We have all been to annoying sites that take a long time to load. But, what do we do when that site is our own? Using these tips to increase your blogs loading time will benefit your readers and keep your site running smooth and fast.
It can be very frustrating knowing that your site is loading slowly for your visitors. You wonder if you’re losing readers because of it, or if you could lower your bounce rate by speeding up your blog. To check your site’s load time, visit Pingdom Tools and input your URL!
Downsize Photos to Decrease Load Time
There is nothing wrong with having a 500 pixel wide photo on your blog! (provided it fits in your content area) The problem is not the dimension, but the original file size which is partially determined by the resolution of the image. Images used on blogs never need to be more than 72 pixels per inch. If you want to be sure your photos are web optimized, download and use a free program like Picasa which allows you to select photos and export them with a lower quality setting. This is also a great way to resize, or add a watermarks to, multiple pictures at once!
Make Sure HTML Tags are Closed to Prevent Loading Lag
This is the basic rule of HTML tags. If you are editing your theme and you add a new <div> be sure you close that with a </div> tag before you leave. In posts, watch out for open ended HTML tags, especially if you’ve edited something in the HTML View. The only tag I can think of that does not require closing is the line-break tag, <br>. HTML can be a tricky booger.
Limit Flash and Moving Scripts
By this I mean Flash, JavaScript, and other embedded material. Rule of thumb: If it moves, it’s going to slow you down. Now, we all have a few Google Connect boxes, ads that use flash or javascript, and other fun stuff, but the overuse of these items can really drag a site down. So, resist the urge to add lots of flashy graphics.
Get Rid of Unused Plugins
This is a case of “Use it or Lose it”. Plugins are wonderful tools to increase the functionality of our blogs. However, they do take up space on our server, as well as slow down a site. Used properly, and without any conflicting plugins, a nice set of these tools can be a good thing. However, the 30 unused plugins in your dashboard need to be deleted. So do the active plugins you’re no longer using.
What areas of your site could use some work?
Need help figuring it out? Leave a link to your site and I’ll stop by and take a look!
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Wow, what an offer! I haven’t blogged in a month (still behind from Christmas!), but I’d love any tips as I am tech-challenged!
Diana,
I’m not a pro on Blogger blogs, but I visited, and for a site heavy on photos you have a pretty good load time!
The only pictures I saw that seemed like they might be large files were the collage type ones. (BTW, I LOVE the spool people!!!)
Overall, you’re looking good! No extra fluff, no over abundance of banners and ads. Very clean. Good job!
Nice to know how you think about my blog. Just click my name.
Dana,
Your site loaded super fast for me. You only have one image based ad on the site, so the rest is loaded via CSS.
Way to go!
Hi Erica,
I think it’s a very (very) important topic – and one I absolutely don’t understand at the moment unfortunatey! ( so this post is a very useful introduction to me as I try to get my small brain around the topic!)
I’m going to investigate further now … but first a question
- what’s an acceptable loading time?
I see from the tool you mentionned at Pingdom that your site loads in 5.6 secs, mine in 7.0
Ok, I hope I understand this topic a lot more before the end of the day!!
Cheers
Will
I would definitely try and keep it under 7 seconds. (so you’re probably ok) I don’t know if you tried this site, or my personal site, EricaSays. For the later, I know my load time is slow, and it’s due to having a graphic heavy theme. I’m changing that soon and can’t wait!!!!
Your theme is very lightweight and probably shouldn’t take that long to load. From looking at the results (using the tool above) I’m seeing one of the things that’s holding up your load time is an image that can’t be found. (http://whatawebsite.org/valid-rss-rogers.png) The other things are the FriendFeed widget and a wp-spamfree plugin. I don’t think either of those is causing enough trouble to warrant removing it, but I would check into the image!
Thanks a million Erica,
I removed the image & Friend Feed widget & things seem a little quicker … with the last few checks ranging from 4.85 to 6.7 …. but this site was slow today for some reason ( between 15.3 & 27.58) according to the tool. However, having said that, it was quick as a flash here … which is strange.
It’s a very nice bliss site idea you have here by the way
Will
[...] can read my thoughts on the subject in my post, A Few Tips To Speed Up Your Blog’s Load Time, on [...]
I am a brand-new blogger, as of this year, and I would appreciate any advice you could give this newbie. I appreciate the help I have received from this page already. Thanks!
Erica,
Thank you for visiting my blog, the sweet comments, and recommendations. I have reduced the number of posts on each page and hope that speeds it up.
Thanks again!
Sherry