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The hidden performance killer in your �WordPress Project�

Sumaiya Nalukwago

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Sumaiya Nalukwago

IT Professional
Tech Community Lead
Tech Content Creator
Founder, Tech Over Africa Network

@Sumaiya Nalukwago

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The Code Myth

Why we blame the wrong things

The default reaction: blaming themes, plugins, or custom code.

This leads to a narrow-minded approach: plugin roulette, disabling features, or rewriting code.

Code is often a symptom, not the root cause.

A slow server makes even clean code slow.

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Unmasking the hidden killers (Part 1)

Inadequate Hosting: Your site shares limited CPU, RAM, and bandwidth with hundreds of other sites, leading to resource contention and slow responses.

Unoptimized Servers: Servers not configured for WordPress lack essential features. Mention key technologies like NGINX, LiteSpeed, or Varnish for caching, and using PHP 8+ for faster execution.

Slow Databases: Without proper server-side caching like Redis or Memcached, every database query has to be executed from scratch, which is incredibly slow.

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Review your

hosting plan today.

Are you getting what you pay for, or are you sacrificing speed for savings?

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Unmasking the hidden killers (Part 2)

Unoptimized Images
Lazy Loading
Responsive Images
Video Hosting: Self-hosting videos is a bad idea.

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Unmasking the hidden killers (Part3)

External Scripts(Google Analytics, advertising
networks, social media widgets) add extra HTTP
requests and can block the page from rendering.

Render-Blocking Scripts

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Identify your critical third-party scripts.

Can some be removed, deferred, or loaded conditionally?

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Unmasking the hidden killers (Part3)

How your database gets bloated
Impact of bloat

When was the last time you cleaned your database?

It's often the quickest win for an older site.

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Big Image, Bigger Ideas (Maybe)

PSA: If you want your slides to make you look like a legend in photos, this is the one!

Seriously, this is peak presentation glamour.

01

02

Hosting, Content, Third-Parties, Database

A performance audit.

03

Use tools

like Google PageSpeed Insights and

GTmetrix to identify bottlenecks.

The solution framework

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Performance isn't a one-time fix; it's a journey.

But with the right map,

you can conquer

any challenge.

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Plugin & Theme Review

Database Cleanup

Prioritize hosting

Media Audit

External Script Management

Your Performance Action

Plan

. Prioritize Hosting: Find a WordPress-specific host. Look for features like SSDs, server-side caching, and a CDN.

2. Media Audit: Use plugins like Smush or Imagify to compress images automatically. Implement lazy loading.

3. Plugin & Theme Review: Delete any unused or poorly coded plugins. Use a plugin like P3 Profiler to see which ones are the heaviest.

4. Database Cleanup: Use a trusted plugin like WP-Optimize or Advanced Database Cleaner to safely remove junk data.

5. External Script Management: Defer or asynchronously load any non-essential third-party scripts.

Visual:

Call to Action: "Don't leave here without at least one action item! Start small, but start now."

Speaker Notes:

"I want you to leave here feeling empowered. You don't have to do all of this at once. Pick one thing from this list and start today. Maybe you'll find a better host. Maybe you'll install a database cleaner. Small steps in the right direction will lead to big results."

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Any Questions?

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Thank you!

Let’s Connect

@SumaiyaNalukwago