We all want a quicker WordPress website – who doesn’t?
Yet that’s easier said than done – and usually results in being forced to pay more or download lots of plugins or read lots of tutorials.
So, that’s why today I’ll be checking out the free Flying Pages WordPress Plugin, which promises quicker loading times for your website immediately upon installation, with no hassle involved.
Making sure to review its features; pros and cons; how to use and install it; and whether I would recommend getting it.
Let’s get on with it.
Why Does Site Speed Matter?
Firstly, why should you even be bothered about how quick your site loads?
There are two main reasons.
Having quicker loading times, boosts your conversion rates.
47% of people expect your site to load in less than 2 seconds, and 40% will abandon it entirely if it takes longer than 3 seconds.
Evidently, customers aren’t interested in a site which takes a long time to load, and therefore reduces your sales and conversions
The other point is that Google takes into account site speed when ranking websites – which could affect your placement, and therefore hinder traffic reaching your website.
This will in turn also affect your conversion rates.
Basically, site speed is super important – so there is a massive reason to be considering installing a plugin like Flying Pages.
What Is Flying Pages?
So, what actually is Flying Pages.
Created by Gijo Varghese, the founder of WP Speed Matters, Flying Pages is a free WordPress plugin which preloads pages before the user clicks on them, making them load much quicker.
This means that once someone has entered your website, navigating around it becomes an almost instantaneous process.
It works by detecting the pages on the viewport, so makes sure they are already preloaded ready for when the person clicks them.
Although it doesn’t improve the actual initial loading time, everything done on your website after internally becomes super quick.
Flying Pages’ Features
Preloads Pages – preloads pages when on viewport, or can be configured in settings, to preload when mouse hovers.
Configurable Settings – you have the ability to change the max number of preloading requests per second, the delay to start preloading, and what keywords to ignore.
Intelligence – Stops preloading if the server is busy, has crashed, or if the user connection is slow.
Pros of Flying Pages
Considerably improves internal page loading times.
Very easy to install and use.
Compatible with other cache plugins, and Google Analytics
Cons of Flying Pages
Doesn’t speed up initial load time – but that isn’t what the plugin is for so you can’t be too mad!
FAQ
The GTMetrix Fully Load Time Increased after Installing Flying Pages. Why?
Although this is true, having Flying Pages neither affects the TTFB, First Contentful Paint or Time to Interactive – so will load in exactly same time.
If you are worried though, he advises you to increase the ‘delay to start preloading’ or set it to preload only on mouse hovering – and it should go back down.
Should You Use A Cache Plugin with It?
Yes, it is very much recommended to also use a cache plugin (like WPRocket) , to make sure that you don’t use up too many resources with the preloading.
Does using Flying Pages increase bandwidth usage or server load?
It uses very minimal amounts of bandwidth and will slightly increase server load – although both shouldn’t be impactful.
How to Install Flying Pages?
To install, all you have to do is navigate over to Plugins on your WordPress dashboard.
Press add new plugin and type up Flying Pages.
Then press install and activate.
How to Use Flying Pages?
Once installed and activated, it should automatically be running on your website, and should be pretty evident.
To configure your settings, navigate to Settings then Flying Pages, or Installed Plugins and press settings under Flying Pages.
Take note that ‘disable for logged in admins’ will be automatically on, so you might not notice a difference, although you can check this video to see how to make sure it is running correctly (or open an incognito browser/ log out/ separate device and try it out).
Alternatives to Flying Pages
Gijo himself has written an article comparing Flying Pages to the two other competitors on the market: Quicklink and Instant.page.
He explains how Quicklink can cause server crashes, and as it fetches all the links during the initial load, can miss other later on.
Instant.page only offers preloading after hovering which often isn’t effective, as most users would click too quickly for them to begin preloading (LSCache Instant Click, another similar product, has a similar problem).
Flying Page solves all these problems.
Although he would of course be biased, after trying both of these other plugins, I myself prefer Flying Page – as an all-in-one simple solution.
Reviews
Flying Pages has over 4000 Active Installations, and 33 5-star ratings – a 100% record!
I myself have yet to see any negative reviews – but will show some positive ones here if you want the little nudge to install it.
This is the best plugin I ever tried. So simple and so efficient. This is a brilliant idea Gijo Varghese had here. A big thanks to him for sharing his work. Too bad Google doesn’t see the difference on loading time, but user experience is improved and that’s the most important.
Easily one of the simplest, most effective solutions for getting faster page load speeds when navigating between interior pages of your site. Soon to be installed on all my client sites. Highly recommended!
Conclusion – Would I Recommend Installing Flying Pages?
Overall, I would 100% recommend using Flying Pages.
It is very effective at improving your internal site speeds, and thus improves user experience and conversion rates – as well as impressing Google!
Compared to its competitors, it definitely stands out as the full package – and the one I would recommend installing, considering he is also consistently updating it.
It’s helped my site out a lot – and if you want to see it in action, check out the rest of my website.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I’ll try answer them or get in touch with Gijo.
Talk Soon, The E-Commerce Entrepreneur