Image by Adriano Gasparri via Flickr
A lot of you who follow me around the net will have seen the Guest Post I wrote on CommentLuv titled “Keep An Eye On Those WordPress Plugins“, shortly after this I came back to the blog and started work tweaking it to help improve its performance.
Those of you that do read the blog a lot will have noticed some changes to some areas on the blog.
For starters, I’ve removed the toolbar, although this was CPU hungry it did make the blog a fraction slower, so now I have opted for the social buttons to continue in the “author bio” at the bottom of a post.
Also WP125 has been removed, as this can all be done without a plugin, why have a plugin when you can do it yourself just as easily
Along with several other plugins that were of no use any more or were just used to make the blog look better, speed and reliability wins with regards to the blog.
So I’m hoping that this slight changes will speed the blog up and make it more enjoyable for people to stop by and comment on not only my blog posts, but also those of the superb Guest Bloggers that have opted to post here on Blazing Minds.
Anyone, thanks to everyone for stopping by, commenting and sharing the blog posts, it’s much appreciated, in the meantime, is there a social network button that is missing that you think should be included? Please let me know
Related articles
- Loading Times on Your Blogs and Websites (BasicBlogTips.com)
- CommentLuv 2.9 – Guide for Blog Owners & Commenters (kikolani.com)
- Are You a WordPress Junkie? (famousbloggers.net)
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Twitter: ditesco
Believe it or not but I already noticed a big improvement just by you taking that footer out. Was that Wibiya? I have to admit that I never did see much of usefulness for that one. Loading up nicely now
DiTesco recently blogged..Why Should You Care About Your Reputation?
Twitter: BlazingMinds
It was a means to sharing, but it’s lack of clicks was it’s downfall and as you say, it’s removal has improved the speed of the blog
Karen recently blogged..It’s The JML 25th Anniversary Competition With Blazing Minds
Twitter: estavamorioka
I’ve been battling about whether or not I should remove my wibiya tool bar. It doesnt really get many clicks but I like the way it looks. plus it allows me to be nosey and see how many people are currently on the blog
Estava Morioka recently blogged..Power 105.1′s Angela Yee Has $70,000 Worth of Shoes!
Twitter: BlazingMinds
I would remove it, if I were you, it will improve the overall speed of your blog
Karen recently blogged..It’s Not Just Business Blogging From Extreme John
Twitter: techwork_dk
Hi Karen
After reading your post at Commentluv.com I also did some cleaning up on my own blog. Sometimes a plugin just need to be removed. Thank you for the reminder.
What about the Google + 1 social network button. Don’t you want to add that one?
Thomas recently blogged..Review of Samsung BD-D8500 HDD Recorder
Twitter: BlazingMinds
I’m just in the middle of adding the Google +1 button as I type
Karen recently blogged..Earning From My Blog Is Paying The Bills!
Twitter: techwork_dk
I just gave it a +
Thomas recently blogged..Free Virtualization with VMware Player 3.1
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Much appreciated
Twitter: bodynsoil
The changes look fantastic Karen! I really like the widget you have in the upper right that shows the following of facebook and twitter.
bodynsoil recently blogged..Weekly Snippets & Points to Ponder (June 27)
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Thank you, as I had removed the toolbar, I thought it was a good idea to have Facebook and Twitter somewhere that was visible and useful, now if I can just tweet the like button in the author bio so that it works a little better
Karen recently blogged..When Twitter Goes Bad
Twitter: bodynsoil
Which widget are you using to do this? I removed Wibiya a month ago and use Shareaholic now but would like something more streamlined like this one, sometimes less is more.
bodynsoil recently blogged..Watching: America ~ The Story of Us
Twitter: BlazingMinds
The buttons in the author box are added via coding them in myself, the facebook and twitter widget in the top right is also HTML via facebook and twitter, so no plugins, saves on the CPU again
It’s good there are this kind of tips to simply make blogs effective. Great to share it with us.
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Glad to be of some help sharing my thoughts and pobders
The speed is definitely much better now. The light footer probably played its part.
Amanda Gordon recently blogged..Backpack Vacuum Cleaners
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Thanks Amanda, it’s certainly a vast improvement
Hi Karen.
