FYI

My NEW blog address is
bj-sweetnothings.blogspot.com

and I have a link to where you can receive
SWEET NOTHINGS posts in your EMAIL ACCOUNT.

Please go to the NEW BLOG.
thanks, bj

Saturday, September 11, 2010

BLOG load time should be 30 seconds or less...

so I've been told.
Actually, reading different sites on the subject of how fast your page should load..
7 SECONDS or less.!! WOW...I would faint and fall over dead if I ever found one
that loaded THAT QUICK....or if MINE loaded that fast...*dream on....
*
Has anyone else out there noticed that some blogs are getting slower and slower and harder to even leave a comment on ?
*
If our BLOGS are loading too slowly,
guess what ....we're losing visitors and comments. BELIEVE ME when I say that I am the LAST person on Blog Earth to even begin to try to understand all the things that you can do to help faster load time....
BUT....
I have been seeing a LOT of slow loaders lately...some are REALLY slow....others even slower.


Google is full of ways to improve your load time.....I just don't UNDERSTAND the things they tell me to do....and to get "into" any of the dreaded codes scares the daylights outa me. Because, I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND them...
*

But, I've been taught a few things (in plain English) that may help US to speed up our blogs...just thought I'd share with you some these things...
I really appreciate the advice and tips other bloggers have given me..
*
MY blog is already loading faster since doing these suggested things...but I'm NOT THERE YET


FIRST and foremost of the " DRAG IT ON DOWN" widgets is MUSIC...
*
If you are playing music on your site, it is slowing your load time considerably.
*
There's other players that won't DRAG you down quite as much.
I don't know the names of them but I can surely TRY to find out, IF YOU WANT.
*
I love music SO much but it dawned on me not long ago that
NOT EVERYONE LIKES THE SAME KIND OF MUSIC.
I visit blogs all the time that play music that I JUST DON'T CARE FOR...
so I turn off my speakers.
*
"HEY", I thought..."Maybe THEY don't like LITTLE RICHARD, FATS,
BOB SEGAR....and HEAVEN FORBID.........RAY CHARLES....."...well, DUH !!
*
So, what's the point of having music, at all, if it's not pleasing to your readers...
and we ALL know......
"You can please some of the people ALL of the time..
and all the people SOME of the time....but never all the people all the time.."
.....or SOMEthing like that, anyway..:)
*

So, if the music is making for slower page load time, and no one is listening to it anyway...

what's the point ?
I REMOVED MY PLAYLIST....
*
Some of you may have voted in the MUSIC POLL I had on my sidebar last week...
About 40% LIKED50% HATED10% DIDN'T GIVE A FLYIN' FLIP.....
Sooo THERE YA ARE..
****
If you are using a BACKGROUND widget, I'm told that it should be placed at the BOTTOM
of your blog...down there.....in the middle....the foot note place.
*
Now, SEE...I was told to ALWAYS KEEP IT AT THE TOP but when I moved
it down to the center bottom........FASTER !!.....YEP !!
***
I REFUSE to give up my BACKGROUND widget.
Just the plain colored backgrounds look FLAT to me......
much like a FLAT PAINT...
I love the lighter backgrounds...they DO show off your photos better...
but, the TEXTURE is missing unless you use a grey on white, cream on cream
or such...
JUST my PREFRENCE, THO.....:-)
*
It makes sense that THE fewer HTML widgets you have, THE BETTER off your blog is.
Getting rid of those that aren't REALLY needed will help tremendously.
With so many bloggers having HTML BLOG BUTTONS and all of us
TRYING to get them all...it's really caused OVERLOAD...!

