How do I improve my blog’s page speed?

This is another question I am asked often and it is about time I share blog about the tool I use to optimize my blog’s page load times. If you are concerned about things like your search engine optimization and delivering your awesome content as fast as possible to your reader then page speed should be at the top of your list. Right now, I am going to share with you how I optimize my page speeds and what tool I use to do this.

Page Speed Add-on for Firefox

The Page Speed Add-on for Firefox is flat out rockin! This Google-built tool is designed to help you optimize the load times of specific pages on your blog. It will tell you what is affecting it the most and if applicable it will give you an optimized version of the file or image that may be slowing things down. The add-on will also score each area of the file when you an analysis as well as give you an overall score out of 100 maximum.

Why is Page Speed important?

Your blog’s page speed is very important because it can determine whether or not your visitor hangs around for the page to load so they can read your content. It can determine the page’s position within Google’s search engine results. If you decide to advertise your blog on Google Adwords, they will use the landing page’s load time to help determine your ad’s Quality Score (a high Quality Score means that your keyword will trigger ads in a higher position and at a lower cost-per-click : CPC).

What does the Page Speed Add-on tell me?

After running an analysis using Page Speed, I receive a score and a complete list of what I need to work on improving if I want my page to load faster. It meters the HTTP Headers, images, javascript files, CSS files, style selectors, and the list goes on…Are your images too large and not optimized for the web? No problem because the add-on will tell you which images need optimizing, how much they can be reduced, and even a ‘Save As’ link to download the optimized version (which you can then FTP back to your theme’s images directory to replace the unoptimized version).

Watch the Video

Where can I download Page Speed or learn more about it?

Download Page Speed on Google Code for either Mozilla Firefox (need the Firebug extension first) or for Google Chrome browsers. The Page Speed Family Overview can provide additional links to better help you understand the tool or you can watch the video within this article.

I am a novice user but concerned about load times, all of this scares me

I understand your concern and the difficulty involved with using tools designed for developers. If you would rather not deal with installing the Page Speed Add-on then you can just use the Online Tool. It gives you the same result without having it quickly accessible on your browser window.

Final Thoughts

Although this may be require higher skills than a moderate blogger, it is worth learning or hiring someone to teach you because as I’ve listed in the first paragraph it is important. I do a lot of searching on Google and if the page takes much longer than a few seconds to load, I am out of there and slim chances I will ever return. Other people are the same way…probably even you. So concerned optimizing your blog for speed and ask your friends to check it out too for their feedback in case their experience is different than yours.

Check out 5 Firefox Addons for Internet Marketing

Page Speed Links

Page Speed Home

Download Page Speed Firefox Add-on

Using Page Speed for Firefox

Using Page Speed for Chrome

Page Speed Online Tool

About Clifton Hatfield

I am a family man. My wife and I are both web developers and parents to our beautiful boys. I have been working with social networks since 2004 and blogging even longer. After building niche networks of over 400,000 members, I have genuinely gained knowledge of how they have grown over the years and have influenced the way people interact on the internet. My hobbies include writing Facebook Applications and Wordpress Plugins. In my free time, I love a glass of wine with my wife or playing in the yard our boys. Nothing means more to me than my family.

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