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3 Ways Image Optimisation Speeds up Your WordPress Site

Optimising your WordPress is one sure way of garnering more viewers towards your webpage. While people may argue that this will mostly depend on the internet speed and connection of the online visitors, it is dependent on the content and how they were placed. You wouldn’t want to turn away leads and organic traffic towards your website, which is why knowing how to best optimise your page is the key to making it more visible online.

If it’s just your first time handling a WordPress account and you have little to no knowledge at all about the image optimisation options, fret not. We’ve listed down a couple of tips to help you out in the long run:

1. Resize Your Images

You do not have to crop your images—what you need to do instead is to compress the image file according to various available dimensions. You may choose from the following choices below:

  • 1200 pixels wide: 394kb
  • 1000 pixels wide: 298kb
  • 800 pixels wide: 219kb
  • 600 pixels wide: 154kb

Keep in mind that some compressions may cause the photo to lose some of its quality and clarity, resulting in pixelated images or blurred subject matter in the picture. Some may even prefer to crop then compress the image to post several parts of it and show off the contents separately. However, this is time-consuming and may only be done if you’re not posting a photo that requires full composition.

2. Pick the Right Image Format

There are two major image formats that you can work with when it comes to WordPress, and both are your top two choices when it comes to quality. JPEG is more akin to high-quality photos that may be found in a professional’s collections. If you want your web page to show off scenic shots and colourful scenes, you may opt for this format.

On the other hand, if you have some simple images that don’t show much action, you may go for PNG instead. Familiarising yourself with these two will not only make it easier for you to decide which format to upload next time, but it will also make your pages load faster, as a balanced use of the two will give your page less weight to work with. PNG files are usually smaller, while JPEG files are a lot more detailed. Hence, they eat up more space.

2. Make the Best Out of Lazy Loading

We’re going to cheat a bit here since this has more to do with the website option itself than the image file. Nonetheless, it is still very vital if you want a speedy website. On that note, have you ever noticed that some websites would only load their images and videos once you’ve managed to scroll at the section that they’re in?

This is a process called lazy loading, where the content below the page will not load until you manage to scroll towards it. This will enable you to see the topmost content first without having to load the whole page, which may end up slowing everything down. 

The aim here is to prioritise the images above since that’s where the online visitors will most likely end up on their first visit. After that, they will scroll down, where the other content may load up in the nick of time.

Conclusion

Optimising your WordPress is just a matter of managing the image files and making the most out of all the available options. You can try out the easiest methods, some of which do not require much technical knowledge regarding site maintenance. 

You can compress your image files, pick a format that will be less demanding on your page, and utilise lazy loading to prioritise the content currently on your screen. Applying all of these methods will make your page load faster and garner more visitors for your site.

If you are on the hunt for WordPress support in Perth to optimise your page for you, look no further than Hosted WP. We specialise in WordPress maintenance, WordPress hosting, WordPress SEO, among other things. Contact us today—let us discuss how we may best serve your digital plans.

About the author

David Sullivan
Owner of Hosted WP.

Personal Blog at https://sulli.blog