Home of The Richard Knight https://www.therichardknight.com/ Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Finance Thu, 18 Aug 2022 16:10:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://www.therichardknight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/trk-logo-512-512-cropped-150x150.png Home of The Richard Knight https://www.therichardknight.com/ 32 32 Woocommerce Variations Slow? Fix it in 6 Easy Steps https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-variations-slow https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-variations-slow#respond Wed, 17 Aug 2022 21:46:32 +0000 https://www.therichardknight.com/?p=191 So you setup your website, you’ve added all of your products, you made your site slick and pretty at the same time and now when you go to test out your product pages your Woocommerce Variations are SLOW. This is a big problem and the reason is because the longer it takes for your page to […]

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]]>

So you setup your website, you’ve added all of your products, you made your site slick and pretty at the same time and now when you go to test out your product pages your Woocommerce Variations are SLOW.

This is a big problem and the reason is because the longer it takes for your page to load (i.e – the slower your Woocommerce product page is) the lower your conversion rate (the less people who will buy your stuff).

The reason is simple. Amazon did a powerful study years ago where they basically tested the impact of page speed on their sales. And the results were downright SHOCKING!

10 years ago Amazon found that for every 100ms (that’s 1/10 th of a second) of wait time they lost 1% in sales.

Now that you know WHY you need to fix this As Soon As Possible here’s some steps to help fix the problem.

1. Check Your Average Product Page Load Speed

I’m very data driven and when it comes to resolving and diagnosing WordPress and woocommerce issues you should take a data driven approach as well.

So before you go off installing plugins, changing settings and potentially adding on to the problem, you need to figure out if its pages with lots of variations thats slow or is it all of them.

The easiest and fastest way to test your Woocommerce product page speed is to enter your product page URLs (not your homepage) into: https://gtmetrix.com/

I would recommend you test the following

  • Product page without variations
  • Product page with many variations
  • Product page with a few variations
  • Your homepage

Don’t look at anything other than the Fully Loaded Time

What you may find is that all of your pages are consistently around the same speed or certain product pages are slower than others.

2. Pick A Fast Webhost

Before I go over what to do in WordPress to help fix your slow Woocommerce Variations issue I cannot stress enough the importance of putting your WordPress site on a FAST webhost. 

The tips I’m about to give you are like strapping a rocket to your car. 

Which do you think would go faster, strapping a rocket to a car that has 3 flat tires or a car that has 4 brand new racing tires ready to go?

That’s what happens when you try to optimize WordPress while you’re on a crappy webhost.

And the reason is because all web hosting companies are NOT made equal. I had to learn this the hardway when I signed up for Bluehost. 

After getting some really flaky reporting with my sales (Google Analytics and my Facebook Pixel would constantly not report a large number of my sales) I finally went through my checkout process as if I was a customer. 

To my surprise my checkout confirmation page took FOREVER to load which was causing the issue. (check if you’re having this same issue as well)

Not only was my website slow while on Bluehost, they never turned my backups on! And yes, the only reason I found that out was when I had to restore my site due to a plugin issue.

After doing some digging, that not ever webhosts invests in fast servers. 

I eventually switched to Siteground which has servers optimized for WordPress and use SSD (Solid State Drives) and is highly recommended on tons of Facebook polls.

Once I moved my site over (they’ll migrate your site for free as well) every page on my website loaded dramatically faster.

3. Use A Cache Plugin

A cache plugin allows you to save “static” webpages on your server so after the first visit your page loads dramatically quicker.

The reason is because as your page loads WordPress is going to the database and finding all the information (and variations) that belongs on that product page. And depending on how much information it needs to pull from the database this can take a while especially if you’re on a slow webhost.

Siteground automatically comes with their own cache plugin called SG Optimizer.

But if you’re on another webhost I would highly recommend WP Rocket.

4. Optimize Your WordPress Database

Your WordPress database is where all your content and information lives on your WordPress site.

Overtime your WordPress database can become “bloated” and inefficient. There may be several revisions of posts that you don’t need, trashed, unapproved or SPAM comments, pingbacks, trackbacks and more.

The bigger your database is the longer it will take to WordPress to get the information it needs from it like your Woocommerce variations when your product page loads.

WP Rocket has a database cleanup tool but if you don’t want to use WP Rocket then I highly suggest WP Optimize.

5. Use Less Woocommerce Attributes

Woocommerce does not have a limit on the amount of variations you can add to a product page. But the more attributes you have for your products the more variations you are creating.

But if all the steps above don’t work and you narrowed your speed issue to your Woocommerce variations then I would suggest you find a way to use less attributes.

You might want to use a plugin to create check boxes or radio buttons to replace or limit having to make so many variations for your product page.

6. Hire A Woocommerce Expert

If the problem is a big issue you may want to have a Woocommerce expert take a look at your database queries, your database as a whole as well as your WordPress environment to see what is going on.

