At TwoSix Digital, we work with incredible destinations that want to show off all their best assets on their website, to attract visitors! While compelling imagery works wonders, large files can dramatically slow your website’s loading times. One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is how to fix my slow-loading website. Today, we will teach you how to increase your website’s speed by using next-gen formats to optimize your images.
A Need For Speed
First, we must understand why website speed is so important. In today’s fast-paced world, it only takes seconds for a consumer to form an opinion about your brand. Slow website speeds can significantly increase bounces from your site. A whopping 39% of people will click off a website if images take too long to load. Additionally, 47% of users expect a maximum loading time of 2 seconds for an average website. Thankfully, the main culprit for slow-loading times is easily identified as large, high-resolution images. Keep reading to learn how to test and improve your website’s speed.
We recommend this tool from Google to test the loading times of pages and get suggestions on how to improve them. The most frequent suggestion is to “serve images in next-gen formats.” Unfortunately, not many people are familiar with next-gen image formats, and Google’s solutions are very unhelpful. Google often suggests installing a plug-in, which could further slow your site down. To effectively repair your website’s slow loading times, you can use the tools we provide below to convert your images into next-gen formats.
Photoshop
Photoshop now lets you easily export photos in WebP (next-gen) image formats!
Follow these simple steps to export your photos:
– Upload the photo to Photoshop
– Go to file -> “Save a copy…”
– Using the “format’ dropdown menu, select ‘WebP,’ then “Save”
– Now, just replace the photo on the site with your WebP for massive data savings!
Image Compressor Websites
As an alternative to Photoshop, Compressor.io allows you to compress images down to significantly smaller sizes almost instantly. Drag and drop your photo and download your new image once the compression has been completed. This tool will not convert your photos into WebP format, but the smaller files will significantly speed up your website’s loading times.
Adding this step of converting or compressing your images before uploading them to your website will result in massive data savings and faster load times. This will significantly reduce bounce rates and lengthen the time users spend on your website. You can contact our team at TwoSix Digital for help with next-gen formats, compressing images, or any other digital marketing concerns you may have.