3. Failed Caching
According to TechTarget, caching is a process of temporarily storing data to ensure faster access and improve system performance. With this, you’re storing the subset of data in high-speed storage layers to ensure efficiency during future requests. However, failed caching in a WordPress website can lead to longer load times and endless reloads.
How Can WordPress Maintenance Help With Slow Load Times?
Industry leaders believe that a one-second load time is excellent. It can also go up to 1.5 seconds. However, anything beyond that will make the user impatient, and they’ll bounce off the web page.
An optimal load time will determine the amount of engagement and revenue your brand receives. That’s why you’ll need website maintenance services.
According to Belov Digital Agency, such services offer performance optimization for WordPress websites, leading to a faster load time. These professionals will scan your website’s backend to remove unreliable data sources and ensure you have the right plugins. With their help, you can keep the visitors engaged and reduce bounce rates because of the following benefits:
- Regular software and patch updates
- Access to technical and emergency support
- Security monitoring
- Vulnerability scanning
- Consistent backups and disaster recovery
- Content updates
- Performance optimization
With these, you’ll get the benefits of optimized website performance, leading to better load times. Regardless of whether you have a web design business or an eCommerce site, you will surely need a WordPress maintenance plan.
The Common WordPress Site Maintenance Plans
Most WordPress maintenance service providers will offer various unique plans. However, you’ll need to select the perfect one that fits your business needs and operational budget. On average, the common WordPress website maintenance plans for businesses include the following:
Basic Maintenance Plan
In this economy package, you’ll get benefits like:
- Regular cloud backups
- Security monitoring
- Core WordPress updates
Moreover, this can cost at least USD 150 per month and is best suited for simple, static websites with low traffic.
Standard Maintenance Packages
This might cost USD 250 per month and comes with the following benefits:
- License and SSL update reminder
- Search engine optimization monitoring
- Monthly performance checks
It’s perfect for businesses with medium traffic.
Expert WordPress Support
Also known as an extended plan, this one will cost USD 500 monthly. It comes with benefits like:
- Instant downtime monitoring
- Weekly reporting
- Basic site improvements
If your website attracts high traffic, you should choose this package.
The Bottom Line
Did you know WordPress holds a 62.7% market share among all CMS, making it an ideal choice for most businesses? With such a huge traffic, it’s normal for some websites to crash. Just last year, Search Engine Journal reported that WordPress 6.4 caused sites to crash.
Hence, you’ll need a website maintenance plan to ensure better page load times. With their services, there’s a guarantee of unwavering uptime. That means a website maintenance plan can ensure you won’t lose any customers or visitors by keeping your site clean, secure, and updated.