Whether you’re an experienced WordPress website designer, or you’re just starting, you probably have some experience with images. From choosing or creating the right one to loading it into your media gallery to placing it into your theme, builder, or code, it can be a tricky business. Images are not just important; they’re essential.
A website is nothing without high-quality, compelling images to keep visitors engaged and to keep the aesthetic flow of your web design moving, but it goes beyond that. Pictures can also affect website loading speed, search engine optimization (SEO), and speak volumes about company brand, in both positive and negative ways.
You cannot take this seriously enough; it’s that important.
Website Loading Speed
There are few things in this world as infuriating as a slow website. This is a part of website maintenance that too many people overlook, to their detriment. The entire digital landscape would be completely different if major companies and experienced website designers didn’t make this a priority. Can you imagine using Google, typing in your search criteria, and waiting two minutes for the results to pop up? No, because that would never happen. Google couldn’t survive if their load times were that slow. Beyond that, Google prioritizes load speeds and ranks faster sites higher on search engine results.
Images play a large part in that, because to house all those pixels, image files are large. Most of the time, they’re too large. The trick comes in finding the balance. You need a file size and picture quality that isn’t so big that it slows down your website, but also isn’t so small that the picture becomes blurry or grainy.
Don’t worry. There are many options for optimizing your images, so they don’t slow down your website.
Image Compression and Optimal Sizes
Image compression is the first step. Whether you’re buying stock images online, using the countless license-free online tools, or creating the images yourself, you’ll need to adjust the size. This could be as simple as popping them into Adobe Photoshop and decreasing the image size. If you don’t have Photoshop, there are plenty of other tools you can use.
Other editing tools include:
Inkscape (a free software that allows you to do a lot of editing, including creating vector images).
Gimp (another free software that allows you to edit photos, coloring, saturation, and contrast, as well as decreasing file size).
Canva (a free online image editor with a lot of power).
Phone Apps (like Snapseed or PIXLR, which pack quite a punch.
And many, many more.
The options aren’t limited to just what you can do on your devices. WordPress also has plugins you can download, free and purchased, that compress all of the images on your website for you. Plugins like reSmush.it or WP Smush are just a couple of options at your disposal.
Of course, once you know how you’re going to compress your images, you need to know how far to shrink them. In general, the rule is to try to keep your image sizes as small as possible, preferably under 70 kb. That can be near impossible, though, for larger, full-screen images. So, for best practices, you’ll want to follow this guide.
Blog/Featured Images – 1200 x 630 pixels
Full-Screen Images – 2800 x 1200 pixels
Landscape/Portrait Images – 900 x 1200 pixels or 1200 x 900 pixels, depending on orientation.
Large Square Images – 1024 x 1024 pixels
Medium Square Images – 300 x 300 pixels
Thumbnails – 150 x 150 pixels
Image File Formats
We can go a step further, though, in ensuring that your image sizes are small by choosing the correct file format for your images. The three most popular file formats are PNG, JPEG, and GIF. PNG has become an increasingly popular alternative to GIF, as the resolution is very high, but file size is large. JPEG is a file format that maintains a lot of the original color and serves as a safe bet, but this format isn’t compatible with vector images. Lastly, GIF is a file format you should use for more simple images, like icons and thumbnails.
Regardless of what you’re doing, it is incredibly important to choose the right file format for both aesthetic reasons and file size.
Naming Your Images
You can’t talk about image optimization without talking about naming your files. The best option is to go with something short, descriptive, and to the point. If you can use a search engine keyword in your file name, that also helps, as it will provide a little more juice for search engine optimization.
Then, of course, there are meta tags and meta descriptions, which are similar, but have a lot of power and allow you to use multiple keywords. These are super important when talking about SEO because the correct tags can provide a huge boost and help you rank better in search engines.
Choosing the Right Image
Last, you always need to think about your brand. Whenever you’re choosing or creating an image for your WordPress website, ask yourself: does this image represent my company, my brand, and/or the section, product, or service I’m discussing? A picture tells a thousand words, but are those your words?
Of course, this brings up another critical point. Don’t just throw images into your website, especially decorative images, without giving it a few rounds of thought. They can be aesthetically pleasing, but can also bloat your site, and hurt your website loading speed. Choose your website images wisely.
