Increase your Site’s Speed by Optimizing your Product Page Photos
High-definition images often equate to higher file sizes, which can have a direct effect on your website’s speed and search engine optimization. According to Kissmetrics, 47% of users expect a webpage to load in under 2 seconds, and 40% will abandon a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load. No need to worry! To help you avoid slow loading speeds that can lead to impatient visitors leaving your site, we’ve put together the following steps for optimizing your images without sacrificing quality!
1. Determine which file type is appropriate for your images.
There are 3 file types you should choose from: .jpg, .png, and .gif.
- .jpg: Used for images produced by digital photography.
- .png: Ideal for logos or other graphics with a limited color palette.
- .gif: Supports static images or animation, and transparencies.
2. Reduce the dimensions of your images to the necessary sizes.
There are many different programs you can use to adjust the size of your images, such as Photoshop or Apple Preview. You will want to research your website’s template to see if there are recommended sizes for any of the images on your website to avoid using images that are oversized.
3. Reduce the file size of your images using image optimization software.
If you are editing your images in Photoshop, you can use Photoshop’s “Save for Web” export option, which helps cut down the size of your image. There are also several image compression apps you can use to remove hidden data from your images. Here are a few we recommend:
As a general rule of thumb, your product photos should be a maximum 80–150 KB. Even if you’re only able to reduce the size of your photos by 5%, every small amount matters – especially as your online store grows.
Interested in receiving monthly iBec Creative updates right in your inbox?
Sign up below and we’ll send you updates once a month. Our newsletters are known to contain: exclusive pictures of the iBec crew having fun, TikTok trends to get your creativity flowing, information on B Corp Certification, and so much more! There’s no limit to what you’ll find in an iBec newsletter.
