Visitors to your website will decide if they are going to stay within the first ten seconds, and even after that, they normally don’t stay very long. They need to be hooked. Media is a great way to do so. Videos, photos, social media posts are all going to engage a visitor and hold them around for a little bit longer.
Think about your own browsing practice. Probably, you look at the images first, glancing at the text. You only read the text once you have developed an interest in the business or whatever the website has to offer. The longer a user stays on your website, the more their relationship forms with your business. However, the photos you select are very important—keep them professional. Images attract the eye more than copy will. This will be the first impression a customer has of your brand. Make it a good one.
These photos should maintain a professionalism about them. After all, this is a business. You want your storefront to look pristine—always organized. Old and grainy pictures look like dust on your front door. How many businesses with dust on their front door are you going to walk into if you don’t have to?
Professional Brand Means Professional Work
Every picture on your website should be high quality and professionally done. This is especially important for B2B websites. Mom-and-pop shops can get away without professional headshots, or other images because that is a part of their brand. Businesses that work with other businesses, however, need to maintain an image of professionalism. Every piece of your website needs to convey that you know how to do your job well and you know how to conduct yourselves within a professional environment. In addition to professionalism, high-quality pictures indicate that you do high-quality work. It shows that you pay attention to the details and that every inch of the work you do for them will be of the highest standard. The professional photos don’t just look great on your website; the images let everyone know that the work you put out is the best.
Don’t Skimp Out on Headshots
Headshots can be a hassle. Especially, if you make sure they all look alike, but this is important. A “Staff” or “About Us” section gives your brand transparency and familiarity. There is a fine line between looking professional and looking unwelcoming. Headshots—and better yet, bios—of your staff can do just that. Headshots of staff get to show the client this is exactly who they will be working with. Your company, or business, looks transparent and welcoming—someone you would be comfortable chatting with.
Similar looking headshots done professionally are also a great tactic—they show that your business is a team. Nothing looks more disheveled than a brand’s headshot section showing pictures of people in front of different brick walls, poorly lit places, or out on the beach. Professional headshots make your team look like a team, are aesthetically pleasing, and give your business a welcoming transparency.
Media Is Generally Good SEO Practice
When people think SEO, they don’t always think pictures, but images can be a great way to actually sneak some SEO tactics into pages that don’t have a lot of text. Google image searches are incredibly common and can be sly ways of increasing your website’s ranking. Each image posted on your website is posted with alt text. Alt text is used so that visually impaired visitors who cannot necessarily see the image, still understand what the image is depicting. Google’s crawler uses this alt text to determine the page’s subject matter, meaning that every image you place can be used to increase your webpage’s ranking.
Always, I repeat, always, make sure your pictures and images are optimized for mobile users. Mobile users account for 50% of all web traffic and you will waste all your time creating professional content if they do not appear properly for half of your website’s traffic. If you’re going to put in the work, do yourself a favor and cover all your bases.
While you’re at it, make sure everything besides pictures are also optimized for mobile users. There is no better way to slight all your hard work by building a website that only looks good on a computer screen.
