5 Reasons You Should Care More About The Images on Your Web Site

Guest contributor Sandy Flint is a Houston based professional photographer. His marketing and advertising imagery has been seen across America and Europe. He has an uncanny ability to help business owners craft images that help them acquire new clients. Find out more at Flint-Photography.com

When a prospect is looking for the products or services you provide, your web site is often their first introduction to your business.

You have only one chance to make a great first impression – and you have fewer than 10 seconds to make it. So your web site needs to bring its “A game”.

Here are 5 easy tips you can follow to evaluate the images on your web site, and to make image decisions going forward.

Characteristics of great web site and marketing images:

1. They capture attention.

The best way to understand this is by thinking about your social media accounts. Let’s say you pull up Facebook on your phone. If you’re like me, you scroll through the news feed pretty quickly, only stopping for images that grab your attention. That’s what you want your potential clients to do: stop. If you understand your ideal customer, and what they’re looking for, it will be easier to create images that get their attention. Only then will they stop and read the words you’ve written.

2. They tell the story you want to tell.

A lot of small business owners have difficulty articulating the difference between what they sell, and how they turn that into revenue. A high end steak house isn’t selling $95 steaks. They’re selling an experience; maybe an enjoyable evening with friends. The $95 steak is how they generate revenue. While a fast food restaurant is selling “cheap food, fast”.

Great marketing images should appeal to your ideal customer’s in a way that leaves them wanting what you’re offering.

3. They are consistent with your brand.

If you provide a high end product or service, then your imagery should reflect that. If you’re selling “value”, then that’s what you should show. If you’re that “fast and cheap” burger joint, then an image of mom and the kids in the car, eating a $3 hamburger would be perfect. If you’re our high end steak house, you would be better off showing people who “look” like your ideal client, enjoying themselves in your restaurant.

4. They have a consistent style and look.

If you’re from the southern half of Texas, and I say “Bucee’s Billboard” you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. You can already see it in your head: the yellow circle with the beaver, and some clever saying about the bathrooms. You can spot one of their billboards from a mile away. This works because their billboards have a consistent look and feel. The images in ALL of your marketing should too. This will help you build brand recognition from your image alone – before people even see your logo or read the ad copy. This can be difficult to accomplish, and will take time, but the benefit of being “immediately recognizable” with your potential clients is priceless.

5. They are easier to read than a lot of text.

Go back to your social media account for a minute. As you rapidly scroll through your social media, that little glimpse of a photo can capture your attention get your to stop, and even scroll back. We all do it ever day. The images that make you stop, are the ones that appeal to you.

The next time you stop for an ad on social media, ask yourself why you stopped for that image. How did it “speak” to you? Is it really relevant to you, or did the advertiser miss the mark? You’ll learn a lot of how to craft your own images by doing this.

Then take a look at your own images and ask yourself “What story is this images telling to my ideal client”? If it’s telling the right story, then you’re on the right track.

6. Bonus Tip: Why you shouldn’t hire Uncle Bill to do your marketing photography.

It takes more than good photography skills to create images that really help your business stand out from the crowd. A good business photographer will understand your target market, help you drive your marketing strategies, and have suggestions for images that will tell the right story to the right people, all in under a second.

You should feel like they are partnering with you on your road to success.

Good Luck!

-Sandy Flint

Not sure where to start! How about with a free image review?

We offer a free image review for all new clients. We’ll take a look at the images on your web site and send you back 3-5 suggestions for how they could be a more effective in marketing your business. You can request your own image review – free of charge – here: https://flint-photo.com/image-review