If there’s one thing that many bloggers forget, then it’s the speed of their blog. Most bloggers are meticulous about the graphics, design and content, but they don’t consider how hard it can be for people with slower Internet connections to reach their blog.
If you want your blog to be more accessible without sacrificing quality, then consider using the following tips.
Use a Good Theme
Unless you know how to code with PHP and CSS, then you are probably using a theme that you found online. Most new bloggers use free themes. This isn’t exactly a bad thing. Many free themes look very good, and they tend to have a lot of premium features. At the same time, free themes may not be coded that well.
Coding is very important when it comes to choosing a theme. A good theme should be efficient and fast. Most free themes look good, but the creators usually don’t make the coding as efficient as possible. Premium theme creators are pressured to build faster themes to justify the cost.
If you are serious about your blog, then use a premium theme with a fast loading time.
Remove Plugins and Widgets
Plugins and widgets are great. They give your blog a lot of new features, and it makes it easier to display information to your readers. At the same time, each plugin and widget increase the amount of time it takes for users to load your blog.
It’s easy to go overboard with these additions. If you want your blog to be as fast as possible, then remove any plugins and widgets that really aren’t needed. If you want to keep them, then you can add them to a specific page. You should remove them from your main pages so that most readers can easily access your posts.
Fewer Posts
You want people to read your posts, and you want to keep adding to your blog so that your readers always have something new to see. You shouldn’t decrease the number of posts you make, but you should decrease the number of posts that you display.
Most blog themes allow you to customize the number of posts that you display on your main page. You should decrease the number so that users can easily view your blog. It’s normally best to show about five posts on the main page. This allows readers to see your most recent posts, and it significantly decreases how long it takes for your blog to load.
Optimize Images
Most bloggers take their time when it comes to choosing images, but few try optimizing the images to decrease loading times. Images are often your biggest files. Optimizing an image shrinks it down so that it requires less memory, but the image will still look good.
There are many free plugins that can help you with this. Try finding one that optimizes the image for the user’s display size. Someone using a smaller screen should see smaller images, but the graphics should be increased for someone with a larger screen.
Conclusion
Optimizing your blog so that it quickly loads is a priority if you want to make your blog accessible to everyone. While you will need to make your blog a little bit smaller so that it loads faster, the tips above ensure that you don’t sacrifice quality to achieve this. Just modify a few sections of your blog, and everyone should have an easier time accessing your website.