If you need help with this feel free to contact me.

In conclusion the faster you can make your product pages the higher your website conversions will be.

And if you follow these 6 tips I’m sure you’ll end up with a much faster loading product page by the end.

If you have any comments or questions or if you found this article helpful let me know in the comments.

The post Woocommerce Variations Slow? Fix it in 6 Easy Steps appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]> https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-variations-slow/feed 0 How to Speed Up Woocommerce in 6 Easy Steps https://www.therichardknight.com/speed-up-woocommerce https://www.therichardknight.com/speed-up-woocommerce#respond Wed, 17 Aug 2022 21:43:05 +0000 https://www.therichardknight.com/?p=178 If you’re looking to speed up Woocommerce quickly and easily then you’ve come to the right place. Having a fast loading website is CRITICAL to making the most amount of sales. The reason is simple. Amazon did a powerful study years ago where they basically tested the impact of page speed on their sales. And […]

The post How to Speed Up Woocommerce in 6 Easy Steps appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]>

If you’re looking to speed up Woocommerce quickly and easily then you’ve come to the right place. Having a fast loading website is CRITICAL to making the most amount of sales.

The reason is simple. Amazon did a powerful study years ago where they basically tested the impact of page speed on their sales. And the results were downright SHOCKING!

Amazon found that for every 100ms (that’s 1/10 th of a second) of wait time they lost 1% in sales. 

But the beauty is that it doesn’t have to be difficult and you don’t have to be a developer to see positive results.

Below are some quick tips I used to quickly speed up my Woocommerce and you can use to speed up your Woocommerce site as well.

1. Check Your Product Page Load Speed

Product pages are THE most important part of your Woocommerce site. These are the pages on your website that essentially turn visitors into SALES.

It’s important to find how fast these pages load before you make any changes or add any plugins. This way you can see what effect any changes have on their performance.

The easiest and fastest way to test your Woocommerce product page speed is to enter your product page URLs (not your homepage) into: https://gtmetrix.com/

I would recommend you test the following

  • Product page without variations
  • Product page with many variations
  • Product page with a few variations
  • Your homepage

Don’t look at anything other than the Fully Loaded Time

What you may find is that all of your pages are consistently around the same speed or certain product pages are slower than others.

2. Pick A Fast Webhost

Before I go over what to do in WordPress to help speed up your Woocommerce site I cannot stress enough the importance of putting your site on a FAST webhost. 

The tips I’m about to give you are like strapping a rocket to your car. 

Which do you think would go faster, strapping a rocket to a car that has 3 flat tires or a car that has 4 brand new racing tires ready to go?

That’s what happens when you try to optimize WordPress while you’re on a crappy webhost.

And the reason is because all web hosting companies are NOT made equal. I had to learn this the hardway when I signed up for Bluehost. 

After getting some really flaky reporting with my sales (Google Analytics and my Facebook Pixel would constantly not report a large number of my sales) I finally went through my checkout process as if I was a customer. 

To my surprise my checkout confirmation page took FOREVER to load which was causing the issue. (check if you’re having this same issue as well)

Not only was my website slow while on Bluehost, they never turned my backups on! And yes, the only reason I found that out was when I had to restore my site due to a plugin issue.

After doing some digging, that not ever webhosts invests in fast servers. 

I eventually switched to Siteground which has servers optimized for WordPress and use SSD (Solid State Drives) and is highly recommended on tons of Facebook polls.

Once I moved my site over (they’ll migrate your site for free as well) every page on my website loaded dramatically faster.

3. Use A Cache Plugin

A cache plugin allows you to save “static” webpages on your server so after the first visit your page loads dramatically quicker.

When it comes to page speed, communicating with a database is one of the slowest activities and attributes to a large amount of the wait time of loading a web page.

And virtually all of the information needed to load your webpage lives in your WordPress database.

And depending on how much information it needs to pull from the database this can take a while especially if you’re on a slow webhost.

Siteground automatically comes with their own cache plugin called SG Optimizer.

But if you’re on another webhost I would highly recommend WP Rocket.

4. Optimize Your WordPress Database

Your WordPress database is where all your content and information lives for your Woocommerce store.

Overtime your WordPress database can become “bloated” and inefficient. There may be several revisions of posts that you don’t need, trashed, unapproved or SPAM comments, pingbacks, trackbacks and more.

Think of your WordPress database like a huge filing cabinet. The more files you put in it and the bigger it is, the more difficult it is to find something.

The same is true for your database, the bigger it is and the more stuff it has inside, the longer it will take for WordPress to get the information it needs to load your Woocommerce pages.

WP Rocket has a database cleanup tool but if you don’t want to use WP Rocket then I highly suggest WP Optimize.

5. Use a Fast Woocommerce Theme

Not all themes are created equal. And this is definitely true when it comes to Woocommerce speed.

