The speed at which your blog loads is critical to attracting more readers to your blog. If your blog takes a long time to load, many readers may leave your blog before they have the chance to read it. Here are a few tips and tricks that will help your blog load faster and attract more users:
Posts
Your blog's load time can be affected by the number of posts you display on your main page. You can easily edit the number of posts displayed of the main page from the Layout tab. Click Edit in the Blog post section to change the number of posts you want to display on the main page. We recommend displaying 10 or fewer posts on the main page.
Third Party JavaScript and Links
For optimal blog load speed, we recommend using Google/Blogger widgets, JavaScript and links. However, if you need to use third party JavaScript and links, your blog will load much faster if you put all JavaScript at the bottom of your blog. If you have third party JavaScript and links in your sidebar, put them in at the bottom of the sidebar.
Images and Media
The more images, videos and other multi-media you have on your blog the longer it will take to load. However, images and other multimedia are important to attracting users to your blog, so it is important to optimize the load speed of your images and media. Here are a few tips to increase the load speed of your media:
- Decrease the size of your images or use thumbnails that link to the full-size image.
- If you use third party images, consider uploading them to Picasa Web Albums via the Blogger post editor.
- If you have a large number of images to display, you can upload all your images (from a vacation or event) to a Picasa Web Album and link to the album in your post or sidebar.
Other suggestions
- If you've added any custom CSS to your blog, make sure you put it at the top of the page.
- The most important content of your blog that catches readers attention should load the quickest. To help you identify which items are taking the longest to load you can use Stopwatch. To use Stopwatch, enter your blog's URL into the text box and click "Start StopWatch". Stopwatch will then open your blog in a frame and will record the time it takes for everything on your blog to load, including images, videos, widgets, etc. Take note of the items that take the longest to load and modify them appropriately using our suggestions.
ALSO...
Once your blog is set up, the last thing you want is to lose interested readers because the page takes too long to load.
Make sure that your hard work and effort gets the best pay off possible by making sure your site moves as quickly as the people viewing it. Here are some tips to keep up the pace.
1. Test Your Blog’s Performance
There are add on programs, such as Page Speed, that will test how quickly your blog loads. Firefox and WordPress have plugins that will reduce load time, and some offer helpful tips to increase speed.
2. Optimize Your CSS Code
Think of CSS code as a programming package for web sites. CSS offers different choices for editing and design, just as each new version of Windows offers varying options . CSS optimizers are available online, and you can try out different ones . Look for a program that minimizes the amount of code while providing the design aspects (like font size and coloring) that you prefer. The less code, the faster your blog will run.
3. Remove Blog Clutter
Remember that every picture, string of text, or button on your blog has its own code and eats up space on your server. Are there some ads on your page that no one clicks on? A donate or buy button that is not in use? Perhaps some links to other pages that are outdated and no longer work? Getting rid of these excess bits will make your blog faster, more efficient, and easier on the eye.
4. Consider Moving Away from Shared Hosting
If your blog shares hosting on a server with other web pages, your site may become hard to access during high traffic times. The main time you want to get attention, your readers may end up clicking elsewhere! Dedicated or gridline hosting will take your reader directly to your blog, with less chance of traffic issues.
5. Clean Up Your Plugins
Plugins are nifty little programs that drive traffic to your site. They interface with social media, iPhone apps, or widgets. Do a little research to find out which ones work best for your site, and remove anything that isn’t generating traffic for you. If your blog is on WordPress, you’ll often get alerts sent to your email whenever a new plugin is created or becomes popular.
Be conservative in your use of pictures, buttons and programs. Check your web pages speed, links, and learn how to make code and hosting work to your advantage. Once you have done this, your blog will have the best possible speed, and a better chance of reaching your readers.