In order to appeal to today’s consumers, offering amazing products and services isn’t quite enough to draw attention.
You need to properly showcase these online with amazing visuals and various types of supporting content. This will help to draw plenty of traffic to your site and keep people there for longer.
There are many different types of visual content you can use and your website isn’t the only place to display it. You can also make the most of external locations to advertise your brand, such as Google, social media, and YouTube.
Visual content can be anything from stunning professional photos to stats and figures, and emotionally appealing video stories to interactive activities. Here are fifteen tips to get you started.
Post professional product photos
It’s worth putting the effort in to create professional-looking product photos. For this reason, it also might be worth hiring a design agency. They will have both the resources and artistic talent to create amazing images for you.
Professional photos will help to add credibility to your website and brand overall. You can also work with a design agency to improve your branding, logo, and site graphics.
Create varied and engaging videos
Video is probably the most engaging form of content you can use. The best thing is it’s so versatile. You can create how-to videos or product demos. You could also make behind-the-scenes videos of how your products are made.
This will really help to showcase your talents. Video content helps to maximize engagement and the time visitors will spend on your site. These are metrics that search engine bots will use to rank your site, so if you want to get to the top of the results pages create interesting and entertaining video content. Here are a few more video marketing tips.
Add a visual call-to-action
It’s essential to optimize your site for user-experience. Once visitors arrive at your homepage, or other product pages, you need to let them know what they need to do next. One way to do this is to have a clear visual call-to-action on each page.
This could simply be an eye-catching button inviting them to “sign up today” or with the latest discounts and promotions as an incentive. Here are some call-to-action examples to give you an idea.
Display relevant facts and figures
Relevant facts and figures will help support your blog posts or industry news, for example. You can display these in visual formats such as an infographic. This way you can highlight the important points without your visitors having to read a long article.
Generating an infographic is simple once you get the hang of it. You can also display them on external sites. Here’s how to make an infographic.
Build trust with user-generated content
Incentivize your previous clients, followers, and employees to create visual content for you. This is known as user-generated content (UCG) and will help to build trust in your brand. There are several ways to leverage UGC.
You could encourage your followers to repost content on social media, or get existing customers or influencers to post reviews with added visuals. With so much choice nowadays, consumers are much more likely to invest in a brand that’s been recommended by someone they trust.
Target the right audience with display ads
Create display ads that will stand out to the right customers. You can use these to advertise your brand on external sites and social media. Facebook is also great for retargeting campaigns, for example. If a potential customer has already shown an interest in your brand an ad will appear on their Facebook feed. Google is also ideal for display ads and targeted campaigns. Here is a cheat sheet for Google display ads.
Quiz your readers
Do something different and create more interactive visual content, such as a quiz. You can easily generate one using one of the best online quiz makers. If you make it fun and relevant to your brand this will encourage visitors to spend longer on your site and keep them engaged.
You could alternatively look into visual surveys and feedback options. Clearly display any positive feedback or reviews on your site to help boost your reputation.
Take visitors on a virtual tour
A fun way to use video content is to take your visitors on a virtual tour. Depending on the type of business you run, this could be a prerecorded tour of the premises or a quick meet and greet with consenting members of staff.
If you work as an independent designer, you could create virtual displays of your designs using 3D software, for example. Think outside the box for new ways to use the latest technology to entice the viewer.
Have fun with memes and moving images
If it fits the personality of your brand you could use humor in the form of memes or moving images.
This can be great for breaking up long pieces of text. Use them wisely, however, and don’t go overboard. Ensure visitors to your site can easily find the factual information they’re looking for as well. Here are a few tips for making memes.
Maintain brand consistency
It’s essential to maintain brand consistency across all your visual content. This also needs to match the tone of voice in any written marketing material. Plan your content marketing strategy carefully and prepare the main points of your brand’s personality that you want to get across. These need to be represented clearly in all your content.
For example, if you want to appeal to a more high-end audience you need to focus on creating elegant-looking content using sophisticated technology. Think of all your visual material as a representative of the characteristics and preferences of your target niche. This will help you interact with them in a more consistent manner.
Increase page load speed
One downside of using visual content, particularly pictures and video, is that they are heavier files and could affect your page load speed. For this reason you need to carefully choose the right file types such as JPEGs that won’t weigh down the page. The best thing to do is to thoroughly test any new content you create. Here are a few more page speed best practices.
Ensure cross-platform compatibility
Another important thing to check is cross-platform compatibility.
Test your website on different devices and operating systems such as Android, iOS, and Windows. It’s vital to optimize your site for mobile usage as Google algorithms place a lot of importance on this. This is due to the fact that the majority of searches are now made from a mobile device.
You don’t want your visual content to get in the way of your web app loading on a smartphone. The best way to avoid this is to test and retest.
Use emotional appeal
Visual content is effective as part of emotional branding for your business. This essentially means appealing to your customers’ emotions through your content. You can do this by telling a compelling story, for example.
One way you can incorporate visuals into this is with a supporting video. You could get affiliated with a non-profit and host a fundraising event, then post videos of this on your site and social media. Don’t forget to pick a cause that will truly resonate with your target audience. It might be a good idea to brainstorm ideas based on their values and interests.
You can create buyer personas to help you. Another way to create emphatic appeal is to tell your brand’s own story. Explain your mission, how you set up your business, and why.
Check out your competitors
For more ideas about what kinds of visual content might work for you, check out your competitors. You can research their marketing strategy and find out how successful it is.
This will help you learn what appeals to your shared target audience and use this to your advantage. It’s possible to perform a detailed competitor analysis including keyword optimization, ad campaigns, website user metrics, and more.
This will give you a very clear picture of their marketing strategies and all you to find areas for improvement.
Be original
With visual content, it’s especially important to be original. Whereas you can use stock photos, it is worth spending the time and money creating something more unique to your brand and professional-looking. This will help to give your business more credibility. Consider outsourcing your design work to an agency that specializes in creating visual materials and digital marketing. They will be able to provide you with professional insights and the fresh perspective you need.
There are plenty of fun ways you can use visual content to make your website, ads, and social media posts more appealing. If you’re creative enough, you’ll be able to leverage this to draw more traffic to your site and boost sales. Whether you use targeted ads, stunning photos, or engaging video, visual content is the best way to interact with your potential customers and gain a competitive edge.
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