@roryramsden Installing a plugin like WP Super Cache (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/) works wonders, along with making sure the images you use on your page are optimized for smaller file size.

@roryramsden Make sure the blog is hosted on Linux not Windows servers. Then tell us who your host is and  ask questions on here about the hosting company you are using! I am  a web developer so I have installed / maintained many WordPress blogs across a variety of hosting companies. Many of my clients already have hosting when they come to me, so I have been ‘introduced’ to many hosting companies without seeking them out myself. I do not move installations just for the sake of it (FWIW I hate the work of moving from one host to another… so many hidden gotcha’s… not how I choose to earn money but sometimes it just has to be done). But I have definitely seen with my own two eyes and my own little stopwatch that there can be a HUGE HUGE multi second difference in performance between the right host and the wrong one.

@Kristi Hines Thanks for that Kristi. I’m using W3 Total Cache right now. What are your thoughts

@Glen Gorham  How many widgets and plugins is too many? Is it possible to state a maximum number that should not be exceeded?

To piggyback offwhat @glengorham said, not only do you need to watch the number of active plugins running, you also need to limit the number of plugins you have on your page.

Even the inactive plugins take time, because WP has to chug along and see if each of them are running. If you have a plugin that you deactivated so you can test it out later, or because you want to get back to it, just delete it. That will save you a lot of load time.

@roryramsden I do not think the problem is Bluehost per se… I have been using them as my host of choice for WP for about a year. I have seen huge improvements as I have moved some WP installs from other vendors. agree with @erikdeckers and @seancookceo-salyrisstudios as well, having ruled out the host as the likely culprit (and your original question was to find the most likely issue) there are still refinements you can make. I very much doubt that you are on Windows servers at Bluehost, but it is another likely guilty suspect to get off your list.

@erikdeckers @abigailgorton @Sean Cook, CEO Salyris Studios Thank you all for your valuable insights, I will ask Bluehost about the LAMP set up if only to remove it from the list of suspects…
@Sean Cook, CEO Salyris Studios You certainly nailed the responsive design issue. That’s my next job. Then we’ll see where we go from there

I very much appreciate your help

@erikdeckers @abigailgorton @Sean Cook, CEO Salyris Studios  I have been told that one of the key areas that would quickly improve the performance of a WP blog is to use relative paths (/home/www/folder) for content instead of absolute path (http://www.xyz.com/folder).

Does this reduces the http requests made by the page and therefore increase performance? And it it does, what about existing backlinks?

I’d be grateful for your thoughts

@roryramsden No difference in http requests for relative vs. absolute URL’s. It’s preferable to have ONE URL to reference every object and page on your site called the canonical URL. Having multiple ways to refer to the same object or page can lead to split link equity and duplicate issues, others who share your blog posts/RSS, images and search engines are not perfect either, so stick with absolute URL’s for pages and images. 

Relative links just make life so much easier for people to mass copy an entire website and have it run on a new domain name.  A good SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO will help out with canonicalization. 

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^salyris.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.salyris.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|css|js|pl|txt|swf|flv)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php
IndexOptions FancyIndexing

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This sets your site to http://www.yourdomain.com and redirects allhttp://yourdomain.com with a safe 301 redirection which is good for SEO.

@roryramsden You’re welcome Rory. It is tough to know all the right answers. Sometimes it is just knowing the right questions. Your questions need an expert in many different technical fields to be able to give you clear answers. From those answers, there are choices to be made based on your budget constraints, which is something I deal with on a daily basis with all of my clients. 

Let me know if you need any other assistance.