5 reasons why your website needs great images
Guest blog by Tori Deslauriers, Brand Photographer
While we all know that crafting our online shopfront is important, and we all understand the benefit of good copy, how much thought do you put into your website imagery?
A lot of people, when planning a website think that written content is king and then treat their photos like a sad afterthought that they throw on after the words they’ve carefully created are finished.
However, great photos do much more for your website than work as an ornament.
Here’s my top five reasons you want to invest in great photos on your website:
1. A lot of people are visual learners
According to a science journal with a name too complex to pronounce (Thermopylae Sciences + Technology if you’re interested!), the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text and 90% of the information we manage to process is visual
Tweets with images are 94% more likely to be retweeted than those without.
The average person only reads 20% of text on an average website page.
People retain approx. 80% of what they see, 20% of what they read and 10% of what they hear.
Plus, it takes people approx. 2.6 seconds to form a first impression so banks of text aren’t likely to help people quickly decide if they want to dig deeper into your site or not.
A quick test:
Below are some images of macaroons. Two of the images are professionally taken, and one isn’t. If you were scrolling through a site, which image(s) would tempt you to buy the macaroons?
Example of a good vs bad product image
2. Photos help you with your website strategy
As you’ll know, SEO is critical to the success of your business. And part of that is that are a few places you can further help your website out in the imagery. While Google can’t see the file you have an opportunity to put vital information in the file name, caption, alt text and title text.
You can also help Google and outsmart your competition (who believe me probably aren’t doing this because it’s time consuming!) by resizing your files and compressing them properly.
For example, blog posts with relevant images with rank better in plugins like Yoast than posts with no images because you’re creating a more user-friendly experience which is, in turn, important to Google.
3. Branding photography tells your story more quickly than words
If you’re a business selling products then of course you need product shots. Done well, these will elevate your client’s opinion of what you are selling so they view you as high end and more desirable. If you market your products with an element of lifestyle desire, your clients will not only want your product but desire the life that the products fit into, making the sale 10 times easier.
But, while branding photography is a buzz word at the moment, what does this actually mean?!
Brand photography means having a bank of photos that represent you and your company and tell your story more easily and quickly - whilst building trust with your audience.
4. Great images are more than ‘just’ a headshot
In order to have photos that properly tell the story of your business, you need to really think through what you want your ideal client to understand about you and your values. It’s the online equivalent of thinking about the first impression you’d like to make if you walked into an in-person networking meeting.
How do we do that? If you work with me, it would be a case of spending time working out what your brand stands for, what you want to convey, what your ideal client’s pain points are and how we portray that through photos. Sometimes clients do that through mood boards or mind maps or through the comprehensive questionnaire I send them. But suffice to say I know their businesses pretty well before I even pick up a camera!
Then it’s about how we show that in photos. What locations, people, props and outfits best show off your message?
Branding photography is definitely more than a headshot! You are not just showing what your face looks like – you are giving people a glimpse into your world, your values, behind the scenes. Let them get to know you…
5. Photo shoots are fun - and the right images help to build connections!
No, I know you won’t believe me when I say that because nobody ever does, but it’s the main reason that everyone puts off having their photos done and neglects this really critical bit of their website and social media channels.
Let me just remind you that if you have great photos on your site, people are more likely to buy into your brand quickly and in turn decide they want to hear more about what you do. Similarly, if you have great images on social media, these people are much more likely to start following you and become clients down the road.
The perceived discomfort of having your photo taken is never a good reason to keep letting updating your photos fall to the bottom of your to do list and as Kate said:
“Tori ‘got’ me and my message really quickly, and gave me great advice on how to best steer my message through photographs.
The branding shoot was great fun – which I wouldn’t have expected to say – I hate having my photo taken normally! Tori really put me at ease and I often forgot I was being photographed. The results are happy, relaxed ‘on message’ photos that I am proud and happy to have to ‘sell’ my business.
I would not hesitate to recommend her!”
- Kate, performance coach at Kate Davis
So, if you’ve been putting this off, let’s chat!
Tori Deslauriers is a personal branding photographer helping small businesses tell by creating show stopping, on brand imagery that helps them sell themselves easily in an increasingly crowded online world.