Tips for Wix artists #2: Site speed

Website Speed: Why It Matters for Artists Using Wix

Many artists choose Wix for their online portfolios because of its beautifully designed templates and easy-to-use interface. However, one downside of Wix is its relatively slow loading speeds—especially on mobile devices. This is largely due to the media-rich templates that make Wix sites visually appealing but also heavy to load.

The good news? There are several ways to work around this limitation.

Artists and Image Overload

As artists, we're naturally drawn to aesthetics, and we love showcasing our work in the best light possible. That often means using lots of high-quality, high-resolution images. Unfortunately, large image files are one of the main culprits behind slow website speeds—and Wix doesn’t offer a built-in tool to compress images in bulk.

Why Loading Speed Matters

Website loading speed plays a big role in your site's overall success. It directly affects:

• User experience – Visitors are more likely to stay on a fast-loading site.

• Conversion rates – Faster sites often lead to higher engagement and sales.

• SEO rankings – Google prioritizes websites that load quickly, especially on mobile.

A slow website can drive visitors away before they even see your work.

How to Check Your Website’s Speed

If you're using Wix, you can check your site’s performance via the Site Speed dashboard. Simply go to: Site & Mobile App → Site Speed.

Ideally, your site should load in under 3 seconds.

How to Improve Your Site Speed

The most effective way to speed up your site is by optimizing image sizes. Here are a few tips:

• Hero banners (full-width images): approx. 2400 x 1600px

• In-text or sidebar images: around 1080 x 1080px

• Product images: ideally 640 x 640px or 800 x 800px

• File size: keep most images under 500KB

  
  

Wix doesn’t compress images automatically, so it's best to resize and compress them before uploading. Tools like TinyPNG (free) or paid alternatives can help you compress images without sacrificing quality. Otherwise, you’ll have to resize each image manually within Wix, which can be time-consuming.

Additional Tips

• Remove any unnnecessary apps you have downloaded from the Wix App Market. These will slow down your site. Only use them if they are essential.

• Avoid uploading large video files directly to your site—use YouTube or Vimeo embeds instead.

• Keep your page layouts simple and streamlined.

• Be cautious with product widgets inside blog posts. In my experience, these can significantly slow down page load times. Instead, consider inserting a small image with a link to the product page.

Wix product widget example:

Bowler print

Buy Now

Photo with product link example:

Buy now: Bowler print, $180AU unframed

I hope you found this useful. Feel free to comment or share any other Wix tips for artists.

About the author

Leah Mariani is a Melbourne artist who makes figurative work about womanhood. Follow her artist journey on social media @leahmarianiartspace. To stay in touch, sign up to the INVITE ONLY list here.