Images Can Make or Break Your Website
These are just a few ways to optimize your images for your WordPress website, but this is absolutely essential for anyone with an online presence. Like we’ve said, it not only helps with website loading speeds, it also helps with brand identity and search engine optimization. Don’t allow this often overlooked aspect of web design become the thorn in your website’s side.
Marla DiCarlo is an accomplished business consultant with more than 28 years of professional accounting experience. As co-owner and CEO of Raincatcher, she helps business owners learn how to sell a business to get paid the maximum value for their company.
We all know how difficult it can be to keep our computers safe from attack. There are so many ways that we prevent attacks from hackers; firewalls and passwords are just two of them! A virus on your computer can be devastating, and it’s not just the annoyance of needing to get your computer fixed when it happens to you. It knows that you have to then go through the steps of fixing your computer and being without everything that you need, from data to your own personal apps.
One of the biggest hassles that you may have to deal with at some point or another is malware. When you identify the symptoms of the infection, you can clean the malware from your PC and restore it to its original state, and in some cases, you can start by learning to remove MacKeeper. Whether you have a Mac or a PC, you need to remove the malware as soon as possible.
Image Source
Why You Should Remove Malware
Before we go into identifying the signs of malware on your Mac or PC, you should know precisely why it’s essential that you get it removed.
It’s deceptive, and it intends to cause damage and chaos.
Malware is aggressive, taking over quickly and spreading through the system to cause infection.
Malware can completely destroy your computer system
It’s destructive to your personal information, which makes it criminal. As it can steal your personal data, you’ll find that it’s illegal to do this!
It’s not easy to detect, so it’s hard to remove with antivirus programs.
Malware is dangerous, and it should be watched for as much as possible. Educating yourself on what to look for concerning malware on your computer is crucial if you want to stay safe online.
5 Tips For Identifying Malware
To be able to get rid of the malware on your computer, you need to be able to see it in the first place. Here are five tips for identifying malware so you can work on getting the right cleaner to get rid of it!
Your Software
Running the right software on your computer is essential if you want to catch out malware as it hits your system. Running anti-virus programs is one of the easiest methods to do it, and there are plenty of antivirus options that include real-time protection. The spyware and adware protection that you get involves spyware, real-time protection, and protection from unknown malware, too.
Slowing Down
If you find that your PC or Mac has started to slow down gently, take a little longer to perform general tasks or just change the way it runs, it’s worth checking for infections. It’s not just malware that can cause this, of course. A fragmented machine can do the same, and it’s worth running system defragmentation to get it sorted first. You should be running routine maintenance on your system anyway, as this will pick up any malware that had got in before you had a chance to realize it!
Extra Ads/Pop-Ups
One of the most recent and most annoying signs of malware is in the pop-up. There has been a massive influx of pop-up issues started by malware, and these are usually related to seedy websites that have zero business being on your computer. The main problem with pop-ups is that they can’t just be removed. You have to work out whether you opted for pop-ups or if they’re a malware issue, and that requires a system maintenance moment!
Home Page Change
Did you know that a sure sign that you have malware on your computer is that you have sporadic web browser home page changes? If you get continuously redirected or are sent to random links, then there could be a malware issue on your computer. This behavior is not healthy, so be wary of it when it pops up!
Your Browser Is Offline
No matter how many times you go online, your browser is showing that you are offline and that you cannot get to the internet. If this is happening to you and your network connectivity is just fine, then you could have a malware infection on your computer. There are some easy fixes to this, so just check out the proxy settings and have a look to see if that works.
Malware isn't something you should have on your computer, so be aware of it and make a note of the changes!
It is known that Internet security is paramount when you are a business owner. From handling customers' details to handling customers' card information, through the whole process from start to finish, and even driven down to the fact that you may have to post some of your products. There is a large amount of talk about Internet security and overall security when businesses are providing events. Ultimately we want to get this right from the offset. But there are many laws and legislation regarding customer information, that you need to stick to no matter where you are in the world. It’s important to remember that your business needs to take heed of these rules as well.
Let’s face it when it comes to Internet security; there are many different rules that you need to follow and jumps through groups that you need to consider. But discovering the right person for the job, and making sure that they have all of the qualifications, and the knowledge that you need is tricky indeed. A professional who works with Internet security, who knows about things such as directaccess and can quickly help you put your mind at rest, and also put some processes in place that will keep you completely compliant with all rules and regulations.
