Building Better WordPress Sites

Building Better WordPress Sites

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  Building Better WordPressSites Optimization for search, users, and your sanity. Brian LaFrance Marketing Director – AuthorityLabs brian.lafrance@authoritylabs.com Twitter - @blafrance
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  Start Off Right •Stock WordPress installs won’t cut it • Self vs. Managed Hosting • Apache vs. NGINX • Use WP_DEBUG
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  Keep it Clean •Delete any plugins you are not using • Plugin for cleanup and preferred settings • Avoid bloated themes
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  Speed it Up •Caching Plugins • Smaller images and sprites • CDN & S3 • Redis
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  Managing Javascripts • Plugindevelopers are lazy • Use Google Hosted Libraries • Use wp_enqueue_script() • Monitor for errors • Combine when possible (Segment.io)
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  Monitoring • Chartbeat –load times & traffic trends • Pingdom – load times & uptime • New Relic – application monitoring • Binary Canary – uptime & custom strings
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  Plugins • More plugins= less security • Choose wisely • Plugins vs. Theme Functionality • Not always one size fits all
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  Random Tips • Keepeverything up to date (can’t be said enough) • Site searches = content ideas • Don’t be afraid of custom post types • Use multisite & domain mapping • Frameworks can save time & headaches • Learn to use hooks • Never, ever edit core files. Ever. Don’t do it.
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  More information, links,and resources – bit.ly/pubconwp Building Better WordPress Sites Optimization for search, users, and your sanity. Brian LaFrance Marketing Director – AuthorityLabs brian.lafrance@authoritylabs.com Twitter - @blafrance