1) Choose the Right Image Format

First of all we should choose the right image format for the right job.  There three commonly used image format for websites:

1. GIF
2. JPEG
3. PNG

GIF is the most website friendly, for it generates a much smaller image file than the other two formats. It is best used when the images do not have a lot of colors in it or is black and white. GIF has a very limited color pallet of 256 colors, which can make the image look spotty. Nevertheless, it is a good choice to increase loading time.

JPEG is a very commonly used image format. Since it support a color pallet of over 16 million shades, JPEG is often used in photo prints. The resolution and quality of the image generally is very good. It will not come as a surprise that JPEG file are much larger than GIF. Well, you will need to give up some loading time to get great quality.

Finally there is PNG, which have excellent color and flexibility. The best part about PNG is that you can create images without a background color, so it can take on any background you have. PNG creates pretty large files, so it is best used for smaller images such as logos and icons. One thing about PNG is that older browsers do not support them. But this doesn’t mean you should not use them. As technology progress and more people get newer computers, this will become less of an issue.

Choosing the right image format for the right job will greatly increase your website efficiency. In places where you do not need high quality images, you can use formats with small file sizes to achieve the same effect.

2) Always Compress Your Images!

So what if you want to use high quality JPEG and PNG, but do not want to sacrifice on loading time?  This is where image compression comes in. There are a multitude of image compressors available online to help you control the size of your images. Smaller size equals faster loading time. I personally use yahoo smush it and imageoptimizer.net to do the job. Well, there you have it: How to increase your Jimdo website loading speed by managing your image efficiently.

Setting it up could initially be confusing but it really isn’t too difficult.

Watch the Jimdo Tutorial Video above on step-by-step instructions on how to setup and install a Google Search Bar in your Jimdo website.

Now, inserting your Google Analytics ID code in Jimdo is very easy as described in Jimdo’s help page here.  However, in this tutorial video above we will show you how to set up Google Analytics OUTSIDE of Jimdo in step-by-step details.

We will also show you a very important filtering tip to set up inside Google Analytics so that you do NOT double count yourself or your team’s activities in your Jimdo website.  This is where MOST people get it wrong – so you don’t want it to happen to you.

Allowing Google Analytics to capture your own activities on your own website will defeat the purpose of tracking visitors or greatly skew the statistics from your visitors.

Enjoy the video tutorial above!

This is important as if there is something wrong with the way Google reads or indexes your website, then it may reduce the number of visitors that discovers your Jimdo website through search engines.  So keeping your website “healthy” from Google’s perspective is very important.

The first step to getting it set up is to have your website verified by Google.

Watch the Jimdo Tutorial Video above to see step-by-step how to setup your Jimdo website with Google Webmaster Tools.

The more people “Like”, the more credibility you have.  Also, once someone clicks on the “Like” button, all their friends will be informed about your website on Facebook.

Jimdo has already built in a Facebook Element so you can easily insert Facebook into your Jimdo website.  It’s very simple in fact.

In the Jimdo video tutorial above, we will show you hwo to set this up in your website, and our recommendations on how to do it effectively.  Enjoy!

DROPBOX REFERRAL LINK (http://db.tt/6jOVbxWR) – Get 2 GB of FREE online storage space, PLUS another BONUS 500 MB if you use this link (https://db.tt/owZjIXi)

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Integrating Dropbox with your Jimdo account is a very powerful way to build your website.  It allows you to effortlessly upload files (such as images) into your website, from anywhere around the world, while you are away from your home / work computer.

Gone are the days when you need to work from your own computer.  I’ve found it frustrating from personal experiences when I want to make quick updates on websites from a friend’s computer or just a public computer when I’m away from home, but couldn’t because I don’t have my files with me.

Now with the integration between Jimdo and Dropbox – this headache no longer exists!

Watch the video tutorial above on how to setup and integrate Dropbox with your Jimdo website.  We also discuss extensively about the benefits of using Dropbox (it’s FREE) especially if you are working with a team!

Jimdo allows you to customize the favicon and it is actually very easy to do.  Just do it once and each and every one of your webpage will be updated.  You might think that it’s a small or minor change, but it is these sort of small edits that add up to make a big overall impact!

Watch how to change the favicon of your Jimdo website in the video tutorial above.

Jimdo has a tool to allow you to designate which page to be protected by password, and you can remove this after you are ready to publish the webpage.

Watch this Jimdo Tutorial video above on how to password protect your web pages on your Jimdo website.

Jimdo allows you to get your store up and making sales very quickly by providing you with powerful tools such as Store Item element and Store Catalog function (this allows you to display segments of your products quickly and easily).

Read more about Jimdo’s Online Store overview here, or the Online Store Getting Started Guide.

You an also watch our Jimdo Tutorial Video above to learn how to use Jimdo’s e-commerce shopping cart. Learn about how to insert Store Items and how to use the powerful Store Catalog function.

Choose from HTML / Gallery format or Flash format.

Watch this Jimdo Video Tutorial above to see how to properly setup a photo gallery for your Jimdo website.