If you’re feeling super confused about resizing your blog images, you're not alone. By doing this from the start, you will save yourself hours of stress and unnecessary work. Plus, you may see your blog grow more quickly.
When I first started my blog Makyla Creates, I didn't realize how important it was to resize my images before uploading them to WordPress. I couldn't understand why my site was so slow.
Your website will load slower if you don't resize your website images, as large images take a lot of time to load. It creates a bad user experience for people visiting your blog as the pages won't load quickly. Readers will click away from your blog when pages don't load.
Not what you want to happen, right?
It's important to consider Canva whenever you make changes to your blog, including uploading new images.
A fast site creates a good user experience, which is crucial to growing your audience. It also increases your chances of ranking higher on Google.
The goal of resizing your images is to reduce their file size to a size that is suitable for web and blog use. This keeps your site speed fast and your readers engaged.
Luckily, you don’t have to be any sort of tech genesis to resize your images. The easiest way to do this is by using a free online tool like Canva.
Topics I cover in this blog post:
- How to resize images online for free
- Canva vs Adobe Lightroom image resizing
- Which image file is better for website use JPEG or PNG?
- How to resize your images online for free using Canva
- How to bulk edit images online for free
How to Resize Images Online for Free?
You can use a free online tool called Canva that allows you to edit images, create videos, and make digital graphics with no ‘techie’ knowledge required.
Canva has a large library of premade templates for all your online and marketing needs. Some of these templates include Pinterest Pins, Logo creation, YouTube thumbnails, etc.
You can use a free account, which provides you with the basic tools to get started, but I recommend signing up for a premium account. You will gain access to thousands of premade templates, images and graphics. This has saved me countless hours and money, which means I have more time to focus on content creation.
When you have a premium account, you can upload your branding fonts, logos and colours making it easy to create brand graphics in minutes. You will also receive more storage space, which is essential when creating lots of blog content and resizing images.
Canva VS Adobe Lightroom Image Resizing
Canva is an excellent, affordable way to resize your images online, but it's not the best for photo editing in my opinion. As with most things in life, you require a few great tools to get the job done right.
I use Lightroom by Adobe to edit all photos for Making Living Lovely and my blog Makyla Creates. When I edit my photos in Lightroom, I resize the images as I save, but Canva is super easy and fast to use when no photo editing is required.
Which Image File Is Better for Website Use JPEG Or PNG?
On the web, the most common image file format is JPG. Images are compressed to create smaller file sizes compared to PNG without compromising on quality.
A PNG is often used for printing or graphic images when you want the detail to be sharp and clear. On a blog this isn’t usually necessary, depending on your niche.
Here's how you can resize your images online for free with Canva.
How To Resize Your Images Online for Free Using Canva
Step One: Sign up for a free or premium Canva account.
Step Two: Click on create a new design.
At the bottom left, click on the custom size button.
Images used in WordPress blogs are typically 1200 pixels wide. Be sure to check your theme specs too, as it may specify a different size.
Enter in the custom dimensions you require, e.g., 1200px by 630px.
Create a new template by clicking on create a new design.
It will be saved to your Canva account so you can use it every time you need to resize blog images.
Step Three: On the left-hand side, there is a toolbar.
Upload the image files you wish to resize by clicking on uploads.
Open the computer file dialogue, and select the images you want to import.
Step Four: Drag the image into the frame. The white template will be filled with your image.
Step Five: Double click on the image to choose the cropped area. A grid will appear that will assist you in aligning your image.
Step Six: Click download, and set the file type to jpg. The image quality is set to 80% and can’t be changed on a free plan. A premium plan allows you to reduce the file sizes even more.
Save the image to your computer by clicking the download button. The file will be stored in the Downloads folder on your computer or in the folder you select.
How To Bulk Resize Images Online for Free
Step One: Under the image click on add page. Below the first frame, a new blank page will appear.
Step Two: Drop your second image into the frame. You can select the cropped area by double-clicking on the image. A grid will appear to help you line up your image correctly.
Repeat these steps until you have added all the images you need to resize.
Step Three: Within Canva, you can rename each image.
The image name appears above each image, but these file names will only appear when downloading more than one image from Canva at a time.
If you are only downloading one image, the file will save as the Canva file name. For example, ‘Blog Images Resized’ as seen below.
Step Four: Click download and set the file type to JPG.
Make sure all pages are selected then download.
You can uncheck any pages you don't want to download.
It will download as a zip file to your computer. To view the images, unzip the file.
And that's it!
In the comments section below, let us know if this has helped you find clarity around resizing your images online.
