Category: blog

Ever wonder why your WordPress backend is so damn slow?

Using plugins we can cache the WordPress front-end, but sometimes the WordPress backend runs very slowly. So let’s explore 4 reasons why your WordPress backend is slow and how to speed it up;

1. You may have far too many plugins on your website.

Each plugin adds to the memory usage of a website, the more memory usage of a website, the more data that needs to load and ran in order to load that website. This all adds to the overall speed of a website. So just install the plugins you actually need.

2. One or more of your plugins may have a memory leak issue.

This means one or more of your plugins might not be written as well as you’d expect, giving you a bunch of unanticipated problems. What you’ll need to do is slowly deactivate your plugins one-by-one to identify the slow plugin, which once identified you should seek an alternative plugin.

You can use a plugin called P3 Profiler, or another plugin profiler to track down the least efficient plugins presently running on your WordPress.

3. Your WordPress, theme(s), and/or plugins might be out of date.

Keep everything up to date to ensure you are running the most recent version of the items. If you have a custom plugin or theme, it might be best to contact the developers and see if they can identify any issues.

4. You may have ‘Object Caching’ enabled in W3 Total Cache.

There is a butt load of caching plugins out there. We recommend WP Fastest Cache or W3 Total Cache and see if that makes a difference in your site.

 

In a lot of cases, your host’s servers could be to blame, the best way to identify this is to see any other websites that are running on that same server and see if those sites load slowly too. However more often than not the issue is with an improperly configured caching engine, or too many bulky inefficient plugins.

Who hasn’t heard about eCommerce and online shopping? What is eCommerce? And more importantly, how can you use it to do business securely?

eCommerce, electronic commerce, online selling or online shopping, call it what you will, it is the trading or support of trading of good or service using the internet. However you look at it, this is the fastest growing means of buying and selling in the world, and the greatest challenge in network security. In general, it is cheaper for the consumer and more profitable for the sell because of reduced overheads, and transactions can be facilitated faster and with greater reliability, but also the most secure was of transacting business. On the other hand, people are often afraid of using eCommerce because they can’t put a human face on the transaction, look a person in the eye, so they fear being cheated. The challenge today is to reach and reassure the consumer, put a human face on the transaction and provide them with quality service, security and products, all through an online interface.

Lets start with a scenario; you have a bunch of woolly jumpers that you want to sell to people on the internet and you want to learn how to do it. That is eCommerce. The simplest answer is that you find yourself a hosting service – with an obvious plug here for Critical Web Solutions – and you get them to take all the hard work out of it.

But you have to know that there is more to it. The eCommerce exchange has hidden depths which guarantee the security and reliability of the transaction. In common practice, the seller will be provided with only the pertinent details of the buyer by the eCommerce platform, and not sensitive data such as card numbers.

But wait… there’s more!

There are the other, more practical matters in eCommerce. Have you considered territorial taxes? Australian GST needs to be reported, and it can get very messy. And then you need a list of what stock you have, and what stock you’ve already promised, geo-location for shipping costs, working out where your products shouldn’t try to ship to, and so on. What provisions have you made for security? On top of that, there the question of how do you manage your shopping carts, how do you have your site something people want to use, and finally how do you identify your customer?

Basically, the simple question of how do you sell your woolly jumpers has become the much larger question of how do you take your woolly jumpers to market?

The Critical Web Solutions way

Critical Web Solutions has solutions to these eCommerce questions.

1. You need a place to be found. Critical Web Solutions will provide your with a web domain tailored for your business as a part of their premium ecommerce package.
2. You need security for your customers so that they can be sure that your site is safe. Critical Web Solutions provides you with an SSL certificate from a a highly reputable signing authority.
3. You need your website style. Critical Web Solutions uses WordPress. The growing movement towards WordPress for shared hosting websites means that there is an incredible ground base of thousands publicly supporting it. That means thousands of plugins and services, thousands of beautiful themes, and and also infinite variety of looks and service combinations that you can provide your customers.
4. You need your email address attached to your domain. Critical Web Solutions will provide you with that as well.
5. You need a way to perform the eCommerce exchange. Critical Web Solutions encourages you to use WooCommerce, which provides card services (through PayPal or others), stock control, geo-location control (including shipping costs), a extremely high level of security (card and account numbers cannot be accessed by unauthorised people, even you), reliability, and it even figures out and reports on the taxes payable for you. More than that, it tracks your stock and makes sure you can’t sell what you don’t have, and can even tell you when its time to start knitting more woolly jumpers.
6. You also need a way of managing your shopping cart. Critical Web Solutions provides X-Cart for that, so you can always track you orders before they get placed, and remember where customers are up to.
7. You will also need to monitor your business. All of the above provides you with reports, and a simple control panel to control your site and see how business is going.

Critical Web Solutions Will provide you with one of the soundest foundations for your business, with a fantastic availability record of only one hour downtime in the last two years (as at the end of 2016), but you are the business man so it is up to you and your hard marketing work to bring it all together and make it work. You need to know who your customers are, how to reach them, what they want, and how to communicate to them that you have the product that they want and need… in woolly jumpers.

What now?

So… what do you think? Do you have what it takes to make your business work?

If you want to know more, contact us. We’ll be glad to help you.

What is a Webmaster?

The term webmaster refers to a person who is the absolute master of the web world…jk. It’s the person responsible for the development, modification, and optimisation of a website. In other words, a webmaster has the expertise to handle many different technical aspects of website design, development, and ongoing website maintenance. What is a Webmaster? A qualified professional who manages your website for you!

A webmaster is also referred to as a web developer, web architect, website administrator, site author, or a website coordinator. They are the one who are responsible for maintaining many websites. Since webmasters deal with the technicalities of a website, they must have applicable technical skills. A webmaster must acquire certain experience and expertise to become proficient in performing their day-to-day duties and to deliver a high quality website. Like any other profession, there are also areas of expertise and specialisations to this kind of job.

A webmaster has many duties and responsibilities to make. These responsibilities include the following:

• Ensures that web servers function at peak efficiency.
• A strong knowledge of computer hardware and software.
• Website Design.
• Create and update web pages.
• Respond to user feedback.
• Conduct A/B testing.
• Examine and optimise website traffic.

For you to become a professional webmaster, you need to be well versed when it comes to web transaction software, security software, and payment processing software. A webmaster must be expert in using script languages like ColdFusion, JavaScript, PHP, .NET, or Perl. They are also required to know how to configure a webserver like Apache HTTP Server or the Internet Information Services.

But how can you find a good webmaster? There are certain qualities in order for you to find the right web master for you. Here are some of the qualities that a webmaster should possess. They must have skills in JavaScript, CGI, HTML, Perl and UNIX. They should have a real passion for technology, and a very keen eye for details. They should have many years of experience in web development, and provide impeccable communications skills. They should also be acquainted with the W3C guidelines, and equipped with exceptional intelligence and an . It is very important for you to have the right person when it comes to the maintenance of your website. Don’t try to settle to those who have doubtful credentials. A webmaster should be smart, reliable, and can easily handle any issues relating to your website.
Our webmaster services provides you with 3 hours per month of webmaster time, at the cost of $70 a month, this is a savings of over $260 per month. We do offer a Webmaster as a Service (WmaaS) package charged at $70 per month for up to 3 hours, and $140 per month for up to 8!