WordPress makes it easy for us to upload images to our websites, but I wonder how often we stop and consider the impact of these images.
Your websites page load time is a key metric that isn’t going away anytime soon, and we’ve seen time and again that lowering it can improve conversions and other KPIs.
Image choice and optimisation is an important consideration for the web. Images that are too large, badly optimised, or used excessively are all going to have a negative impact on your websites performance.
Therefore it’s essential to get the basics right for your website to load quickly, and keep potential customers happy. Then you can reach for your lazy loading, CDNs and other performance enhancers.
Below are a few simple rules we should all aim to follow.
Aim to upload images of an appropriate size, if it’s for a thumbnail then don’t use a large 2000px image.
Where larger images are required for full screen backgrounds and banners, then attempt to optimise them before uploading.
When creating a gallery, be careful to choose images that are relevant and provide context to your story. Do not include multiple images that are similar in composition and subject matter. Not only are they diluting the user experience they are taking up unnecessary bandwidth and server space – which is potentially costing you more money.