Maintaining a high level
Maintaining a high level of quality, a high level of security services, and a high level of staff training, will ultimately ensure that your business stays safe and secure, and so do your customers details. GDPR, and other data protection laws that cover small businesses is and has been a little challenging to understand, and much less implement. But having the right people on board, with the right team, do you know what they are doing and what is expected of them, will provide you with success all year round. There’s nothing worse than having an ethos of your business, and your team not sticking to it entirely. However, there are no excuses surrounding customer data anymore, and we will need to get a serious about it straight away.
Learning from mistakes
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with learning from your mistakes, everybody makes them, and nothing will come of it usually. But when you are handing over control to people, especially when they are hired to help you, it can cause some frustration, and ignorance is not bliss in this instance. There is an element of responsibility for the team you employ, and mistakes are easily rectified as long as they are reported, but should be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Starting a new business is a learning curve, but as long as you prepare the best you can, and ensure that your team are on your side, and doing things as they should be, then you should have no trouble.
Use The Right Tools for Protection
The world has been going through a lot in the recent past. You must have heard about higher security breaches against big corporations and countries apart from personal thefts, scams, and crimes.
To add to these chaos is the growing addiction to internet services amongst people, which grows exponentially. Having a managed SIP trunking service helps your business stay ahead of the competition.
Internet usage is now growing at an accelerated rate, and it is no longer limited to audio and video streaming, sharing content, or social media activities like Facebook, Twitter.
Amongst them, video calls are now becoming more popular than telephone calls as they allow an individual to interact with another person over the Internet instead of talking to them on the phone.
Being secure over the Internet has become a necessity and not an option. Whether you like it or not, you are now part of a world where everything is interconnected, and no data is secure or safe.
The only way to compensate for this situation is to ensure that all your vital information, passwords, and other sensitive details remain secured and accessible to you alone.
There are many ways in which cybercriminals steal information from the Internet. The most common methods are phishing which uses fake or masked websites that look like real websites to get vital information out of users; it is essential to protect yourself from such attacks.
It would help if you began your journey to safe internet usage as soon as possible. Then, prevent the problem before it becomes a menace.
So remembering your responsibilities, doing your research, and hiring a professional are some great ways that will prevent you from falling. Internet security is a severe issue And should not be taken lightly, however, all the information is available to you, you need to implement it correctly.
Are you planning to venture into the eCommerce niche? There are several players in this segment, and each one has an idea that seems to be working for them.
For the outsider, the market seems to be saturated, and you don’t know how to differentiate the plan for the next venture.
However, you can do it by entering a segment that has been untapped or building on an idea that is unique.
We understand that most people are stuck at the first stage itself- the ideation stage. If you don’t have a strong idea, the venture may or may not be successful.
Here, we have curated five-strong eCommerce business ideas for you.
#1 Face-to-Face Commerce
When you are dealing online, you tend to forget the importance of face-to-face conversations.
As a seller, your ultimate aim is to increase the customer experience for eCommerce visitors. However, that cannot be done if you don’t initiate a different story for the customers.
Face-to-face commerce will help establish trust among the customers and will recreate your brand.
How will this idea work online? The sellers and the buyers can strike a deal after a conversation about the product or service. They can choose a medium to communicate. When the seller offers their insights into the product, it increases the value of the product.
The seller has more knowledge about the product and can talk like an expert
They can solve queries and all the doubts that the user may have through one-to-one conversations
You can use this idea to build your jewelry or fashion apparel business, where customer experience drives conversions.
#2 Education Platforms
What is eCommerce in education? Well, when you delve into online learning platforms, you are building an exciting niche for eCommerce businesses.
People are all up for learning online, as it offers convenience and saves a lot of their time. here, the course designers meet the users and sell the courses. That is one way of getting revenue from online platforms. The other potential is getting the course makers to tutor the children online.
You don’t need to restrict your niche to academics alone. There are people looking for spiritual, commercial and other types of courses online. You will need to identify the course that you think you can follow through.
You may need to consider student acquisition before you get started with the educational niche.
Apart from that, identifying a niche that the students want to opt for, and offering a differentiated proposition is another aspect that you need to consider.
#3 Selling Solutions
There is no dearth of problems around you. in fact, in every corner, you will find people are facing issues that need solutions.
If you could refurbish the idea of eCommerce, and stop thinking of products alone, then you will see that this is an amazing business idea for the eCommerce entrants.