Thanks for sharing this.
It’s a very useful tips.
Andrew Walker recently blogged..Registry Mechanic Coupon
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Thank you for stopping by and commenting, hope you found the post helpful
Hi Karen…This is a lot of information for me because I have learned from your blog…I did some cleaning on my blog too…Thanks!!!
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Hi Evan, glad you found my post useful
Twitter: ronniedare
Wow, your site loads much faster now than before. I guess its the footer toolbar that is eliminated.
About the social buttons, are you missing the Facebook “like” or “recommend” button (per post)? Or is it just me who don’t see it?
Ron recently blogged..Concerts In The Philippines – July 2011
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Hi Ron, thank you, I’m working on the facebook “like” buttons at the moment, I added them earlier but they had a slight issue, so I’ll be working on them again over the next few days
Karen recently blogged..When Twitter Goes Bad
Twitter: ronniedare
Now there you have it! The Like button! Hmmm. May I ask, why you prefer it to be “LIKE” button than the “RECOMMEND” button?
And oh, by the way, when I checked the commentluv checkbox below, it returns this kind of error:
Error. Parsing JSON Request failed.
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Yep, it was caused by Jetpack, should be ok now
Twitter: bodynsoil
I was tweeking my blog this afternoon and now it is defunct.. dislike..
Load speed is pretty good on the site so far. By the way, check out webpagetest dot org it was even suggested by Google, its pretty good to mix up with the plugin tests.
-Jean
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Thanks Jean
I did not know about that website. I’m using it right now.
OT: You are so right, if it is not getting you many clicks and it slows down your site then get rid of it.
I try cleaning up my plugins every once in a while as well.
I always look at what the plugin adds when it is updated, it might overlap with another plugin which would be a waste.
Danny recently blogged..(Pole)Chainsaw 101, Everything you need to know to buy, use and do maintenance like a pro! (dofollow)
Removing plugins because I can do it by myself.. Hmm.. I would do it right away i was not so lazy..
jandelaria recently blogged..Fact Sheet on Head Start & Georgia Pre-K
Twitter: JymTarrant
Hi Karen, finally made it to Blazing Minds after noticing your Flame-Haired Avatar again again again throughout the blogging communities…
Nice to see your in optimization mode, seems pretty quick to me – Wibiya’s slowed down a lot of blogs from what I hear though I never tried it.
All these little tweaks and twiddles are worth the effort to improve the user experience I feel, not to mention pleasing the almighty G…
Cheers
Jym recently blogged..Speed Up Your Blog With Ease – Slow Blogs Lose Readers and Rank Lower (part 2)
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Hi Jym. I seem to be doing a lot of tweaking at the moment, just did a little more by removing some graphics
Twitter: 2009Taxes
I think the toolbar is the most annoying website feature from a user standpoint because it blocks part of the screen and doesn’t offer anything that I am interested in. I think getting rid of it is a great ideal.
Steve recently blogged..When High Tech Companies Are Good Stocks to Invest In
Twitter: BlazingMinds
Thanks Steve and the speed benefits are a big improvement
Twitter: michaelaulia
I’m still in love with my Wibiya Toolbar but if it can really speed things up, I’m considering to throw it away
I have to re-check the stats again to make sure it’s worth throwing it to the bin. thanks for the reminder to clean up our site
Michael Aulia recently blogged..Razer Hydra Review
Twitter: BlazingMinds
It really wasn’t getting any worthwhile clicks in my point of view, so why keep something that really isn’t needed
Twitter: michaelaulia
Well it does get a few clicks for random posts, top posts, translations, bookmark, and also the search
Michael Aulia recently blogged..How to fix Firefox memory leak
Twitter: blogengage
Yes, much faster on my end too! My blog is under maintenance today to get Cloudflare set up. read so much about it and the last time I tried had a redirect loop so it bombed my blog completely. Hopefully after this exercise my blog will perform much better.
I’m having problems with my commentluv…displays error json request failed.
Ryan Macalandag recently blogged..Michael & Natalie Bohol Prenup
Twitter: BlazingMinds
I had the same issue, it’s down to the memory your server allows, you probably have 32MB and one of your plugins is bleeding it, try removing plugins that you don’t really need.