WordPress Blog And Server Optimisation Masterclass: Progress So Far

March 5th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

A few days ago I recruited a WordPress server expert to improve the performance of my very slow site, as I was tired of having an extremely slow site. One of the conditions of accepting the job was that Chris has to to keep track of all the changes he made, so that I could share them in a series of WordPress Blog And Server Optimisation posts.

The progress he has made already has been astounding and I’m sure that regular readers will agree. Even Chris is amazed by how much progress he has made:

Everton,

I wanted to share the CPU utilization graph with you. I’ve been tracking it since the beginning. I highlighted the most major changes with the biggest impact. Of course there were others (which I have documented).

The data points on this graph are 10 minute averages. You can really see when your busiest times of the day are for traffic

Before I started on anything, you were peaking at over 60% CPU load to user processes plus another 15% for the system (75%).

Yesterday, during peak hours, you peaked at just over 20% CPU load to user processes plus less than 5% for the system (25%).

I was sure that the changes that I was implementing (though there have been some technical defects along the way which are or are being worked out) would have positive impact, but I never expected it to be quite this drastic on such a high-traffic website.

I just wanted to share!
Chris Bianchi

Just check out the CPU Usage graph that Chris attached:

Connected Internet CPU Utilization Graph

The traffic to my site has gone up this week, as well as my eCPMs, and I’m convinced this is because my slow loading speeds were driving away readers. In the next post I will start listing the tweaks and mods tha Chris has made. I really can’t wait to see how much faster this site will get once Chris and my designer start work on optimising my theme, as that is still to come, as well as further server and WordPress tweaks.

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About the Author

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Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK.

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There Are 7 Responses So Far. »

  1. 1

    Comment by Phil Benwell on 5 March 2008:

    This is good news. I have seen slow blogs just change service over this issue so its good to see an alternative way. Waiting to hear the little tweaks now.

  2. 2

    Comment by Everton on 5 March 2008:

    @Phil

    I have a very good deal with my host, so it’s better value for me to optimise my server rather than spend more money getting a bigger server that might not solve the problem.

    I think by the end of this month you should see an even bigger improvement. Have you noticed the significant speed increase already?

  3. 3

    Comment by Dave Starr on 6 March 2008:

    Not only is optimization usually less exspensive than jumping to the next size/price range server, optimization fixes htings while moving to a bigger server just postpones the inevitable. think dragging an anchor around after your car. You can pay to swap in a bigger engine at a hot rod shop, but it is still going to perform like a car dragging an anchor.

    If Microsoft (in particular) would pay attention to efficiency instead of just telling Intel to add more cores and cache, Vista might not be such a pig.

  4. 4

    Comment by Vic on 7 March 2008:

    That’s simply amazing. I’m looking for someone to optimize wordpress on my server and after seeing your results I need to to get this done soon. Is it possible to get Chris’s contact info or you can forward my info to him if you wish. Thanks in advance, I enjoy reading your stuff on a daily basis.

  5. 5

    Comment by Jay Oatway on 19 March 2008:

    Wow! Is this Chris fellow for hire? I just installed a new Wordpress theme, which seems to be causing a server overload — my hosting provider has even shut me down until I get it optimized!

    Please, keep the tips coming.

  6. 6

    Comment by Everton on 20 March 2008:

    @Jay

    Yes. I’ve got the first set of tweaks documented from Chris and will be writing up this weekend

  7. 7

    Comment by Dave Starr on 28 March 2008:

    Hi Everton,

    I’ve been waiting with bated breath and so has a freind of mine I sent here to follow this series.

    I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having trouble with recalcitrant machines, but when you are able, we would sure like to know more about what Chris did to speed things up. Thanks.

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