It’s Tuesday! And by now, you already know, I have a tip for you…

Hey Reader,

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Today, we're zooming out to look at the big picture—literally.

Let’s talk about properly sizing images for your WordPress website. It might seem like a small detail, but getting it right can have a huge impact on your site’s performance and user experience.

Why Image Size Matters

Uploading images that are too large can slow down your website, frustrating visitors and potentially hurting your SEO. It can also impact your pockets via increased hosting costs.

You don’t want to spend unnecessary money, do you?

I sure don’t!

Optimal Image Sizes for WordPress

Here’s a quick guide to the optimal sizes for different types of images on your site:

Full-Width Banners or Backgrounds: 1920px wide is usually a safe bet. This ensures your image looks great on larger screens without being too heavy.

Standard Content Images: For images within your blog posts or pages, aim for a width of no more than 1200px. This size balances quality and performance.

Logo: Depending on your site’s design, 250px wide is a good starting point, but always check how it looks within your theme. For client sites, we usually land around 300-350 px on desktop and 250 px on mobile.
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Tools to Help Optimize Your Images

​TinyPNG: This tool compresses your images without losing quality, making them load faster while still looking sharp.

​Imagify: A WordPress plugin that automatically optimizes images as you upload them, saving you time and effort. It is worth noting that this is the one we have the most experience with using.

​ShortPixel: Another plugin that compresses images and offers a bulk optimization feature for your existing media library.

​Canva: You can use Canva to resize images to your desired dimensions before uploading them to WordPress.
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The Effects of Uploading Oversized Images

Uploading images that are too large can lead to:
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Slower Load Times: Large images take longer to load, which can frustrate visitors and lead to higher bounce rates.

Increased Bandwidth Usage: This can be a problem if your hosting plan has limits or you’re dealing with a lot of traffic.

Poor Mobile Experience: Large images can look great on desktop but may not be optimized for mobile, leading to slow load times and poor user experience on smaller devices.

SEO Penalties: Google considers page speed when ranking sites, so slow-loading pages with oversized images can hurt your SEO.
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Before you hit publish (or right after), I always recommend previewing your post or page on both desktop and mobile to ensure your images look great and load quickly.

This simple step can make a big difference in how your content is received.

That’s it for today!

Remember, properly sizing and optimizing your images is a small change that can have a big impact on your site’s performance and user experience.