WP Site with a ton of images

Joe,

This is a tough one. Yes, WP sucks when it comes to managing images. My current set up on more image heavy sites is to use standard WP image function for Header, Sidebar, and Footer Images as well as Featured Images for Posts and Product. Images aside from that I host on the site server in a more organized folder structure and link that way ( can be good for SEO as well ). I then use a CDN ( Cloud Flare ) to speed up the process a bit.

I have found using a secondary point for images creates load issues. Someone goes to your site. the powers that be stretch across the internet find you site server and then load your page. There is anywhere from 300ms to 1200+ms just in the discovery portion of that happening. Can be bad enough when things are on one URL.. then add the fact there is an outbound URL for each Image.

Using BlueHost as an example there is 1200ms to get the page details, and then for each image you are adding 1200ms to your pages load time. - it kinda blows. This is what is happening when you goto a page and you see the text first and then the images are loading. I have a feeling you have been on the net enough to have seen this more than once ( today LOL ) There is coding tricks to make this better, so its pulling all the images in one call, but still you are basically doubling load time.

So we have self served images and offsite served images. the 3rd option would be to go with a more advanced "Cloud" based server solution. Basically integrating in a more fluid manor the option I mentioned at the top. My "Big" sites.. this is really the option I chose. Better load times more efficient and overall better user experience.

Hope that Helps!

I suggest you start looking into upgrading to a dedicated hosting server if you don't already have one. If you already have that then yeah it's time to look into content management or get a CDN (Content Delivery Network) that works well too. I have a photo portfolio site with tons of high quality images, CDNs can take you a long way too, works well for me.

Thanks, kids. It looks like a CDN is in my future.