WordPress currently powers 40%+ websites, however inefficient workflows can slow down development and degrade performance. If you want to streamline WordPress development process and learn how to improve your WordPress website, you are in the right place.
In this guide, we’ll be exploring 10 expert-backed techniques to make you work faster, perform better, and produce great websites with minimal effort.
Table of Contents
The Reason Behind the Need to Streamline WordPress Development Process
Before we start looking into them, let’s see why efficiency is important:
- Project Delivery Time – Spend less time on going through the motions.
- Performance Efficient – Optimized workflow to improve WP website speed.
- Improved Customer Satisfaction – Faster turnarounds results in more satisfied customers.
- Get More Creative Time – Spend less time troubleshooting and more time creating.
So, here we are going to look at the top 10 ways to enhance your WordPress Workflow.
1. Start with a ready-made Theme or Framework
Start from scratch is a waste of time. Use a starter theme or framework such as:
- Underscores (_s) – A bare-bones, developer-friendly WordPress theme.
- Genesis Framework – Secure and optimized for SEO.
- Sage by Roots – Modern WordPress workflow with the Blade template engine.
Pro Tip: Compile useful code snippets into a custom plugin for use in future projects.
2. Local Development before Deployment
Editing in the live site is dangerous and slow. Instead, use something which mimics a dev environment:
- Local by Flywheel (Easiest for beginners)
- DevKinsta (Free, by Kinsta)
- Docker (Advanced, scalable)
Bonus: Employ WP Migrate DB Pro for effortlessly keeping your databases on your local and live sites in sync.
3. Use Gulp or Webpack to make repetitive tasks automatic
Compiling SASS, minifying JS, optimizing images by hand … costs time. Automate these tasks with:
- Gulp – Ideal for small level workflows.
- Webpack – Good for BIG projects.
Example Gulp Workflow:
const gulp = require('gulp');
const sass = require('gulp-sass')(require('sass'));
const minify = require('gulp-clean-css');
gulp.task('sass', function() {
return gulp.src('scss/*.scss')
.pipe(sass())
.pipe(minify())
.pipe(gulp.dest('css'));
});
This helps streamline WordPress development process by eliminating manual steps.
4. Optimize Images for the Web Before You Upload Them
Big pics are slowing your site down. Increase the speed of the WordPress site by:
- Auto-optimizing with ShortPixel or Imagify.
- Converting images to WebP (30% smaller then JPEG ).
- Lazy loading using Lazy Load by WP Rocket.
Pro Tip: Place a maximum image size in your WordPress settings to stop large uploads.
5. Leverage a Caching Plugin
Caching helps to decrease server load and increase page performance. Top choices:
- WP Rocket (Premium -Easiest to configure, less headaches)
- LiteSpeed Cache (Free + best-in-class)
- W3 Total Cache (Advanced settings)
Bonus: Enable browser caching via .htaccess:
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access 1 year"
ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 month"
</IfModule>
6. Global Speed Boost from CDN
With CDNs (content delivery networks), static files are stored on servers around the world, and are served to visitors from the servers that are the closest to the user, in order to optimize website speed, and provide better browsing experience.
Best CDNs for WordPress:
- Cloudflare (Free plan available)
- BunnyCDN (Affordable & fast)
- StackPath (Enterprise-grade)
You have to do this to improve WordPress website speed for international users.
7. Reduce and Only Use Necessary Plugins
Too many plugins = bloat. Audit your plugins and:
- Get rid of dormant plugins (they still load php checks).
- Replace combinations of plugins with multi features ones (e.g., Perfmatters for performance tweaks).
- Use Plugin Performance Profiler to locate slow plugins.
Recommended Plugins for Optimisation:
- Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) – Custom development both functional and design friendly.
- Query Monitor – Monitor performance issues.
8. Enable Debugging & Logging
Fixing errors quickly saves hours. Enable debugging in wp-config.php:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); // Logs errors to /wp-content/debug.log
Pro Tip: Use Query Monitor to track slow database queries.
9. Implement Version Control with Git
Avoid losing changes and collaborate efficiently with Git.
Basic Git Workflow:
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin [your-repository-url]
git push -u origin master
Hosting Options:
GitHub (Free for public repos)
Bitbucket (Free private repos)
GitLab (Self-hosted option)
10. Schedule Regular Maintenance
A site that is an up-to-date website is faster. Set a monthly routine to:
- Update the WordPress core, themes and plugins.
- Clean the DB (with WP-Optimize).
- Find and fix deadlinks (use Broken Link Checker).
- Back up your site (use UpdraftPlus).
Automated Backup: Save to Google Drive, Dropbox or AWS S3.
Conclusion: Work Smarter, Not Harder
By implementing the 10 different ways to streamline WordPress development process, you will:
- Save yourself the time of repeating task.
- Speed Up WordPress website for better SEO.
- Get your projects done quicker with less headaches.
Now that you’re ready to get schoolwork done head on over to the app store! Now it is time to start using what you have learned.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is streamlining WordPress development important?
Optimizing your process not only saves time, but ensures less errors and increases the quality your website. Faster development process results in faster project delivery and more happy clients.
2. In what way can a starter theme be beneficial in the development process?
Clean, optimized starter themes (such as Underscores or Sage) take the legwork out for you. This reduces development time considerably.
3. What’s the benefit of local WordPress development?
Progress sites (like Local by Flywheel) enable you to test changes locally, mitigating live site risk and helping you debug faster without any impact to your end-users.
4. How does the speed of WordPress gets increased with caching?
Caching plugins (such as WP Rocket) save static versions of pages so they load more quickly, which can improve server performance and speed by up to 80%.
5. How can I optimize images most easily?
You can utilize tools such as ShortPixel, or cron up the WebP conversion you need to auto-compress images losslessly. Plus, you lazy load media that’s offscreen.
