Better Images = Better Website: Quick Wins for Small Business Owners
If your website feels a little sluggish, oversized images might be the reason, and that’s why you want to optimize website images. Big image files can slow things down, especially on mobile. And when a site loads slowly, people bail. It also doesn’t help your Google rankings.
Wait—what’s a “big” image, anyway?
We’re not talking about how it looks on the screen—we’re talking about the file size behind the scenes. You can accidentally upload a photo straight from your phone or camera that’s several megabytes in size, even if it only shows up as a small image on your website. These big files take longer to load, especially on phones or slower Wi-Fi. And it’s easy to do—you just upload what looks good and move on, not realizing it’s weighing your site down like a backpack full of bricks.
But good news—fixing this is easier than you might think.
Here’s how to make your site faster and friendlier without hiring a whole tech team
5 Tips to Optimize Website Images
1. Resize Your Images
Don’t upload giant photos straight from your phone or camera. Crop or resize them to the size they’ll actually appear on the page. No need to load a 3000-pixel-wide image if it only displays at 600 pixels.
2. Compress for Speed
Use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to shrink file sizes. They keep the image looking good but load way faster.
3. Pick the Right Format
Use JPEGs for most photos, PNGs for graphics with transparency, and WebP if your site supports it (it’s faster and still looks great).
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4. Name Your Files (and Use Alt Text)
Instead of uploading something called IMG_8742.jpg, rename it to something like interior-painting-barnstable.jpg. That helps with Google search—and alt text is good for accessibility, too.
5. Make Sure It Works on Phones
A significant portion of web traffic now comes from mobile devices. As of January 2025, mobile devices accounted for approximately 62.69% of global web traffic. In the United States, mobile web traffic constituted around 47.3% of total web traffic as of late 2024. SOAXMobiLoud
For Cape Cod businesses, this trend is even more pronounced during the summer months. Studies utilizing cellular data have shown that a substantial number of visitors to Cape Cod’s natural areas rely heavily on their mobile devices during their stay. This means that many potential customers are accessing your website from their smartphones while exploring the area.PLOS+7PLOS+7Cape Cod Commission+7
To ensure these visitors have a seamless experience:
- Responsive Design: Implement a responsive design that adjusts your website’s layout and content to fit various screen sizes.
- Test Across Devices: Regularly test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure consistent performance and appearance.
- Optimize Touch Interactions: Ensure buttons and links are easily tappable, and navigation is intuitive for touchscreens.
By prioritizing mobile optimization, you cater to the browsing habits of both local customers and the influx of summer tourists, enhancing user experience and potentially increasing engagement and sales.
Optimizing images isn’t about perfection. It’s about making your site quicker, easier to use, and more helpful for the folks who land on it—whether they’re on a laptop in Dennis or checking your site on their phone at a stoplight (not that we recommend that).
Need help with this kind of thing?
I work with small business owners on Cape Cod to fix exactly these types of website issues—quick, affordable tune-ups that make a big difference.
Get in touch here if you want to talk about your site.