I know it can be difficult to find a theme that you like and has all the features let alone one that has all features you want AND loads fast.

I fell into this trap when I was trying to improve the load speed of my Woocommerce sites.

If you’re looking for a fast Woocommerce theme, I would highly recommend looking at the Flatsome Theme.

It has tons of great features that make building your Woocomerce site quick and easy. (I love the UX builder and the Flatsome studio) but it loads FAST.

Quick way to find Fast Woocommerce Themes

Most themes have a demo site, especially if you’re searching on Themeforest.

To check their speed, just go to their demo site and enter the url into GTMetrix. I would also check to see how fast their product pages load as well (especially ones with a lot of variations).

6. Hire a Woocommerce Expert

If you think your Woocommerce site is still slow after taking all of these steps then I would highly recommend you have a Woocommerce expert take a look at your database queries, your database as a whole as well as your WordPress environment to see what is going on.

If you need help with this feel free to contact me.

In conclusion the faster you can make your product pages and home page the higher your website conversions will be.

And if you follow these 6 tips I’m sure you’ll end up with a much faster loading product page by the end.

If you have any comments or questions or if you found this article helpful let me know in the comments.

The post How to Speed Up Woocommerce in 6 Easy Steps appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]> https://www.therichardknight.com/speed-up-woocommerce/feed 0 Quick Tutorial: woocommerce_single_product_summary Hook https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-single-product-summary-hook https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-single-product-summary-hook#respond Wed, 17 Aug 2022 21:32:13 +0000 https://www.therichardknight.com/?p=161 The post Quick Tutorial: woocommerce_single_product_summary Hook appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]>

Are you trying to update your Woocommerce single product pages?

In the next few minutes you will discover how to dynamically update, edit and change the woocommerce_single_product_summary hook for your Woocommerce product pages.

Best use(s) of this hook:

When you want to update, modify or add something in the summary section / (div) of the product page which is typically found on the right side of the product page.

You’ll see what I mean with the example later.

Usage

				
					add_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', string $callback_function , int $priority = 10);

Parameters:

  1. $callback_function
    1. (string) (Required) name of callback function
  2. $priority
    1. (int) (Optional) Used to specify the order in which the functions associated with a particular action are executed. Lower numbers correspond with earlier execution, and functions with the same priority are executed in the order in which they were added to the action.

Default value: 10

Type of Hook: Action

When Is This Hook Executed

This hook is executed after: woocommerce_after_single_product_summary hook.

This hook is executed before: woocommerce_before_single_product_summary hook

Default Actions That Use The Woocommerce_Single_Product_Summary Hook

Below are functions that are automatically added to this hook by Woocommerce.

You can control when your function will be executed within this hook by changing the priority of your callback function. (lower number equals higher priority)

For example: If you want your function to execute before any of these functions then set your priority to less than 10.

				
					add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_title’, 5 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_rating’, 10 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_price’, 10 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_excerpt’, 20 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_add_to_cart’, 30 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_meta’, 40 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_template_single_sharing’, 50 );

How to Use This Hook

You can easily add your own function to this hook by the add_action() function. Simply add the following code in your functions.php file in your theme. (hopefully you’re using a child theme) 
				
					// Define your callback function
function my_custom_function_name ( $optional_values ) {
    // enter your code here...
};

// Add this action to the hook
add_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', 'my_custom_function_name', 10);

How to Remove an Action From This Hook

You can also remove an action that has been added to this hook by using the remove_action() function. Simply add the following code in your functions.php file in your theme.

Below is an example of how we would remove the example above from this hook:

				
					// remove the action 
remove_action( 'woocommerce_single_product_summary', 'my_custom_function_name', 10);

Woocommerce_Single_Product_Summary  Example (With Sample Code):

Lets say I wanted to highlight each product that was tagged “Editor’s Choice”

Before woocommerce_single_product_summary Hook update

Here is an example of how you would use the woocommerce_single_product_summary Hook to do it

				
					// By using priority 15 the following function will execute after the display price function

add_action( ‘woocommerce_single_product_summary’, ‘update_product_summary’, 15 );

function update_product_summary (){
	$editors_choice_slug_str = ‘editors-choice’;
	$editors_choice_html = ‘<span class=”editor-product”><img width=”40″ src=”https://www.whoisrichardknight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/check-mark.jpg”>Editor\’s Choice (10% Off)‘;
  
  // Get product tags
	$prod_tags_array = get_terms( ‘product_tag’ );
  
	if ( !empty( $prod_tags_array ) && !is_wp_error( $prod_tags_array ) ) :   
		foreach ( $prod_tags_array as $tag_obj ) :		
			// If the product has a tag with the slug set to “editors-choice” then add Editor’s Choice text to product summary
			if ($tag_obj->slug == $editors_choice_slug_str) :
				echo $editors_choice_html;
			endif;
		endforeach;
	endif;
}

After woocommerce_single_product_summary Hook Modification

 

** Remember there is an endless number of customizations you can do with this hook to help increase your Woocommerce sales, this is just one “tiny” example.