MAYBE WE'RE GETTIN' TOO BIG FOR OUR BRITCHES! :))
*
We CAN just have the PHOTO of the button, link it, without the HTML business.
right ??
*
I have deleted a LOT of my widgets and will continue to CLEAN HOUSE until
I have SMOOTHER BLOG SAILING.
****
AND....now, THIS one REALLY, REALLY HURTS....
our beautiful, LARGE...HUGE...AWESOME photos......
Oh, boy....they, too, are ROBBING us of FASTER LOADS.
*
I really hate to say that some of the blogs that use the larger photos ALL THE TIME are REALLY slow loading...causing stress on the readers.
If MINE has been too dang slow.....I am so sorry, ya'll.
*
Some of the blogs that use a lot of HUGE photos are taking SOOO long to load...
and the pictures roll until it's hard to even view...
It can be so frustrating...and
I DON'T WANT MY BLOG to be frustrating to ANY of you.
*
I am going back to just the LARGE photos on BLOGGER except for a precious few.
(I mean...after all...I AM a grandmother and grandloves SHOULD be pictured
as BIG as we can get 'em....right? :)
There's some photos that I love to enlarge...but NOT ALL OF THEM.
*
I've had to drop a few blogs that I really enjoyed but the long wait period for loading fully..
so that I could even SEE the photos, is just taking too much time.
THEN, when I'm hit with WORD VERIFICATION on top of the long wait, that takes
another few minutes THAT I DON'T HAVE...and I'm pullin' my hair out by that time.
Some blogs take as much as 2-4 MINUTES to fully load so that even
the WRITING is visiable...I'm afraid THESE BLOGS ARE BEING BYPASSED.
*
I am sorry if MY blog has been one of THESE for you.
I promise.....I'm working on it....
***
THIS ONE doesn't have anything to do with LOAD TIME, but just a hint that might
be helpful....
STARK WHITE backgrounds are HARD...VERY hard on the eyes.
If you don't want to use a BACKGROUND WIDGET,
you might consider using a hint of tint ...it sure will make it MUCH more pleasant for your READERS..
and THAT'S a big part of blogging.
In fact....."If readers aren't happy....ain't NOBODY happy!!"
**********
YOU may not EVEN realize that you have WORD VERIFICATION on..
We have been blessed with a SPAM folder now so there's NO NEED
to lose comments just because you have a verification on there..
Just go to your settings and MAKE SURE you have not CHECKED
WORD VERIFICATION..
I promise that you will see an increase in comments...
which, of course, means MORE FOLLOWERS. ;))
*

NO ONE wants to be considered SLOW.....

StopWatch...

a really great place to CHECK YOUR LOAD SPEED...
**********************************************************

I'm working hard to make my blog as pleasant for YOU as I possibly can.
Would you be so KIND to let me know if it seems to be LOADING SLOW ?
*
and, IF YOU WANT, I'll be sure to let you know about yours, too.
Sometimes we just don't realize how slow it is...
until some KIND SOUL tells us so we can TRY to make things better.
*
I guess it's kinda like when NO ONE tells you that you have SPINACH between your teeth
until you see YOUR BEST FRIEND....
SHE will tell you 'cause she love you!!
**
I am hoping these little tips I'VE learned will help YOU, too.
And, if you would,
PLEASE.....PA-LEZZZZZZ tell us of any TIPS
that YOU might have to share..Sure would appreciate it.
We're all in this AWESOME blogging together and it's so great
that we can help each other along the way....
and all the time....
HAVING SO MUCH FUN !

BONDING together, HELPING each other....
this is why BLOGGING is so great in so many ways for all of us.

THANK YOU for being my blogging friends...I LOVE YOU ALL...

44 comments:

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

Good points, BJ.

I am keeping large photos but not the huge photos as much.

I like the white background for the photos and since my blog is about photos, a lot, I may keep it.

I got rid of most of the extra curricular stuff a long time ago. Never did do music, because I tend to keep the speakers off and figured others were doing the same and because there is all kinds of taste in music around blogland.

I wonder if I am one of the offending blogs/bloggers.

Terry @ La Bella Vie said...

Well hi there!
These are all good tips to blogging, non of which I am doing (I think) but the thing that takes FOREVER is my picture loading when writing a post. I sit there and think; I could be done with this posting by now if the stinking pictures didn't take so long to upload! I also agree with the music playlist as music is very taste specific and not everyone likes what you like. The one time I did music was on my wedding anniversary post and it was "our song" it played for the week it ran.
Anyway, good post today my friend!
Terry
PS and yes please, everyone PLEASE TURN OFF WORD VERIFICATION! you don't need it if you have comment moderation on:)

Nancy said...

Hi BJ - the biggest thing that causes slow loading is showing too many posts on the main page. I switched mine to show only 5 I think and it really speeded/sped? up.
I try to keep the widgets down but I love having music on my blog and since I'm not putting ads on I figure what does it matter. Anyone who stops by will have the sound off anyway if they don't like it or just not come back! I get a lot of comments that people pop out my playlist and listen to it! I'm such a rebel - haha. My biggest peeve is having to jump through hoops to leave a comment - you can set your comments to require owner approval for posts older than two weeks and that's where the spam goes anyway. The new spam filter is wonderful. Thanks for all the hints and what???you don't like rap!!!1 lol
Nancy

Nancy said...

PS your blog loaded fast and I forgot to say I also love big pictures on peoples blogs.

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

I switched to a subtle shade of grey. Not sure I like it yet, but will give it a day or two.

I forgot about the multi posts on one page. I keep two on mine and have for quite awhile.

