Optimize MyListing Websites for Outstanding Performance

This is a high-level look at how I performance-optimize MyListing websites for myself and my clients. I provide more in-depth guidance through my optimization guides and video tutorials.

The approach laid out in this guide works exceptionally well.

CDN

CDNs (Content Delivery Network) are designed to make everything you connect to the Internet secure, private, fast, and reliable.

• They minimize the distance between website visitors and a website’s server, storing a cached version of its content in multiple locations. Each location contains several caching servers responsible for delivering content to visitors within its proximity, providing enhanced end-to-end reachability.
• They provide additional levels of security via DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), SSL, Bot blocking, etc., keeping the bad guys from utilizing your server’s resources.
• Cloudflare (CDN) provides the fastest DNS services on the web.

Cloudflare is implemented for every website under my management. It’s so well-regarded that my preferred website hosting vendor partnered with them, bringing enterprise-level security and performance features to its customers at no extra cost.

People may argue that CDNs are only needed if you serve a global (or partially global) audience, and that’s not true.

Note: Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) impact your website’s front-end performance.

Website Hosting

Start with a solid foundation (hosting), or you’ll set your website up for failure. I trust Kinsta with every website under my management—it’s a no-brainer decision!

• Award-winning 
• 24/7 Expert Support
• Enterprise-level Performance & Security
• Powerful server-level caching (No complex caching plugins required)
• And more!

Note: Website hosting impacts the performance of the front-end and back-end of your website.

Caching

When you use the Cloudflare and Kinsta combo, you will have all the caching you need without needing caching plugins.

Using my recommended Cloudflare and Kinsta settings, your website assets will be served from locations closest to your users without putting additional load on your server.

If your website users and visitors request an asset not cached at the edge, it’s not the end of the world because Kinsta provides some of the best server-level caching in the business.

Note: Plugins impact the performance of the front-end and back-end of your website.

Plugins

There’s an ongoing debate about whether the number of plugins slows down a website. The answer is no, but rather, the quality of the installed plugins.

I recommend that you do your due diligence before installing plugins, and if you hire someone to help with your website, be sure to hold them accountable as well.

• Is the vendor releasing updates at a reasonable interval?
• Is the vendor responsive in support forums?
• Does the vendor seem to care about performance and security?

After you’ve decided to implement a plugin, it is not a set-and-forget-it situation. You should constantly evaluate whether a plugin is still required, how your site continues to perform, and so on.

I recommend the following plugin stack for use with my preferred hosting vendor. You’ll notice I don’t mention a caching plugin, and that’s because you don’t need one with Kinsta.

• Perfmatters (Overall Optimization)
• ShortPixel Image Optimizer (SPIO) (Initial Bulk Image Optimization)

Note: Plugins impact the performance of the front-end and back-end of your website.

Image Optimization

MyListing websites rely heavily on images, and for a good reason. If you do nothing to govern and optimize the images added to your website, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Note: Image optimization impacts the performance of the front end of your website.

Conditional Code Snippets

Suppose you add code snippets (CSS, PHP, and JavaScript) to your MyListing website without thinking about ‘Conditional Loading.’ You are loading code on every post/page of your website, and this can negatively impact your website in a significant way.

All code snippets should be applied only where they are needed. This keeps the potential for conflicts to a minimum and keeps you from adding unnecessary code bloat to your website.

Note: Code impacts the performance of the front-end and back-end of your website.

Testing

Testing your website’s performance is an ongoing commitment. Many factors, such as adding new plugins or changing settings, can negatively impact its performance.

Establish performance baselines using testing tools like PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest, GTMetrix, etc., and routinely review your website’s performance. If performance drops off, you need to find out why and fast, especially if you are in a tight race with competitors.

Note: When testing your website with performance tools, use at least two different tools and take the average. Each tool measures things differently.