We all love WordPress for its dynamic functionality and ease of use; however, anyone who has a high traffic blog understands that these luxuries comes at a performance price. The dynamic abilities of WordPress are provided by a combination of programming logic and data. Each time a visitor requests a page, the web server must process the PHP code which contains the logic and access information stored in a MySQL database. As the number of concurrent users grows, this process slows down your WordPress site. You may even see a lovely server error or white screen if you overload your hosting.
There are some things that you can do to tune the performance of your WordPress site for high traffic volumes. If you are comfortable enough with php and html you can actually remove a number of php calls from your theme once it is in its permanent location. However, an easier option is to use the WP Super Cache Plug-In for WordPress created by Donncha. Wp Super Cache creates a static HTML file for posts and pages on your WordPress site and redirects visitors to these files alleviating the server from having to dynamically create them. The resulting page renders in a browser exactly as it would if it were dynamically created so the end user does not experience any difference. The plug-in also offers options like lockdown, which prepares the blog for a traffic spike by keeping the Super Cache plugin from refreshing when a new comment is made. For more information on the features visit Donncha’s page on WP Super Cache.
Installing WP Super Cache is like installing any other plugin; you simply need to install it via plugin installer in your blog’s administrative panel. Once installed, you will need to activate it and configure it via the options page.
The challenge that most bloggers have with getting WP-Super-Cache to work is configuring their HTACCESS file. An HTACCESS file is a file that tells the web server “additional instructions”. In the case of WP-Super-Cache, the additional instructions are “redirections” from the dynamic content to the static web pages that the plugin will create. The following blog post discusses these permissions and the overall configuration of the plugin: Using WP Super Cache . If all of this technical lingo and references to scripts make your head spin, simply go to the part of your WP-Super-Cache configuration page that says “Mod Rewrite Rules” and have your hosting company follow the instructions provided there.
When confronted with blog performance issues, WP-Super-Cache is the first step every WordPress blogger should consider. The plugin is well written and is free. If the traffic levels you are seeing are still killing your blog even with WP-Super-Cache installed, you will want to consider Derick‘s “Ultimate, Affordable WordPress Server Configuration” as it will enable your blog to serve up thousands of concurrent users.
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