A faster website is better than a slow website.
I mean, this kind of makes you want to say “…..duhhhh”, but really think about it.
A huge factor in search engine optimization (SEO) is a fast load time on the website. If the search engines crawl a website, and the connection time is lagging, the website will simply not rank as high as a website that loads quickly.
On the “non-techy” side of this concern, think about your readers.
No offense, but no blog post is worth it to a reader if they have to spend more than 20 seconds loading your page (unless they’re your mother).
Speed it up, or your traffic will decrease.
It is as simple as that.
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Here at Empower Network Support, we want you to have all the tools and knowledge available to run your online business.
Below are 5 simple things you can do to ensure your Kalatu blog is set up for success with the fastest load time possible.
1. Use decorative elements sparingly
By limiting images and other media that serve no purpose other than decor, you can improve your blog’s lead speed. Ensure that all your images serve a purpose for your business, and are optimized (we’ll get to that later).
Hint: You can use Kalatu’s “Hide Featured Image” option for your blog posts. This will keep your featured image from appearing with your blog posts’ excerpts, but will not show it when the post itself is opened.
2. Limit the number of fonts
Although fonts can be fun and attractive on your blog, do not forget that each font will (ever-so-slightly) increase the time it takes to load your blog. Try to keep the total fonts used to around 2 or 3 – 1 for your blog posts’ body, 1 for your headings, and 1 extraneous font for titles or a signature.
3. Optimize your images
In our research, this was something new we learned about, and can’t wait to share with you! Did you know images are typically the #1 reason a blog’s load time increases?
If you have am image that is 1500 pixels (pixels are minute areas of information that make up a digital image) wide, and your post content area is only 650 pixels, then your website is manually resizing that image to fit the content width area. This adds to your site’s load time.
This process involves the following steps – Determine the exact width of your blog content area (this will vary depending on the theme you are using), resizing /cropping your images to fit this width, and stripping the images of any unnecessary data.
Step 1: Here is a cheat sheet for the exact post content widths for each Kalatu theme:
Theme 1, Truth, Green Machine: 540 pixels
Theme 2, Flex Brite, On Display, Red Type: 830 pixels
Theme 3, Freedom to Roam: 580 pixels
Theme 4, Simplex: 750 pixels
Theme 5, Written Word: 860 pixels
Blogzine: 640 pixels
Step 2: Whenever possible, resize your featured image, and any extraneous images in a blog post, to the exact width of the content area or smaller. Here is a tutorial on resizing your image(s) using PicMonkey and Photoshop. It is important that you do not use the built-in Kalatu crop tool or image resizer. Although it is extremely convenient, and can still be used for small tweaking, this method further slows your page load time.
Step #3: The last step is to strip your image of any data that is unneeded (like date, time, type of camera used, etc). There are a few different services to do this, but here are 3 free examples:
– RIOT
Uploading images to one of these services prepares the image for the web by compressing its data and removing the fluff. Your image file size is reduced to mere kilobytes, which creates a better user experience by improving load time!
4. Optimize your homepage
Many Kalatu themes offer the ability to display an unlimited number of recent posts on your home page (this option is found under Theme Settings –> Latest Posts).
We suggest that you steer clear of this setting if you are looking to improve your blog’s loading time. Displaying an infinite number of posts causes an overload of data to be loaded upon visiting your blog. This is bad news all around. Try displaying 10 or fewer recent blog posts on your home page.
Oh, and definitely use post excerpts. These excerpts are little “teasers” or brief summaries of each blog post. An excerpt can be set for a post within the individual post settings. By displaying your post’s excerpt (limited to 150-200 characters), you can control the amount of data appearing on your home page.
5. Limit plugins and widgets
Plugins and widgetsare components of your blog that are used to perform specific functions. Some Kalatu plugins include light boxes and popunder advertisements. Some examples of Kalatu widgets include the YouTube Channel widget and Recent Posts.
By displaying an over-abundance of widgets or creating multiple lightboxes and popunders, you can contribute to a slow load time.
6. Reduce advertisements
This kind of goes hand-in-hand with limiting plugins and widgets. As an online marketer, you are bound to have a few different advertisements displayed or activated on your Kalatu blog.
Remember, most themes come pre-installed with 2 different banner advertisements that are coded to your Empower Network affiliate ID. With each new banner ad or popup ad, you are adding to the data your website needs to load before it can be displayed.
Remember, there is no exact science to optimizing your website for the search engines. This is an organic technology by nature.
It is also important to remember the factors that are outside of your control as a blog owner, like an individual’s internet speed.
With these 5 tips, however, we are confident that your Kalatu blog’s loading time can be improved for the long haul!
Tell us what you learned from this blog post in the comments!
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Clik here to view.