Seek for people who have issues, and ask them to come to you for solutions. The website that you are developing should sell possible solutions.
You can either identify the problems yourself and post solutions for a certain amount or give solutions as part of the services.
You will see that it is an eCommerce idea with a different value proposition, and it will definitely work.
When designing this eCommerce application, you need to research the users to understand how they would prefer to interact with you, and how they behave with an eCommerce application in general.
#4 Selling Local Produce
In a grocery market dominated by the online sellers and buyers, the local producers get ignored. Only the mediators get a certain benefit; the producers and buyers face a loss. You can create an online application that can help buyers meet the local producers, and get the products at a reasonable price. In fact, it will also benefit both parties, as they would be able to gain a better understanding of the product.
You can extend this idea to the local craftsmen and other local artisans for better traction. You need to identify the niche that you want to deal with, understand the consumers therein, and finally design a product that you feel will be suitable to these people.
Remember to think through the app and take into consideration the possible scalability factors associated with app development.
#5 Know Products in Stores
tell your users where they can find a particular product. Most often, your users know the products they want, but they are unable to find a shop that deals with them.
Instead of having to visit all the stores, the user can visit your store that will inform them about the stores where they can find these products.
So, the user simply needs to enter the product information, and you can serve them with the store details, both online and offline.
Of course, you will need to define a business model for these stores. Considering the users will make the purchase through your store, in case of online shopping, it will become easier for you to completely earn money.
Summing up
There are several other ideas that you can work on. It is however important for you to validate the idea and conduct an A/B testing before you move ahead with design and development.
Apart from the ideation, you need to conduct thorough user research which will help you identify how users behave with eCommerce websites. You will also understand the learning curve you will need to work with to convert the customers.
Before the idea and the research, you need to identify if you want to go with a product niche or a service niche. The above-mentioned ideas are mostly service-oriented.
You will also need to calculate the financial impact your eCommerce business idea will have, and how you will score profits for the business.
It goes without saying that you need to hire a good Magento development company that will help construct your idea into a relevant, usable and functional app solution.
Author: Atman Rathod is the Co-founder at CMARIX TechnoLabs Pvt. Ltd., a leading eCommerce development company with 13+ years of experience. He loves to write about technology, startups, entrepreneurship and business. His creative abilities, academic track record and leadership skills made him one of the key industry influencers as well.
Many of us dream of making money from home. You’ve heard of get rich quick schemes, I’m sure. We’ve all had emails from people telling us that we can earn a small fortune from the comfort of our own sofa. Usually, as part of some kind of dodgy pyramid scheme, often a complete scam. But, you might also have heard of successful entrepreneurs launching businesses from home, making money, and living the life that they have always wanted, doing something that they love with a perfect work-life balance. You might even know people that make money blogging or working as freelancers from home, so it’s certainly possible.
But that doesn’t mean that absolutely anyone can do it, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s easy. So, before you throw your job away and give up a consistent income, ask yourself if you could realistically make money from home.
Do You Have a Plan?
Don’t just give up work with the hope of making money from home. No matter how many success stories that you may have read, there is always a risk, and most of these stories will fail to mention all of the hard work and even rejection that came before success.
Make a plan first. Save some money and make sure that you’ve got financial security. Speak to your loved ones to make sure they support your decision and even consider a backup plan so that you’ve always got a fall back in case things don’t work out.
Have You Explored Different Options?
There are many different ways to make money from home, and in the early days, before business really grows, you might need to explore different income streams to keep yourself afloat and avoid the need for work out of the home. Any one of these different streams could lead to a full-time income, but it’s always a good idea to have options. Read up on affiliate marketing basics, learn about the best ways to earn money from home, and ask other people how they do it.
Are You Committed?
The people that are most successful when it comes to working from home are the ones that are committed to their success. Doing something that you love will help, but you need to be ready to invest time, give up other things, and really focus on your home business. It’s unlikely to be easy, and it’s important that you know that.
Can You Motivate Yourself?
How well do you work unsupervised? Some of us are great at it. We manage our time well, we’re able to stay motivated on our own, and we push ourselves to meet targets. Other people don’t. They struggle to work without a manager or supervisor behind them. They procrastinate when left alone and struggle to work quickly or well.
If you aren’t naturally good at managing your time and motivating yourself but want to make money from home, you should look at some ways to improve these skills. To-do lists, goals, targets, and even timers and alarms can help.
