Before talking about this topic, let’s have a brief general outline on what website bandwidth usage and data transfer are all about.
Bandwidth Usage
Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred at one time.
If we are to use a mall’s parking area as an illustration of a website’s bandwidth usage, the size of the parking area determines the quantity of cars that can be parked in any given time.
Data Transfer
Data Transfer is the actual amount of data has been transferred.
If we are to use the same illustration, Data Transfer can be interpreted as total number of cars that can be parked in the parking area over a certain period of time.
How to Reduce Data Transfer
There are simple ways to reduce your bandwidth usage by yourself without any help from a programmer.
I promise you that these methods will not reduce the number of your visitors, but the amount of folders or files on your website to make your website faster and easier to load.
1. Keep texts and captions short and simple
Find out and remove any unnecessary text, images and even trash! Keep everything as small and as few as you can.
Tips: Spot your page keywords while removing the unrelated stuff. Minimalism is currently on the trend!
2. Optimise your photo sizes by choosing the right photo format
Refrain from using fancy flash presentations, audio or video.
This includes any background music which can sometimes appear to be annoying to your visitors.
Tips: Use JPEG image format for photos and GIF form for graphics.
3. Reduce the sizes of your HTML files
This can be done by using CSS and calling Javascripts externally instead of embedding them in every page.
4. Only use useful and relevant Meta Tags
Keep your meta tags clear and short. Focus only on keywords that are related and relevant. Long and lengthy meta tags are not only confusing, but take up data.
5. Cache your website
Set an expiry date in the HTTP headers so that your visitors’ browsers will refresh the content after a certain time.
It allows their browser to save a copy of your website, and each time the visitor visits your website, the pages are served from the copy on the browser and not your web server.