Best Practices for Uploading Images & Videos to Your Website
Images are a crucial part of website design. Not only do they add visual appeal, but they also help with SEO and website performance. If you want to make sure that your website is performing at its best, you need to optimise your images for the web. In this blog post, we will discuss the best practices for uploading images to your website. We will also provide some tips on how to upload them correctly so that they look great without impacting negatively on your website!
Compress your images
It is vital that your website loads quickly, and one of the ways to ensure this is by compressing your images. When you compress an image, you are reducing its file size without compromising on quality. This means that your website will load faster, and your visitors will have a better experience overall. There are many tools you can use to compress images, including; TinyPNG, Compress JPEG or Kraken. Generally, a file size of less than 100KB is ideal. However, Google will look at the overall page size - not each individual image size. So if you are using a lot of imagery, consider making some smaller than others.Use relevant alt text
Alt text is the written copy that describes your image. Alt text (alt tags or alt descriptions) help search engines index your website effectively and ultimately has a positive effect on your rankings. Adding alt text to all of your images increases the chances of your content appearing in Google searches. Alt text also enhances the website experience for visually impaired users, by describing the image.Use original images
Original photography is prioritised over stock images. This is true for both Google and your visitors. Whilst there are sometimes no options but to use stock images, you should try not to fill your whole website with them or use ones you have seen on more than once occasion on other websites. Original imagery is especially important for eCommerce websites. Posting duplicated images or ones that don't actually picture your products could damage your reputation online and with your customers. When you begin an eCommerce business, take some time to photograph your products and create original images for your website.Rename your files before uploading
It may seem like a small, insignificant detail, but renaming your image before uploading it is an important step. It will directly impact how easy it is for search engines to interpret your image. Your file name should be similar to your alt text, possibly containing some keywords that describe the image.Use a third party site to host your videos
Adding videos to your website is a great way to connect with your customers and visitors, but uploading them directly to your website can be a mistake. They are large files and can slow your web page down! And you don't want that... So using a website such as YouTube or Vimeo means you can upload as many videos as you like and then embed them onto your website.If you would like to know more about how to get started with an Ecommerce website then please take a look at www.thewebguys.co.uk or even book in a meeting directly with Brian to discuss how to get started using this link https://thewebguys.zohobookings.eu/#/customer/brianlynggaard