Great looking images, like nothing else, attract attention, and help sell the product right off of your website page. They create that light and airy feeling that makes you trust the product and buy it or is the service. But once you try to organize your own website pages – it all seems falling apart. The colors do not work together and you are not sure what image to choose.
No wonder, most of my clients start off with a combination of stock photography, telephone shots, and in the best-case scenario – with photography that was created without the vision of how it is going to work on a web page. It is all, just not working together on one page.
Here, using the images from one of my projects for Be Creative Craft Supplies I will show how to do it.
1. Have a website plan image shoot plan.
It is very important to look at the live website or web designer’s most recent draft when you create a shoot plan. The colors and website structure have to work with your new images. Otherwise, you are falling in the same trap – some pages will have more than enough images and some will be empty yet again.
Do not forget the key elements – headers, categories, subcategories, and product images.
2. Show the most important features of your product!
Every product has something exciting about it. Show that in the image. A picture is worth a thousand words – it can demonstrate, highlight the benefits, and, simply, create a great vibe around the product. Show off the texture, the colors. Have it styled putting it in the context.
3. Product pages styling.
In modern websites, the product is usually shown on a 100% white background or light cream or gray. Avoid overpowering colors or textures. There should be nothing distracting from the product itself. Do not forget that you might also need the images to sell on Amazon, which requires a crisp white background. It should offer a seamless transition into the rest of the webpage.
4. Sections and styled headers.
By offering visually descriptive and engaging images for website headers and sections you will create just the right atmosphere and put the shoppers right into buying mood. This is the place to be excited about your product and suggest great ways to use it. Use this opportunity to tell the story. Sections and banners are at the very top of the page – they are there to grab the attention and tell what the page is all about.
5. Have consistent images throughout the website and social media campaign.
Remember, the story of your website will be continued on social media. Very often your clients will come to you from the social media – via shippable posts or direct inbound links. They have to have a seamless experience and see right away that they are in the right place. The more times you show off your product – the more chances you will give your clients to fall in love with it.
Social media – such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter have influenced the way the images are created so much that regular old-style tabletop photography simply looks odd there. Also, try to avoid putting purely product shots in your Instagram account. It has to be fun, engaging, and, ideally, repostable.
Social media images tend to be less staged and more “spontaneous” in nature. Carefully set complex light settings are not going to look natural. It, almost, has to say – look what I saw – it is too good not to share!
Even if you create the images for social media with a professional camera, they look more natural if they look like good phone snapshots.
6. Color coordinate your campaigns.
The great benefit of creating images for your website professionally – is to get the consistency you would want around your product. Using stock images will simply not get you the desired result. They will not tell uniquely your story.
7. Keep track of engagement stats.
Images can be popular for different reasons – great color, showcasing great products. In one series – there will become images that are more popular than others. Now the popularity can be easily tracked and used to increase sales. Do not forget to use that great opportunity. Adjust your plans if you want to get better results.
8. Create images around hashtags
Hashtags are very important in social media promotion of the posts. Try to build the images around trending hashtags for your industry. This is a great benefit of custom images that will make your campaign more efficient and will bring you more sales in the long run.