If you run a site, you probably know how important it is to optimize it and make it operate quickly. Time is money, and if you run a site aiming to sell something, loading time can indeed affect your profits. It may sound pretty obvious, yet many people forget about the importance of fast loading.

Those who use the Internet to sell goods and services know that images are essential. But sometimes, they significantly increase the time needed to load your website, which may lead to your customers leaving for good. And you definitely do not want that.

To avoid the situation when your website takes forever to load, think about image optimization. In this article, we will describe how you can benefit from a file uploader, what an image CDN is, and how to make sure your site loads quickly.

Let’s Learn Some Terms

This section is for those who are not tech-savvy or just want to learn more about the technical side of image optimization.

If you search for image optimization solutions, you will likely find recommendations to use a CDN. Let us explain what it is and why it is helpful.

The acronym stands for Content Delivery Network. It is crucial for a smooth run of your website. To understand how it works, imagine a store with one warehouse that tries to ship worldwide. It is pretty obvious that people who live near the store’s warehouse will get their items quickly, but what about customers living on other continents? To make sure they get their goods quickly, the business needs to have more places where they can ship stuff from.

The same is true for your website. This single warehouse is your server. Your entire site may be located in one place, and this means that people who live close to the server will load the pages in no time, while your customers from another part of the world will experience some delays.

To combat this issue, a CDN was invented. The history of this technology dates back to the late 1990s. To make content load faster, CDN technology uses a system of nodes. These nodes are located in different parts of the world so that the user can connect to the one that is the closest to them. It allows your users to load the page faster.

There are also image CDNs. This type of network incorporates all the features of the distributed system, as well as some additional features that facilitate image optimization. They often come with convenient file uploading widgets and allow you to organize your image library. Thus, you not only make your website faster and more convenient for users, but you also get some useful perks.

Image Optimization Advice

To help you boost the load speed of your website, we’ve prepared a few tips. A powerful image CDN is not the only thing you need to increase your site’s performance. Here, you will find three of the most important points that you should keep in mind if you want to improve your website performance by optimizing visuals.

Pay Attention to the File Type

If you want the image size to be optimized, use a file type that matches your needs. Usually, the JPEG type is the best solution, making it a win-win option in the majority of cases. Unless you really need high-quality photos, it is better not to use PNG as it may affect the loading speed. The larger your file is, the more time your users will need to wait until they see it. And this is just the opposite of optimization!

If you do not know what file type you should use, opt for JPEG. It allows you to see an array of colors, and the photos will be bright and relatively “light” to load.

Edit your Photos

This process is not only about applying filters and masking some drawbacks. Actually, photo editors like Adobe Photoshop and Gimp can give you much more.

Resizing, cropping, compressing your images are also means of optimization. Additionally, you can change the file type of photos to suit your requirements, as discussed above. Most likely, you will need some time to learn about the whole bunch of functions, but this effort will pay off when you discover the full potential of a photo editor.

Use Some Help — Use a File Uploader

We’ve spent so much time talking about image optimization and technical solutions, but the truth is that a powerful file uploader can do the majority of things for you. Of course, we do not mean that it will take care of everything. It is still better to know how to optimize images yourself. However, a file uploader will certainly help you, especially if your site allows users to upload their own files.

Are you willing to know where to look for one? You may perform a simple Google search, and read about all the features and pricing carefully. You need to figure out, which perks will be useful for you and your site. To put you on the right track, we recommend checking Uploadcare’s File Uploader as a starting point.

In Conclusion

The most important part of optimizing your images and site is picking a powerful image CDN. Also, you will need to pay attention to the widgets you use. These solutions are crucial if you want your website to work really quickly. You need to adjust file types, too.

We understand that all these details can be overwhelming and daunting at first. No one started a successful business, either online or offline, knowing all the details. It takes time to learn everything, but in this guide, we tried to give you information to start with. So, good luck!