Again, because my blog is pretty well photo oriented I will keep the larger photos. In fact, I don't mind them on other blogs. It certainly makes it easier for me while viewing.

Amelia said...

Thanks for the hints...never too old to learn!

Kathleen Grace said...

Good hints BJ. We can really overload our blogs with all the goodies we cram on the sides. You can also edit your photo size (fewer pixels) and still have really good size photos that load faster. Will you let me know if mine takes a long time? Yours never takes that long for me but I have high speed internet and I suppose not everyone does!

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Good points BJ! I have not had music for quite some time. I just tested my speed with the stopwatch link you provided and it was just over 7 seconds.

Linda @ A La Carte said...

BJ very good post! I don't have music on mine and never will. I also keep my sound off. The blogs that take so long to load are hard for me to wait on and sometimes I don't! So good point. I also hate word verification. I had it at first because of 'spam fear' but I finally heard everyone say take it off and I did and I don't get spam hardly ever!! So thanks for writing this..now if others will just believe!

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Great advice, I love all the tips. I need to know if mine loads slow. So if it does, let me know. Hugs, Marty

Maura @ Kisiwa Creek Photography said...

THANK YOU BJ!
I am going to check out that link to see how fast my blog loads and if it's slow I'm going to work on it. Not long ago I got rid of a few things I felt I didn't need..maybe it's time to re--think what I have on there.
Thanks again BJ for bringing this to our attention..you're a sweetie!
Have a wonderful weekend....Maura :)

Blondie's Journal said...

Great tips, BJ. I do have music, because I just love it...but everyone has the option to turn their speakers off.

I absolutely dislike Word Verification and have noticed that mostly new bloggers have it, so maybe mentioning it in your comments??...

Hope you are having a great weekend!

xoxo
Jane

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Auntie sezzzzzz... said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

I have to break up this Comment, because Blogger won't publish it all at once. :-)

Thank you for doing this blog topic!!!

First, tell me true, does my blog load slowly! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Because even though I have bigggg pics, I don't think it does. [I have that site to check load time, but maybe it's not working for me, as well as it could. TELL me! Please! Anything and everything, you experience, about my blog... that's a *pain in the patuuuuteee* I mean.

Readability is important to me, too. That's why I use an off-black for my print. It seems less harsh to me. Is it?????????

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Will look into a slight soft cast of color [from Blogger], to my Background, even if I don't use a Background for Minima Stretch. Will do!

I dislike music to blare at me, so I always leave sound off, for blog viewing. The music I have, is only if you want to click on it.

Was told long ago, by my computer geek pal, that each and every "picture" you put on your blog, has to load individually. No only what we see as USUAL pics, but all the stuff on sidebar... And pretty signatures... And those pretty topic separators...

And if it sparkles, or moves, or changes [like count-down clocks]... It adds load time.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

And the WORD VERIFICATION is my personal peeve. -sigh- And yet, so many blogs use it. -sigh- I try to mention it, before just leaving the blog behind. But wonder how many such bloggers, care to hear that I don't like to do it????

THANK YOU for doing this post topic! You can do such. You are always sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, and everyone will listen to you. Me, I'm often "grumpy" and they may well "tune me out." -gigggles-

Gentle hugs...

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Silly Blogger! Told me it would not Publish my long Comment.

So I broke it up into 3.

Then Blogger went and posted my long Comment, a couple of times.

Eeeeek!

Silly Blogger.

:-)

shannon i olson said...

Thanks for the great tips, yes some take forever to load. Mine is still too long, I removed a slide show...that helped. I will have to figure out what else to do. As for the music the blogs with it are really slower! It can be nice but if you open more than one tab they conflict and uff da!

Pat@BPM said...

Well now BJ, here I am again. I am just having too much fun with that stop watch. Good thing this is one of those P'Jama do nuthin' days!:-)

I did the watch with two posts/no changes to page...many photos and good sized. It was just under 4.4 seconds. I took the second post off and it came in under a second!! Could not believe it.

I think I'll put the second post back on and take something else off to see what happens. Doesn't take much to entertain me!

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

OK, I just did the STOPWATCH site, on mine and on yours. All those 0000000 confuse me. So I'll type in, the whole answer(s) I got.

Aunt Amelia's Attic....00:00:01.730

Sweet Nothings.........00:00:08.81

Who is faster????? Someone who's good at math, please tell me. -sigh-

"Math Challenged" One here

Plus, I had forgotten to Sign In again, to my blog, when I tried to Comment here. Yikes. 'Cause you have to Sign Out of your own blog, before you time it, on STOPWATCH. :-)

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

BJ's is slower.

