WEBSITE STRATEGY: 3 Ways to Optimize Photos and Visuals to Deliver Your Message
When we work with clients at The Marketing Engine, improving and optimizing their websites is a top priority. Users are quick to judge based on visual appeal or load times, so it is imperative that you do the legwork to make sure those things are set up to be a home run.
It doesn’t matter how valuable the content is on the site if no one wants to stay and look around. The layout, image relevancy and load speed can make or break a user experience.
Here are 3 easy tips for optimizing your website images so that your site is delivering the right message to your target audience:
TIP 1: A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
So often, we will pull up a new client’s website and the first thing we notice is that the photos do not correlate to the actual service, product, or mission of the business or organization. Pretty photos of nature don’t belong on your website if what you do has nothing to do with the outdoors! Where are the people?
If you serve people, then use pictures of people doing relevant things to your service. If your organization helps small business owners, then the photos should represent those small business owners that you are trying to reach. If your business is as a dog trainer, then, of course, you’ll have photos of dogs, but what about people giving commands and looking happy with their well-trained dogs?
Remember that people want connection. They want to feel as though they are being seen and want to feel like you are speaking directly to them. Give them a way to feel those things by using photos that represent them. Allow them to imagine themselves as the people in those pictures.
The goal is to deliver a message and tell a story on your website. You want to show images that represent that message and story.
Make it make sense.
A user’s experience on your site is going to be better when there are images. Visuals can help them make sense about what you do and get a crystal clear impression of who you help and how. Keep it simple and don’t overcomplicate the experience.
There are two things that you can do to make sure that the images make sense to the user:
1. Hire a brand photographer for your website photos (plus you can use them on all of your marketing channels!). A professional can help you tell the story you need to tell. Make sure that they understand what you are trying to convey and show them images of others in your field that you like. Make sure you see their portfolio so that you know they have the same vision that you do.
Ask for Brand Photographer referrals from friends and peers. Do a Google or social media search for someone in your area and check out their website and social media channels. Expect to pay at least a few hundred dollars (if not quite a bit more). If you have found the right photographer, then the quality of the images and the vast usage you get from them will be well worth the investment.
2. Make sure there is negative space on your website. This is typically white space or whatever the background color of your site is.
Designing a layout with negative space will give your images a chance to “pop” out to the user. This will also help keep the user from becoming overwhelmed on your site.
TIP 2. HIDDEN KEYWORDS TO BOOST SEO
You probably know that your website needs to be chock full of relevant keywords to help improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Most of these keywords are found in the copy on your site but a little secret is that the images on your site are an awesome opportunity to add hidden keywords.
Start by renaming your photos when you (or your website designer) add a photo to the site. Instead of “IMG._541.JPG” as the title, try “Command-Dog-Training-Chicago-Masterclass.JPG”. Get specific and add a dash between words so that Google can read and comprehend it.
You should also add Alt Text to each photo. (Also called Alt Tags or Alt Descriptions.) There is an option to do this on all of the major website hosting platforms. Think of it this way: if your image did not show up on your site for some reason and the Alt Text is displayed instead, would the user be able to clearly understand what the intended image was? Adding Alt Text also helps screen-reading technology for users that are visually impaired.
For search engines (like Google) to crawl and rank your website, using “hidden” Alt Text keywords and descriptions can help.
Be careful not to “keyword stuff by using keywords that are not relevant to the image or the copy that it represents. Google frowns on keyword stuffing!
TIP 3. SIZE MATTERS
User experience matters to the user, but it also matters to Google. If your website images load too slowly, you’ll likely have frustrated visitors who will be apt to click out of your website a lot sooner than a quick-loading site. Google will also “read” how quickly your images load and because their customer is the user, a website that lags behind will not be one that they want to recommend.
Use JPG if possible (faster loading time) and use PNG as an alternative (higher quality images and transparent background images) if necessary. Do some research about image size and find a website or app like tinypng.com to resize images for optimal load times.
For sizing, it will depend on how you will use the image in the layout of your site. Typically, you’ll want to use images no larger than 300K. The optimal size is 200K. Most images should not be larger than 800 pixels on the longest side. For large full-screen images that span the whole of the browser, stick to around 2500 pixels on the widest part of the image.
Consult your web designer or do your research to determine the best image sizes. What you don’t want is blurry photos and images that will reduce the website quality and therefore the user experience.
VISUALS TELL YOUR BRAND STORY SO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!
Your website is the home base of your business. The majority of your marketing efforts will be to direct your target audience to the site so make sure that you put out the Welcome Mat for those that click the link or type in your web address.
Use images to help your potential clients/customers understand what you do and give search engines a chance to suggest your site to someone looking for your type of business!
Want more help with your website? Download our FREE WEBSITE AUDIT CHECKLIST here!