We all are well aware of the prevalence and popularity of images these days specially on the social media platforms. Images are an important part of a website too. Website is incomplete without images. Websites that showcase their products and services through pictures are most likely to have more traffic. So, choosing the best image for your website would give that extra boost to your website SEO. The right images can bring customers to your business. So this is to make sure that a website contains the right images in the right amount and at the right place.
It is totally fine to be anxious about the kind of images you need to put in your website if you are starting with a new website for your business with no or less knowledge about this topic. Don’t worry you can get all the information you want in this article.
So, let’s jump right into it
Choosing the best image for your website
Here are listed some factors which will help you to choose the best image for your website
➨ Always select the high quality images
This is one of the most important thing to make sure when selecting an image for your website. The image you select should be high quality and appealing. The best images are those which have large pixels and high resolution. Also, don’t forget to make sure that the size of the Image is right and how does the image looks on website and mobile as well. Checking it on mobile phone is very important as we know that mobile version of the website matters a lot when it comes to SEO and website ranking so the image should be well optimized for mobile too.
➨ Image with a strong Call to Action (CTA)
If you are putting the image just as a showpiece then it will not help your business grow in anyway. So you need to have a Call to Action attached with the image. If you are selling clothes online or maybe food the pictures are the best excuse to place Call to Action. For instance, you are giving two choices of drinks to your customers then put a Call to Action with them, so the customers can choose the one they like.
Call to Action is really an important part of site especially if we talk about e-commerce websites, they are filled with images showcasing their products so placing a Call to Action would be a great way to increase the traffic on your website which will ultimately enhance your website ranking. And all these things will help improve your business growth.
➨ They should be relevant to your brand
The images should not look like they have been stuffed into the website just for the sake of it. The images should be relevant to your brand. They should represent your products and the values of your brand. For example, if you are selling books online then you need to have the pictures of your best sellers on your website. They should look appealing to the user which makes him to buy your books. So, in short the pictures needs to be in line with the product that you are selling.
➨ More image, less text
When you are putting a picture of your product on the website don’t write too much about it. Let the picture do the talking. Because nobody has that much amount of time to read things so images should be enough to give your user an idea of what you are offering to them. The image should speak for itself, a very short sentence can be added as a catchy slogan but don’t get into too much depth with the text.
➨ Get real people onboard
What does a customer wants to see when he decides to buy let’s say a dress or a shoe that how it is going to look on him or her. The picture of the product is not enough to give them the answer to their question. So get real people with you. With the images of the products you can add the images of real people wearing that particular product.
For instance if it’s a dress then a picture of a girl wearing that dress can be put on the website. It will help the user understand how the product will actually look. Infact, this is one of the best way to increase the conversion rate. People who are convinced about how the product will look on them, they are more likely to convert. So, get real people showcasing your product.
➨ Right image file type
Along with the above factors this one is also very important. You need to select what kind of image file type you want for your image. The two most famous are
- JPGs: JPGs are used for photographs because it can efficiently create a small file size. The small size will also make sure that it won’t affect the loading speed of the site negatively.
- PNGs: This one is mainly used for graphics like images that are mostly graphics, infographics, with large texts and logos. They also support transparent background. 24 bit format would be the best to save a PNG image as it will give the image a better quality.
➨ Optimize your images for SEO
Regardless of the kind of website you are running, the images should be optimized for SEO.
Besides good looking images, they need to be easy to index in the search results by search engines. You need to name the file correctly in order to allow the search engines find them easily. The name of the image should be the thing it is showing, for instance, if it is a picture of a White sneaker then don’t name the image as “Img123” instead just name what is in the picture “White-sneakers”, don’t use any space or punctuation.
Hyphens can be used. Another thing while naming the image is Alt text, it is a short description of what the image is showing. It is not visible to the site visitors but it helps the search engines in surfacing the most relevant results.
Related article: Ways to optimize image for better search results
To conclude
Images are an important part of a website and its SEO as we see in the above points. Having a high quality, attractive and well optimized image is a necessity for every website. So, make sure you go through all the tips I mentioned above before putting any image on your site.