Best way to get the fastest WordPress site with existing template

[FierceFrame]

I have a WordPress website that I started building for free and eventually paid the $50 bucks for the premium version.  My goal right now is to increase the speed.  The current speed rating for the site on Google Insights is 60/100 for mobile and 66/100 for desktop.  I have used some plugins to help me increase the speed, but the previous number were the best I could do.  How can I get this site at least into the 90/100 range?  Should I buy another template, or can I hire someone to go through and optimize it.  I would like the best option that is as cost effective as possible as this is a hobby site for me.  Thanks!

[LesleyPaone]

I haven't chosen to ignore a lot of the page speed recommendations personally. To me this is one area where Google has been unclear on and I have chosen to follow it the way I think they mean.

They have said that site speed is a ranking factor. But does that mean their page speed score is factored into it? I tend to think it does not. Which would you rather have, a site that loads in .5 seconds with a page speed score of 60 or one that loads in 3 seconds with a 100 page speed score? I want the first one. I use the suggestions as simple suggestions that I have to determine if they are worth the time and effort.

Do you have a link to your site, I can tell you what I would do.

[Stramark]

Consider moving over to a CDN. For instance wp engine helps you move over and is way faster..

[Tom-Anthony]

This is a hard question to answer without knowing the reasons why your site is possibly under performing on page speed tests. There could be a variety of reasons.

I'd recommend a caching plugin, and that your images are all appropriately sized and then, as Stramark suggests, you could look at a CDN to help alleviate the problem.

A new theme/template may help, but is unlikely to be any sort of silver bullet.