In this article, we’ll explain 6 key steps you can take to make your website environmentally friendly. By the end of this article you’ll be educated enough on this topic with tips and tricks to help you stay greener, so read on and let’s dive into it!
“If the internet was a country, it would be the sixth worst polluter in the world, equivalent to that of Germany.” – Sustainable web design by Tom Greenwood
The internet, in its entirety, is a significant polluter and accounts for 2% of global CO2 emissions! Emissions are predominantly generated from the energy required to power the servers that home all the data stored on web pages and in our own inboxes, as well as the power needed by the devices we use to access the internet.
Fortunately, there are some really simple things you can do to ensure your website is as environmentally friendly as possible and we’ve put together these proven steps to get you moving in the right direction.
WHAT IS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY WEBSITE?
An environmentally friendly website is clean, which means it should not be cluttered with unused data and out-of-date content. Unused data and content should be deleted, helping the business become a lot faster.
Examples of content and data that you can consider removing:
Old plugins
Old pages
Pages with very little traffic
Unnecessary images
STAYING EFFICIENT, OPEN AND HONEST
Every website needs to run efficiently, and it’s proven that a site that runs fast tends to have a much higher conversion rate. But it also means the website needs to be saving energy while working at a high speed, as well as being open and honest about the willingness to find and share mistakes and be transparent about your services. Being open about your sustainability strategy and what you’re working on to improve goes a long way towards building trust with your audience.
Your website is the best place to share your message and highlight the values and integrity of your organization. Showcasing your organization as working towards reducing your environmental footprint can go a long way in converting visitors from consideration to purchases.
You should ensure that you only ever make statements that can be backed up and verified – simply saying you are doing something can and should be scrutinized to ensure you are not greenwashing your organization.
ACTION STEP 1: SWITCH TO A GREEN WEB HOST
A green web host uses 100% renewable energy to power up their data centres and facilities. This means that the electricity they use comes from natural resources that are replenished naturally, such as sunlight, wind, rain, and geothermal heat. They also buy a permit to emit one ton of carbon dioxide per credit or its equivalent of any other greenhouse gas with the aim to offset their carbon footprint. It is very easy to switch to a green web host to reduce carbon emissions.
WHAT SHOULD BE LOOKED FOR WHEN CHOOSING A GREEN WEB HOST?
When choosing a green web host, look out for Renewable energy certificates (REC) and carbon offset certificates (VER). The main difference between renewable energy certificates vs. carbon credits is what they offset. Where carbon credits help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy certificates offset electricity use from non-renewable sources. Instead of offsetting carbon, RECs offset kilowatt hours. Another component to look out for is Energy-efficient hardware and data centres, these help websites work fast while also staying clean and green. Energy-efficient software is also very important because otherwise, the website may use unnecessary energy for the software which will lead to bad carbon footprints. You also need to find a green website host that supports climate change initiatives, this is one way to be sure that they try to stay green as much as possible.
A few questions you need to ask yourself as guidelines to choosing a green web host are: How robust is your website and what data storage do you need? Where are their servers located in relation to you? And you should ask about the customer service expectations/learning curve. This will help you form an idea of what kind of green web host you’ll decide to use.
ACTION STEP 2: LIMIT OR COMPRESS THE IMAGES AND VIDEO ON YOUR SITE
One of the easiest ways to reduce carbon emissions is to compress the images and video on your website. Using large and many images requires more data to be used up which also means more energy is required for the website to function effectively.
ACTION STEP 3: UTILIZE SYSTEM FONTS VS CUSTOM FONTS
You need to compress your fonts to make your website cleaner. To do this, you can limit the use of custom fonts. Opting for a system font for the body text helps quite a lot. An important component to think about is to work with WOFF file formats as they have built-in compression (WOFF stands for web open font format). Additionally, utilize CSS for styling vs uploading all style files (CSS means cascading style sheets). Lastly, to utilize fonts, you should use variable fonts from Google, which will help your website run faster because of being cleaner and greener.
Also, here’s the link to Green Geeks web hosting for your reference: https://www.greengeeks.com/
ACTION STEP 4: GET THAT JUNK OUTTA YOUR TRUNK (AKA YOUR BACKEND)
To do thorough backend cleaning you need to review analytics and combine pages that are less frequently visited.
Deleting old or unused pages is one of the most important aspects. It’s just as important to condense and optimize your code, which will also give you a better understanding of your own website, but make sure you only utilize plugins, JavaScript, and animations if they contribute to the overall brand strategy.
ACTION STEP 5: SAY MORE WITH LESS COPY
This bit will be quite straightforward and simple as it’s just about copying and pasting, with copy cleaning up tips you just need to review the amount and frequency of copy on your website, you can replace an image with a clear, direct copy.
Hiring a professional copywriter is the most effective way as they’re educated the most in this specific sector so it’s a good idea to think about.
ACTION STEP 6: SUSTAIN YOUR OWN ENERGY AND OUTSOURCE WEB DESIGN
You first need to review your overall design and strategy before building or redesigning your website, start with a fresh strategy; have your business reviewed. Invest in sustainable branding and web design for long-term success, you also need to be transparent about your efforts and commitment to sustainability.
If and when hiring a web designer you should ask these three questions: What sustainable web design practices do you use? Which green host and platform do you recommend? What long-term recommendation can you make for maintaining a reduced carbon footprint as our website grows?
These questions will help you as guides to choose the right web designer and how specifically you want your website to be designed, as well as give the web designer a good idea about what results you hope to achieve with their help.
WHERE TO START?
If you have any questions or comments please leave them below and if you’d like to talk to our team about our web development services then head over to the contact page and drop us a message.