There are million, in fact billions of websites out there on the internet and one thing that businesses and brands are constantly on the look out for, or questioning, is how to get more people to my site. Well besides the typical answer of marketing and all the things that can play a role into a marketing strategy is knowing how the design of your website can aid the distribution and sharing of your site to bring them in.

As a front end web developer or web designer it should be your job in knowing strategies how to create compelling designs and sites to help a business grow. One of those ways is the imagery that is placed on a site. We are visually driven consumers and learners and learning how to leverage this strategy in the development of a website can give tremendous results.

So I would like to give a few pointers on how you can drive more viewers to your site and keep them there. So let’s get into it shall we.

5 Reasons Images Are Important For Your Website?

1. Images Help In Conversion Rates (get more views)

According to an article from crowdriff.com it is reported that 60% of consumers will consider businesses with images. The question to ask when you read that is why? Well first off we are visually stimulated people. Based on what we want or what we like images can entice us to purchase things we don’t necessarily need right now or can leave a visual impression on our mind that lasts forever. At the same time images can make us feel comfortable.

To note images don’t only mean pictures but can relate to infographics, charts, cartoons, or anything that represents a visual element.

So how do images help us to feel comfortable. Well in the simple notion it can give us a reference point to relate to. I’ll give an example. If I were to have a stressful day or in a sense a traumatic experience, one of the ways I might cope with these moments is I watch cartoons lol, shout out to the cartoon lovers. Why is that. Cartoons help to take me back and remind me of my childhood and the thoughts of where things were care free and much simpler and easier.

Therefore it can touch an emotional soft point and the same can go to when choosing specific images to represent your business. Rather than just choosing a generic image find images that solely represents you, your brand, and business in order that when visitors see that image they can relate to it, usually images with people in it, thus creating more incentive to clicking on the image. Which can then lead them to your site or article on your site.

2. Image Can Bring Your Product Or Service To Life

The art of storytelling for the web can be powerful and if you can master a few things to help draw your viewers in you can really create more conversion rates as discussed in point one. Hopefully if you have been in business or developing your brand story for online engagement you have come across the term or phrase before that “Content Is King”. I like to think that if content is king then images must be queen.

Let’s think about this for a second, this might be a little off the wall but I think it will drive my point home. Have you ever seen a young lady, or for you gals a young man, and thought to yourself wow who is that? what’s her story, where is she from, how old is she, and is she in a relationship. Her beauty (her image) drives you to want to find out more about her (the content/the background).

Therefore when it comes to visual storytelling on your site how will you create stunning imagery that will draw viewers in and create content to have them wanting more.

Another fun fact is the average website visitor only reads about 20% of your content but will look at all the images. (source)

How will you use this to your advantage?

3. Images Helps Your SEO Ranking

Did you know that images can aid in your ranking in google? You might be asking me, “but how sway?”sorry I couldn’t help it. No worries I’ll tell you, by something called metadata. This is how a search engine will crawl through your site and find relevant information that people are looking for. The more keywords that come up in relation to words searched for is the more possibility you have to rank more on google.

Your next question is probably where do you place this information or how do you do it. Easy, if you ever thought the name of your image was unimportant than think again. Having the proper name to your image helps in searches as well as image search. And if you ever seen the words “alt” as a field to enter into on your WordPress theme or in the code of a website this stands for alternative text. This is for screen readers to help people with disabilities to know what the image is without seeing it or if the image failed to display on the screen it serves as a description to know what it is supposed to be.

This all helps in the rankings of your site being search engine optimized, incase you didn’t know what SEO  stood for. So be sure to name you images properly.

4. Images Persuade To Viewers To Click. 

I love the idea that your home screen or welcome screen to your website is like the trailer to your movie. I know we all have have been enticed by a movie trailer before with a quick 5-30 second intro which lead you to clicking on the post to find out more.

A true example how imagery can play a vital role in decision making. Especially if it stimulates some areas you find most intriguing. According to an MIT research your brain can identify images within 13 milliseconds, I don’ t know about you but thats really fast. In case you didn’t know that’s faster than a second. In fact that is like a fraction of a second. It is amazing what our brains can process.

Did you know that 90% of information is transmitted to the brain visually? The reason for this is because visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text alone and especially with the introduction of mobile devices and social media we have adapted to how fast we absorb content based off our ability to scroll through a feed and judge what we want to watch from a simple glance.

Our brains at work. Which leads to my last point of good imagery…Social media.

5. Images Fuel Social Media

If you live in this day and age and even conduct a business you are already losing in some form if you are not on any social media platform. Social media is now how consumers are able to find out what business are doing and what is current.

That is why not only should you connect your site to your social media accounts to give visitors easy access to connect with you, but also for them to create social marketing as well. It is through your consumers that help tell and talk about your brand that gets the word out.

Yet it is still your job to bring these people to your site. Let’s take instagram for instance. Instagram is a heavily image emphasized platform and the number one way people engage is by clicking on your image which will lead to your profile which can lead to your website. So again I ask, which is the recurring theme throughout this post, what images are you using to draw people in.

Conclusion

There you have it. The 5 reasons why images are important for your website and ways that you can incorporate them to draw viewers attention. Understanding how to use imagery on your site is really a form of good storytelling and ultimately marketing. If you can tell your brand story through great imagery you can become a great marketer.

One way to get a leg up on becoming a good storyteller is see how other successful business are doing this and mimic their footsteps. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel but use what works and then see if you can make any improvements.

Go out and tell your story and be sure to choose the right images.