In this quick MaAnna Minute I want to share with you how using an Instagram widget could be slowing down your site load time and ways you can get around it.
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Video Notes
An Instagram Widget (or widget code) actually loads the full image size, no matter how small the display size is on your site.
That can make your page load time slow, especially on mobile.
The Work Around Options
Option 1
Some widgets have the option to serve the images from your site (local load).
Those would be treated like other images you upload on your site, where WordPress auto creates multiple sizes, with the smaller ones used for thumbnails.
The caveat is, that will likely just double up on the same images you’ve already uploaded to your site and take up more disk space.
Option 2
Create your own thumbnails and place in an ad rotate type plugin. That way you can also control the link on each image to send folks to that same image on your Instagram page.
You may be able to load bunches of images, but only randomly display a few of them. That way return visitors always see something new.
Option 3
Create a single static image with an invitation to follow you on Instagram and link it to your page.
Option 4
Just delete the Instagram widget, especially if you’re just using for filler and no one is actually clicking on it. No need to take that performance hit.
Run Your Own Test
Click this link to see how to run your own site performance tests, just like I did in this MaAnna Minute.
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