I just removed the moon phase thing and put the the 2nd post back on and came up with .977 of a second, just under a second. I think that is plenty fast enough. I'll leave it at that for awhile.

Unknown said...

Great tips, BJ ... TY for sharing.
I just leave my favorite musics as they are, don't change ... but I don't like hearing music on other blogs at all ... my speakers are always off.

Have a beautiful weekend ~
TTFN ~ Hugs, Marydon

Stephanie Suzanne Designs said...

Hi BJ,

I loved reading all your pointers on making a blog load quicker.

Since living on this mountain ridge I've had to adjust to my Verizon Wireless {aircard modem}...it's only like 1.5mgs per second in speed and on top of that I have a 5gb limit of usage per month.

Totally different than my super high speed with unlimited use each month! I do miss it because my slower speed and my usage limit has disciplined me to certain ways I keep my blog updated and also the way that I view other blogs. But I'm so thankful to have this wireless connection while looking out my window at my fabulous views! So I won't complain {much}. :0)

I think by far the worst time gobbler for me with my lower speed is when blogs have their "number of posts" setting set too high {for me that number is around more than 5 posts loading before the page can finish}..otherwise it takes forever for a blog to load and I usually click out of that blog and leave.

I have my blog setting to only display my two most current postings and then I have a widget that gives you a quick visual way to see my past 25 postings. It's a win win situation...my blog loads quickly at my end with my slower speed and my visitors still have a simple way to read many of my posts.

Backgrounds are wonderful for those with higher speed connections than I have {which happens to be almost everyone..hee hee}...those background files are usually close to or more than a megabite in size...and music, well I hunt down the player and turn it off because it eats up my allotted monthly usage..and I want to read at a blog NOT listen to music..LOL

I have a very complex blog template that I designed...I have tons of html, links and picture widgets and it loads just fine for me at my end so I know it has to be a super fast load for others.

I chose to go with a white background because I love digital design and I'm a photographer that loves to show my photos with borders and such...the white background saves me a lot of time on layering certain images onto a colored background so they look very smooth when uploaded to my blog...yes, I'm a fanatic with things looking just so..I guess I view my blog as another one of my creative expressions.

So for me...no music, no large background files allow for tons of image, links and html widgets..oh and I keep my post images to a maximum of 525px wide..they can be clicked on to see the larger size.

I hope you are having a wonderful day..I totally enjoyed my visit with you today!

Happy Day,
Stephanie ♥

Entertaining Women said...

Thanks so much for telling me how to turn off the comments screen on my blog. When I signed up for everything, I was just a bit shell shocked trying to figure it all out for the first time. I didn't even remember that I had chosen one way or the other. You're so right; it is totally a frustration to have to constantly enter the captcha after making a comment. Bye the bye, it took less than 2 seconds to open your post. I really haven't noticed that it takes long for anyone, though. Thank you for all the great tips. They really help this particular novice. Cherry Kay

Bonnie said...

This is great BJ. I really dislike the blogs that have music with the widget at the bottom so you have to scroll all the way down to find it. It should be right near the top or not at all. I like to listen to music from my own play list when blogging so that can gt annoying. I also hate word verification. Ugh.

Ahhh, I do have to keep my big photos, I just love them. But I am going to take some stuff off my sidebar.
Thanks for all the reminders.

The other BJ
XOXO

Sherry from Alabama said...

Great advice! Here's a link to a site where you can plug in your blog URL and it will tell you how long it takes for your blog to load:

http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/

I haven't checked mine lately, but I try to keep my blog on the simple side so it will load quickly and be easier on the eyes. I have had some rather large pictures on it lately so I need to go check its speed again. Thanks for the reminder!

Sherry @ A Happy Valentine

Unknown said...

Actually BJ yours loads really quickly for me. I haven't read thru all the comments so don't know if someone has already said this, but going to your toolbar and clicking on Tools, and then Internet Options, and then deleting your browsing history (temporary internet files and cookies) will also speed everything up. Each time you bring up an internet page, it save it to your temp file so it will be easier to find it next time. But it really drags down your speed so clean it about once a week if you're on the computer often.

nancy said...

I have that problem last night. I thinks it blogger. I try to change my music and yep it was soooooo slow. I don't mind your music at all BJ. We don't hear very often. I like it and you are just being different from others. I go to photobucket and resize my photos and save a second copy just in case. I use medum for the blog.
Love your entry and if someone's site is slow. Go somewhere else andf go back another time.
Take care and God Bless!
Nancy

nancy said...

