Maximizing WordPress session at Pubcon Vegas 2013

1. Maximizing WordPress
Get more out of this great publishing platform
Brian LaFrance
Marketing Director – AuthorityLabs
brian.lafrance@authoritylabs.com
Twitter - @blafrance

2. Lay Your Foundation
• Stock WordPress installs won’t cut it
• Self vs. Managed Hosting
• Apache vs. NGINX
• Use WP_DEBUG

3. Keep it Clean
• Delete any plugins you are not using
• Plugin for cleanup and preferred settings

4. Choosing a Theme
• Avoid bloated themes
• Frameworks vs. Themes
• Genesis - Framework
• Bones – Theme
• _s (Underscores) - Theme

5. Mobile Considerations
• Responsive design – mobile first
• Don’t go overboard – Logical breakpoints
• Prioritize for better user experience
• Minimize resources sent to devices

6. Speed it Up
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Caching Plugins
Smaller images and sprites
CDN & S3
Redis

7. Managing Javascripts
• Plugin developers are lazy
• Use Google Hosted Libraries
• Use wp_enqueue_script()
• Monitor for errors
• Combine when possible (Segment.io)

8. Monitoring
• Chartbeat – load times & traffic trends
• Pingdom – load times & uptime
• New Relic – application monitoring
• Binary Canary – uptime & custom strings

9. Plugins
• More plugins = less security
• Choose wisely
• Plugins vs. Theme Functionality
• Not always one size fits all

10. Updates & Security
• Keep everything updated regularly
• Multiple installs? Centralize tracking
• Use Sucuri
• Back everything up regularly

11. Migrating Non WP Sites
• Plan your URL structure for redirects
• Scrape & create import files if needed
• Test , fix, test, fix
• site: search
• Screaming Frog
• Make sure all page types look good

12. Launching New/Migrated Sites
• Check rendering in all browsers
• Check titles & descriptions
• Double check ALL important redirects
• Don’t rely on WP for www vs. non-www
• Test all forms

13. Random Tips
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Site searches = content ideas
Don’t be afraid of custom post types
Use multisite & domain mapping
Learn to use hooks
Never, ever edit core files. Ever. Don’t do it.

14. Maximizing WordPress
Get more out of this great publishing platform
Brian LaFrance
Marketing Director – AuthorityLabs
brian.lafrance@authoritylabs.com
Twitter - @blafrance
More information, links, and resources – bit.ly/pubconwp