Special offer

WordPress Widget Plugins | Quantity vs. Quality or Both?

By
Real Estate Agent with Savvy + Company (704) 491-3310 228209

WordPress Widget/Plugins | Quantity vs. Quality or Both?

Working with several other real estate agents, together to solve the world's problems with WordPress, I've learned how little I truly knew about WP!  During the learning process, one puzzling piece of the pie has always been widget plugins.  How many do  I need and how many are too many? 

I have interviewed several site designers who repeatedly tell me that you need no more than 5-10 widgets on your site.  Should you have more than that, "your site will be bogged down and you will lose potential consumers because of your site's slower load time."

WordPress Tips CPU HogsWell, if any of you real estate agents have a WP site, you KNOW that 5-10 is impossible--heck, you can have that many just with your IDX and generic search widgets!  We have repeatedly tried to minimize the number of widgets that we use but, in order to promote your site and optimize SEO, you truly do need more than 10 to accomplish that.  If you have the 'perfect' 5-10 widget plugins, are you offering the maximum experience for the consumer visiting your site?  You could very well be but, at a recent real estate conference, many who had over 10K visitors per month to their sites said that they have over 15-20 widget plugins and their sites are optimized to perfection.

I have someone monitoring my WP sites on a daily basis to determine load time, randomly checking for typos, topics, etc.  I've definitely learned to grow thicker skin as there always seems to be something up with my sites that someone doesn't like!  Plugin widgets tend to be the culprits when a site is loading poorly and if you've recently added a new widget, it's generally that new one that is causing the issue and becomes an easy fix (time-wise).   It's when you've done a major overhaul one day, adding and deleting multiple widgets, etc. that pose the real problems.

So, while doing a little research with regards to the widget plugins, I found this great tool to help if your WP site seems to be a bit bogged down.  PluginHog Detector (a plugin that reveals CPU stats via table format), can help you diagnose your own problem--and it's free. 

My suggestion:  Those of you with slow-loading sites, install this plugin and see for yourself.  As the author suggested in the link above, turning off the plug-in or deleting the widget, one by one, in order to detect the CPU hogging culprit, is difficult and time-consuming.  The 'zillions' of plugin widgets that we're using are all listed on the PlugIn Hog Detector table, demonstrating which of them are the real CPU hogs.

More and more developers are working diligently to make the new widget plugins CPU-efficient because to many of us, it's about having as many good quality widget plugins as our consumer deands.  There are also sites available with lists of widget plugins that are both CPU-friendly and CPU drainingIf you're curious about the potential CPU drainage from a particular plugin, Google it and carefully read the reviews before installing it.

Comments (56)

Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Debe - OMG, does it ever end?! Seriously, thank you.  I know what I'm going to be doing in the next day or two.

Apr 09, 2011 06:17 PM
Sharon Alters
Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty - 904-673-2308 - Fleming Island, FL
Realtor - Homes for Sale Fleming Island FL

Debe, this is definitely great information for people like me who are going to be building WP sites this year. Thanks for sharing!

Sharon

Apr 09, 2011 06:31 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Debe, Or should I say the new WP Tech, Congratulations and Well done. This post sounds almost like a Brad Andersohn tutorial.  Thanks for sharing this most timely and helpful resource.

Apr 09, 2011 07:06 PM
Alan Gross
PrimeLending, A PlainsCapital Company, Equal Housing Lender - Bethesda, MD
Loan Consultant

Thanks for the tip. I use Wordpress for 2 web sites.

Apr 10, 2011 12:34 AM
Ritu Desai 703-625-4949
Samson Properties - Chantilly, VA
Northern Virginia,Washington DC & Maryland Realtor

Thank you Debe, never thought about wordpress hog. We are focus in providing much information that we do underestimate these cool widgets can take over our sites. Thanks again!!!

Apr 10, 2011 12:47 AM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Thank you Debe, I had not heard of this pluggin! It is a constant battle isn't it? I hope I can add it, me and pluggins don't get along.

 

Apr 10, 2011 01:58 AM
Andrea Merriott
PalmerHouse Properties - Smyrna, GA

Thanks for the tips. I am transferring to a WP blog and I never thought that plugins can slow down your site.

Apr 10, 2011 02:25 AM
Russell Lewis
Realty Austin, Austin Texas Real Estate - Austin, TX
Broker,CLHMS,GRI

Hi Debe, this is so timely for me as I try and get my wordpress launched. Judging by the comments, it seems a lot of folks are doing this in conjunction with our AR blogs!

Apr 10, 2011 02:33 AM
Bill Burchard
3B Realty: 951-347-3818, CA - Murrieta, CA
Broker, Realtor, Representing Buyers and Sellers

Good morning, Debe. I have yet to move to WP, but now that I’m considering it, I’m glad you alerted me to this tool. Thanks!

