Humans love looking at visual content. The human brain craves visual input consistently. Images attract eyes more than text. When you navigate through countless search options on the internet text paired with images always grabs more clicks.
Images grab attention, trigger emotions, and are memorable, but the best advantage for marketers are that it increases engagement and influence visitors to purchase. The images you choose make a huge difference. Today, consumers are smart and good judges of pictures. Image Finder is a great platform where original photographers display their collections. For downloading the original image size you need to download from the original photographer’s site. The platform even offers images from free photo sites including the license detail. The images are 100% free but the license of every photograph depends on the image owner.
The chosen image has to be relevant to your mission statement and values. It will represent your brand. The power of photographs must not be underestimated and giant brands in the market battle to the very last pixel to grab that extra engagement. Another important thing is correct image optimization.
What’s image optimization?
Image optimization is all about decreasing image file size without quality sacrifice, so that page loads quickly. Image optimization is also about SEO, which means getting the product or decorative image to rank high on major search engines including Google.
What is involved in the image optimization process?
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Be descriptive and relevant!
Create descriptive image file names using relevant keywords. Search engine bots not just crawl across the text but even the image file names. So ensure to check the keyword patterns your audience follows and use them in naming the image file. It helps to enhance your on-page SEO and rank high on SERPs.
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Alt attribute optimization
Alt text adds SEO value. They are used for web accessibility. Include relevant keywords in the alt attributes, so ranking on SERPs improves. Never use alt text for decorative images or never stuff them with keywords.
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Wisely choose image dimensions and angles
If you are selling a product, it is sensible to show photos from different angles. Large pictures are great for a better user experience but will increase load time. You need to compress the dimension using source code or make it small and offer the option to see a large image on a separate webpage or pop-up.
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Decrease image file size
Consumers never wait more than 3 seconds for the site to load. Google even keeps an eye on page load time, while ranking. So, if your images take more than 12 seconds for loading then you lose a prospective consumer. Reduce file size using the command ‘save for web’ in Adobe Photoshop. Make sure that the image quality does not get sacrificed, so adjust the image accurately while using the command. There are many other online editing tools you can use if you don’t have Photoshop.
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Choose the right file type
JPEG, PNG, and GIF are the common file types used to upload images. PNG images are gaining popularity as they support more colors but JPEG is still a great alternative as the quality is not compromised in the smallest file size.
Always do A/B testing of your images to see which converts the best and take action on the ones that don’t!
