Optimize Images

One of the most overlooked items in web site maintenance is image optimization. It is just to easy to simply upload images right from your phone/camera to your website. This is a mistake.

Raw images from modern digital cameras can range from 3mb to 8mb in size. If you are uploading right to WordPress or your website, you are going to not only slow down your page loads, you are going to use up your disk space.

If you have an unlimited hosting account you might be saying, "So What". Well, there is no such thing as unlimited hosting. All hosting companies cut off your backups at a certain number of files, or at a certain storage amount. Why waste your valuable disk space. Just optimize!

I typically shoot for an optimized .jpg of about 100kb. Yes I said 100kb. Compared to a 5mb digital pic, that's about 50 times smaller. So if you optimize you can store 50+ times as many images on your site.

So how do I optimize?

If you don't have image editing software, there are a few online tools that will do the job. Fun Photo Box works great and is a free online tool. Another useful tool is an Adobe Air product called Shrink-O-Matic. Shrink-O-Matic is fabulous, it is a drag and drop batch optimizer.

This is my standard procedure:

  1. Figure out the maximum width of your website. If your site maxes out at 1140px wide, then you only need to have an image that is 1140px in width
  2. Once you know your target width resize your image to match.
  3. Sometimes re-sizing the physical size of your image may be enough to hit your 100kb target. If it is not, simply save the .jpg with less quality. .jpg is a "Lossy" format. This means every time you save it at 80% quality, the file size shrinks. Just experiment with saving your .jpg's, each one is different, so focus on the target file size. The name of the game is to get as close to 100kb as possible without pixelating your image.

GreenHostCo Migration

GreenHostCo is all about being Green. As part of our evolution toward even more sustainable services we are migrating our servers to an even more sustainable energy source.

The energy source being left behind is Renewable Energy Credits, which was in the form of purchased wind energy. The new web servers will be powered by onsite solar panels supplemented with hydro-electric power. I believe this to be a greener alternative than the former.

New Features:

  • SSD Storage - Solid State Drives = Much faster load times
  • Gigabit Bandwidth
  • Virus/Malware Scanning & Protection
  • Super Efficient Servers
  • Powered by 100% Sustainable Energy

Client Logins:

During the process of migration each client will be contacted to inform them of the move. All products, services and domains will be migrated to the new servers. No downtime will be experienced. Changes on the client end may include DNS changes such as a nameservers or A record.

The client dashboard moving forward will be at https://greenhostco.net/clientarea.php

IMPORTANT:

If you are unable to log in at the greenhostco.net site it is because you have not been migrated yet. You can login at the old, .com client dashboard here: https://greenhostco.com/clients/clientarea.php

Is your Web Server slow

srvrIs your server slow, I mean really slow. Tortoise slow?

In my opinion, the number one reason people bounce from your website is load time. If it takes more than a couple seconds for your page to load, they might just close the page. GreenHostCo's servers are fast as well as green. 100% wind powered as well.

If you want to get started or have gruelingly slow hosting, like GoDaddy's you should try us out. You get personal attention and 100% satisfaction with GreenHostCo.

If you want to buy your name and set up a web site, contact us.

Site Live

Its been a long time coming. GreenHostCo went live last week.

If you want to buy a domain, setup web hosting or just find someone to get you started in the web hosting world, this is the place.

Special thanks to all those who helped me get this far.