Oh by the way. I use bloggers background and template. Less HTML codes.

nancy said...

Oh by the way. I use bloggers background and template. Less HTML codes.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I love spending time on your blog! Where else can I see bacon that looks like a pig? heehee! You are sweet to keep things running smoothly! We don't want to miss anything! Hugs! ♥

JEANNE said...

Wow, bj, great hints and info. I have a plain Jane blog without music and I do not have a wait time when posting photos. Mostly because I am still computer challenged. I just do not understand all of the ins and outs of what can be done when blogging. My format is always the same and I think kind of boring sometimes. Anyway, I do experience slow responses to visiting some blogs. It is so annoying. Yours is not one of them ever. I did love your music though. We are alike in many ways sister friend. Smile.
Thank you for your deep study of improving our blog's response time.
I understand most of what you said. HA! Beverly is my tech rep you know.
Love you, Jeanne

Theresa said...

You are so right! I don't like music and KEEP my speakers down! Occasionally if it has something to do with the blog but for the most part, I don't listen. I turned word verification off to because it DOES take time! I am always happy to get tips to help make my blog faster and better!

Thanks my friend! You are my hero!

Kathleen said...

Yours loaded really fast tonight.
I will clean house too, and do let me know if I am a slow poke.
Some us don't have the option of just clicking off the music as someone mentioned, I have to click mine down till it goes off, and it does take time, so I appreciate the no music.
I have read comments from people who said they don't go to blogs with music!
While we are at it! What about people who email you a comment INSTEAD of posting it on your blog.
I don't understand that!
Splain that to me Lucy!
Off to clean up my blog!

Kelly Mac said...

Thank you for all your great blogging expertise. If you can figure out how to make my header quit being so big, you'll elevate to blogger genius! I'm still too new to have it all figured out. Loved the picture of that old barn too, wish I was close enough to go look at it with you.

Kathleen said...

I tested, mine loaded quickly according to that timer!

Natasha in Oz said...

That was really interesting BJ. You know the thing that slows everything down for me is using Internet explorer. Once I stopped using that and changed to google chrome it was like a whole new world opened up for me!

Thanks for tips! I think I do all of those already except for the big pictures...I just love my big pictures! I have music on my Christmas blog but I think that I will keep it on there as it is festive and happy!

Best wishes,
Natasha.

Annesphamily said...

I am usually clueless on technical stuff. I prayer a lot! You are a wealth of info BJ! I am so glad I meet you. I am so sad about the loss of sweet CC that I am trying to remind everyone here how much they mean to me! Thanks for sharing swete friend. Anne

CHERI said...

BJ, THANK YOU for all these great ideas. A few I knew, but many I did not. I'm not sure what you meant by the blog background being put at the bottom. I did know about LARGE pictures, but since I don't know how to do that I guess I'm safe:) I just use the "large" on blogger and even that is too large sometimes and some of my picture gets cut off. Yours seemed to load fine for me today. I did take someone's advice and turned off word identification...I hate that thing! Please let me know if you visit my blog and it loads slowly. I haven't figured out widgets, music, or other stuff so guess that's been a blessing in disguise!!!! And thank you so much for your sweet comment on my post about my friend Lois...it really means a lot!

CHERI said...

Just tried that site from Sherry from AL....cool! I then changed my blog to show only 4 latest posts. That got my time down to 1.4 seconds!!!!! That's not too bad, is it? Thanks again for all this wonderful info!!!!

Southern Lady said...

This was a great post, BJ. I hope my blog doesn't discourage readers because of slowness in loading. I always have a lot of pictures, because my blog is primarily a photo journal, but I use Bloggers "large" size photos, with the option to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

As far as music on blogs goes, I have to admit that I dislike it intensely. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly had a heart attack after clicking on a blog and having loud music welcome me ... lol To me, there's nothing more distracting and I now keep my speakers turned off, but that's just my opinion.

Thank you for your excellent suggestions. I am going to take a good look at my blog and see if there are ways I can "streamline" it. I hope I'm not one of the ones you gave up trying to visit.

Anonymous said...

Wow thanks BJ! Mine load time is 10.18 so I need to do some major revamping! I love the big pictures though! I don't have a background but lots of widgets so will work on those!!

This was a great post!

bee blessed
mary

Beth said...

BJ, This is a very informative post. Susan at Between Naps On The Porch had some information on this topic recently too...and one thing she suggested was that if your computer is "old," perhaps you should consider replacing it - that spoke to me as my computer is 5 years old now...need to save u my pennies...
Love ya darlin' - thanks for everything you do - you are a real sweetheart and I love your blog!
Blessings, Beth