Introduction

OpenMetal, a pioneer in automated bare metal and on-demand private cloud solutions, needed a digital transformation for their website to enhance its performance and ease of management.

As a company dedicated to cutting-edge cloud technology, OpenMetal prioritized a fast, seamless user experience and a streamlined publishing workflow. However, their website faced performance challenges that impacted not only user engagement but also the team’s ability to efficiently publish new content.

OpenMetal turned to Platform i Managed WordPress and Pro Services for a comprehensive solution to optimize their website performance and simplify workflow management.

The Challenge

Manual Caching and Performance Issues

The OpenMetal marketing team was bogged down by a tedious, manual process for purging their website’s cache whenever updates or content changes were made. This not only added time to their publishing process but also introduced opportunities for human error. The caching system had to be manually cleared every time new content was added or any adjustments were made, creating a frustrating bottleneck for the marketing team. It also exposed the site to potential performance lags when cached assets weren’t cleared properly, meaning that users could experience delays or even broken site elements when loading pages.

Compounding these workflow issues, recent updates to OpenMetal’s website had unintentionally led to some performance declines. For example, a plugin that had been removed was still leaving its assets cached in the system. This caused persistent 400 errors, slowing down page load speeds and impacting user experience. Every time a user tried to access these outdated assets, the site’s performance suffered, resulting in a suboptimal experience that didn’t align with OpenMetal’s brand promise of fast, reliable cloud infrastructure.

The Solution

To address these issues, OpenMetal engaged the Platform i Managed WordPress team and PageSpeed Pros for an in-depth performance audit and tailored optimization plan.

PageSpeed Pros quickly diagnosed that the website’s manual caching system was too error-prone and recommended a more streamlined approach. One of the first steps was clearing out the residual cached assets from the recently removed plugin, which was causing the 400 errors. This purge helped to stabilize the site, improving page load times and reducing errors that had been affecting the user experience.

The Platform i Managed WordPress team and PageSpeed Pros took further steps to ensure OpenMetal’s website would run smoothly under various traffic conditions. By performing a series of specialized optimizations, they prepared the site to handle surges in user traffic without compromising speed or reliability.

• MySQL Tuning and Optimization to improve the efficiency of the database. This tuning allowed the website to retrieve queries much faster and handle larger requests, which is especially important for high-traffic cloud solution providers like OpenMetal.
• PHP Worker and Configuration Adjustments to help manage concurrent user requests effectively, the team adjusted PHP workers, ensuring that the site could maintain its performance under higher traffic loads without lagging or crashing.
• Redis Configuration Optimization along with the Redis Object Cache plugin provided OpenMetal’s website with a faster and more efficient data retrieval system. Redis also added resilience to traffic spikes, maintaining a seamless experience for users even during peak times.
• W3 Total Cache Configuration provides the site with their smart cache purge and rebuild system, page caching, minification, concatenation and advanced browser caching directives to help ensure a great user experience

These optimizations transformed OpenMetal’s website from a manually-intensive, error-prone system into a highly automated, efficient, and resilient platform.

The Results

After implementing the customized performance improvements, OpenMetal experienced remarkable improvements across key metrics:

• 55% Increase in Page Load Speed: Faster load times improved the overall user experience, keeping visitors engaged.
• 15% Lift in Conversions: Enhanced performance contributed to higher user engagement and conversions.
• 100% Reduction in Bounce Rate: The elimination of errors and slowdowns resulted in visitors staying on the site longer.

By leveraging Platform i Managed WordPress, W3 Total Cache and the PageSpeed Pro Services, OpenMetal achieved both a high-performing website and an efficient, automated workflow that allowed their team to focus on growth, not maintenance. This case demonstrates the impact of a collaborative approach to optimizing WordPress performance and streamlining digital workflows.

OpenMetal’s case is a testament to the transformative impact of InMotion Hosting’s purpose-built servers for improving website performance. Businesses experiencing similar challenges are encouraged to reach out to InMotion Hosting to unlock the full potential of their online presence.