No, we’re not referring to the color green–we’re talking about energy.
The power of the internet requires a lot of energy, and if not managed carefully, this burns many resources. Many hosting services are working toward greater sustainability, and you can always host with these environmentally friendly businesses. But there are many things that you can do on your own.
In this post, we will list a few additional practices you can follow to make your site a greener place. The best thing about these tactics is that they won’t interfere with your site’s functionality; they’ll even improve your user experience!
Compress, Optimize, and Reduce
We’ve all watched a circle spin around and around or stared at a screen loading endlessly. It shouldn’t be surprising that loading also uses up some of the most energy. Large, data-rich elements like videos and photos take the most time and power to load. Upload smaller, lower-resolution versions of your pictures and icons if you don’t need them to be full-screen. Videos are one of the bulkiest files you can have on your site. Try to use videos sparingly, and where you can, optimize them. Resizing and optimizing files before uploading them is one of the best ways to reduce the time and power required to load them.
Another technique is lazy loading, which delays loading content until it’s visible on the screen. It can help take everything just a step further. One benefit to this is that the initial page will load much faster, providing your user with a smoother interaction. The additional perk is that the page doesn’t use energy to load unnecessary elements; instead, allocating work to where it is most needed.
Improve Your SEO
You likely know SEO primarily as a marketing tactic. But if you think marketing is all it’s helpful for, think again; SEO is good for mother nature, too.
If you are unfamiliar, SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Good SEO aims to get your site to rank higher in search engines, making it easier to find. When a user can find your website on the first try, that’s one less search the browser must perform. Your business gets discovered easily, mother earth breathes a little easier, and internet surfers find what they’re looking for; win, win, win.
Declutter and Organize
Keep your website up to date and only use what you need to. Removing old posts, superfluous elements, and surplus images from your site is easy. Storing all that irrelevant information only wastes resources and crowds out the information that does matter.
It’s also good to ensure that your website is easy for users to navigate and find what they want. A clear structure and organization will keep people from getting lost and spending unnecessary time and loading power on your site.
These ideas are only a few ways to make your website greener and more efficient. Here at Big Red jelly, efficiency is one of our highest priorities. If you want to make an optimized, effective site, our build team will be happy to work with you! Schedule a consultation with us today!