Apr 10, 2011 03:46 AM
Debe Maxwell, CRS
Savvy + Company (704) 491-3310 - Charlotte, NC
The RIGHT CHARLOTTE REALTOR!

Jennifer:  Thanks!  Good luck with the hog!

John:  You're correct--my problem has been that one of the IDXs that I use (plugin) has numerous widgets to it and when I add one of the widgets, it completely slows my site; the others run like tops.  Don't know if it's something with the code in that particular widget but, you'd think that that issue would have come up with other users as well.  

Inna:  Thanks!  Hey, I have an issue with one of my plugins--when I add one of the widgets within the IDX plugin, everything crawls like a turtle--drives me nuts!  One would think that the entire plugin would run as a complete package, at the same speed whether you use 1 or 5 of the widgets.  And I love the SEO all-in-one package--great widgets in that one too.

Lana:  That's correct--we try to keep them to a minimum but, want everything that a consumer would want, readily available to them.  So, we're having fun 'experimenting!'

David:  Thanks!

Christine:  The best tip that I can give anyone doing this is to check load time on all browsers after EACH plugin (or widget) addition!!  Have fun with the hog!

Sharon:  Thanks and good luck with yours...it's definitely a work in progress, isn't it?!

William:  You're too kind and if you only knew how little I know about WP!  I love learning but, I've still got a TON to learn!  And, Brad Andersohn taught me well and if only I had a 10th of his knowledge to share...!

Alan:  Me too and there's SO much to learn, isn't there?

 

Apr 10, 2011 03:54 AM
Debe Maxwell, CRS
Savvy + Company (704) 491-3310 - Charlotte, NC
The RIGHT CHARLOTTE REALTOR!

Missy:  I know--I have heard!  LOL  I don't think you'll have any problems and you can always delete if it hogs your CPUs.

Andrea:  Some of us love every widget that comes out--but, some developers don't take into consideration 'other' plugins that we may be using and they just suck the life right out of your load time!

Russell:  It's a great way to use the two to compliment one another.  Plus, I love the AR love that my site gets!!

Bill:  You should give it a whirl--at least for your IDX.

Apr 10, 2011 04:00 AM
Michelle Minch
Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA - Los Angeles, CA
Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA

Debe: Thanks for this great information. I haven't counted, but I'll bet I'm in the 15-20 plug-in range. I will try this tool. I'd like my site to load faster, but I hope I don't have to delete any plug-ins. I use them all (or delete them when I don't) so I'd hate to lose that functionality.

Apr 10, 2011 04:56 AM
Evelyn Kennedy
Alain Pinel Realtors - Alameda, CA
Alameda, Real Estate, Alameda, CA

Debe:

I'm going to try it.  Hopefully it will help.  Thanks for the heads-up

Apr 10, 2011 05:37 AM
Rita Roninki
Luminary Elements - Broomfield, CO

Forgot to mention another thing. Many, well some designers prefer to code "items" onto the WP rather than use plugin for everything. This is a good way to eliminate some issues that arise due to clitches that some plugins may have. And Yoast offers another awesome SEO tool (yes - a plugin) similar to SEO all in one.

~ Rita

Apr 10, 2011 09:57 AM
Coleen DeGroff
Coldwell Banker M.M. Parrish Realtors - Gainesville, FL
Haile Plantation Real Estate - Gainesville FL

Hi Debe - Thanks for the tip! I've bookmarked this for reference. Right now I'm having my site revamped, and it's already running faster thanks to Inna and Jon Hardison. :)

Apr 10, 2011 11:13 AM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Debe-pretty popular subject! Thanks for the information and the link, good stuff.

Apr 10, 2011 12:15 PM
C. Lloyd McKenzie
Living Albuquerque - Albuquerque, NM
Living Albuquerque

Thanks Debe.  I like this info.  I will definitely take a closer look at it.

Apr 13, 2011 03:00 PM
Rebekah Radice
Imagine WOW! Digital Marketing Agency - Burbank, CA
Social Media Marketing, Coaching & Training

I have been working to find my plugin "hog" for days since my site really slowed down.  This is terrific!  Thank you so much Debe!!

May 02, 2011 04:02 AM
Sharon Paxson
Sharon Paxson, Realtor® EQTY Forbes Global Properties - Newport Beach, CA
Newport Beach Real Estate

Hi Debe -thanks for this information, and I am going to find out what is hogging on my site. Appreciate the info!

May 09, 2011 10:52 AM
Anonymous
Melbourne Golf Courses

Great article guys! Anyone know of any good golf travel websites? Ones similar to this one I found for Melbourne Golf Courses in Victoria. http://www.melbournegolfcourses.com.au

Jan 13, 2012 10:08 AM
#56