Code Definition

This action is defined / executed in the following Woocommerce location(s):

Woocommerce_Single_Product_Summary Hook Resource Links

The post Quick Tutorial: woocommerce_single_product_summary Hook appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]> https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-single-product-summary-hook/feed 0 Quick Tutorial: woocommerce_before_single_product_summary Hook https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-before-single-product-summary-hook https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-before-single-product-summary-hook#respond Wed, 17 Aug 2022 20:49:23 +0000 https://www.therichardknight.com/?p=110 The post Quick Tutorial: woocommerce_before_single_product_summary Hook appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]>

Are you trying to update your Woocommerce single product pages?

In the next few minutes you will discover how to dynamically update, edit and change the woocommerce_before_single_product_summary hook for your Woocommerce product pages.

Best use(s) of this hook:

When you want to update, modify or add something before the summary section / (div) of the product page.

The exact placement and div that encloses this hook depends on your theme but this hook typically controls the left side of the product page.

This usually consists of the product images, product thumbnails and the “SALE” image.

Usage

				
					add_action( 'woocommerce_before_single_product_summary', string $callback_function , int $priority = 10);

Parameters:

  1. $callback_function
    1. (string) (Required) name of callback function
  2. $priority
    1. (int) (Optional) Used to specify the order in which the functions associated with a particular action are executed. Lower numbers correspond with earlier execution, and functions with the same priority are executed in the order in which they were added to the action.

Default value: 10

Type of Hook: Action

When Is This Hook Executed

This hook is executed after: woocommerce_single_product_summary hook.

This hook is executed before: woocommerce_before_single_product hook

Default Actions That Use The Woocommerce_Before_Single_Product_Summary Hook

Below are functions that are automatically added to this hook by Woocommerce.

You can control when your function will be executed within this hook by changing the priority of your callback function. (lower number equals higher priority)

For example: If you want your function to execute before any of these functions then set your priority to less than 10.

				
					add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_show_product_sale_flash’, 10 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_show_product_images’, 20 );
add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘woocommerce_show_product_thumbnails’, 20 );

How to Use This Hook

You can easily add your own function to this hook by the add_action() function. Simply add the following code in your functions.php file in your theme. (hopefully you’re using a child theme) 
				
					// Define your callback function
function my_custom_function_name ( $optional_values ) {
    // enter your code here...
};

// Add this action to the hook
add_action( 'woocommerce_before_single_product_summary', 'my_custom_function_name', 10);

How to Remove an Action From This Hook

You can also remove an action that has been added to this hook by using the remove_action() function. Simply add the following code in your functions.php file in your theme.

Below is an example of how we would remove the example above from this hook:

				
					// remove the action 
remove_action( 'woocommerce_before_single_product_summary', 'my_custom_function_name', 10);

Woocommerce_Before_Single_Product_Summary  Example (With Sample Code):

Lets say I wanted to highlight each product that was tagged “WordPress Essential Service” by having text that appeared before the product image.

Before woocommerce_before_single_product_summary Hook update

Here is an example of how you would use the woocommerce_before_single_product_summary Hook to do it

				
					// By using priority 5 the following function will execute after the display price function
add_action( ‘woocommerce_before_single_product_summary’, ‘update_before_product_summary’, 5 );

function update_before_product_summary (){
	$wp_essential_slug_str = ‘wordpress-essential-service’;
	$wp_essential_html = ‘<span class=”wp-essential-service”><img width=”40″ src=”https://www.whoisrichardknight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/check-mark.jpg”>Wordpress Essential Service‘;

	// Get product tags
	$prod_tags_array = get_terms( ‘product_tag’ );

	if ( !empty( $prod_tags_array ) && !is_wp_error( $prod_tags_array ) ) :
		foreach ( $prod_tags_array as $tag_obj ) :
			// If the product has a tag with the slug set to “wordpress-essential-service” then add text to product page
			if ($tag_obj->slug == $wp_essential_slug_str) :
				echo $wp_essential_html;
			endif;
		endforeach;
	endif;
}

After woocommerce_before_single_product_summary Hook

** There is an endless number of customizations you can do with this hook as well as any of the other woocommerce product page hooks… this is just one “tiny” example.

Code Definition

This action is defined / executed in the following Woocommerce location(s):

Woocommerce_Before_Single_Product_Summary Hook Resource Links

The post Quick Tutorial: woocommerce_before_single_product_summary Hook appeared first on Home of The Richard Knight.

]]> https://www.therichardknight.com/woocommerce-before-single-product-summary-hook/feed 0