10 Ways to Use or Not Use Images on Your Site?

We have all heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. In some cases that could very well be true.

Graphics and images can bring your site to life, grabbing your visitors’ attention and achieving the desired conversion results. Images can add drama, excitement and truth to your site. The right images can make time spent on your site an experience to remember.

Studies show that one well-placed image can raise your conversion rate by as much as 25 percent. But, despite all the amazing results images can achieve, if used incorrectly, they can have the reverse effect.
Look over the 10 tips below to see what you should and shouldn’t do to change the overall effect of the graphics and images on your site:

1. Use Images to Bring out Emotion
People are ruled by their emotions. Using pictures to help bring out these emotions can be very successful. Place images on your site to bring out the positive of what you have to offer. If you sell home décor, don’t just show pictures of the products. Show someone happily and proudly showing off her home, decorated with your décor, to her friends. Getting your prospects to feel good is a major part of making the sale!

2. Placement is Key
People will scan your webpage in a very specific way. Our eyes tend to follow a pattern. Placing images in key spots in this pattern will often bring more results. Use a professional quality banner at the top of your page. This will draw your visitors into your site for further scrutiny. Place images throughout your body copy, where they will enhance the information you are offering. Do not place your images randomly all over your site. This could easily distract and confuse your readers.

3. Use Quality, Professional Images
Be sure your images are not blurry or hard to see. Don’t use flashy, loud or obnoxious images. You want the images to be simple and color compatible with your site. You also want the images to bring out your content, not distract from it.

4. Do Not Use Clipart
Although there is a lot of free clipart available, it is not always a good choice. Clipart is very childish looking and cartoonish. Of course, there are sites on which clipart would work well. In such cases, by all means, use it. But, if you need something to send a more powerful message, clipart is not the answer.

5. Slow Loading Pages
One of the most annoying things we can experience is a webpage that takes too long to load. People are unlikely to wait any longer than five to 10 seconds for a webpage to load. With this in mind, you want to make sure you do not use too many images or slow-loading images that will cause your readers to leave. In this case, less is more.

6. Alternative Text or Tags
To use alternative text or tags, also known as alt tags or alt text, add text into the html code of the image. You need to do this because search engine spiders cannot read images – you need to add keywords and descriptive text to achieve SEO from the image. For example, if you sell jewelry and post an image of a diamond ring on your site, the search engine spiders will not recognize the image as a diamond ring. You need to add a bit of alt text – alt=”diamond ring” – to your html code for the image. This will enable the spiders to read the image, thus increasing your SEO.

7. Branding
Branding is when your company is immediately recognized by just an image or phrase. This is important because it gets people to connect with you and your company and it builds your reputation. For example: when you see a little white apple with a bite taken out of it, what company comes to mind? Simple graphics and images can do a lot for your business. Many companies will also create a mascot to brand their business. Mascots can bring personality and life to your business while making it more memorable. We all know what company comes to mind when we see a little green gecko or a dancing peanut. This can happen for your business and reputation as well.

8. Website Related
Make sure you do not throw up a bunch of pictures because they are pretty and look good. You don’t want to use images as decorations. The images you use must be related to your site and the content you provide. Don’t use images as you would knick knacks in your house – they will just clutter up your site.

9. Rotating Images
Images that showcase products by rotating 360 degrees have been shown to increase conversion rates substantially.

10. Be Creative
In this day and age, the possibilities are endless. Dig down deep into your creativity and come up with something so amazing it will take your business to new heights.
Images are one of those things that can do wonders for your business, but they can also hurt your business. Learn everything you can about how to use graphics and images to build your business. Test different images to see which will increase your conversions and which will not. The extra work will definitely be worth it.

Post from: SiteProNews