Author: Abhishek Yadav
April 21st, 2023
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Bill Gates wrote a groundbreaking essay entitled “Content is King” way back in 1996, where he predicted that content would be where most of the real money would be made on the Internet. What content? Gates felt that the broadest opportunities for companies would revolve around supplying valuable information and/or entertainment. He also felt that publishing quality content was something that a company of any size – no matter how big or small – could contribute.
Gates’ words turned out to be pretty prophetic; nearly 25 years later, content is still king! But which kind of content? To be certain, words still matter, and choosing the right verbiage for your website is still incredibly important. But it’s also important to realize that not all content is – or even should be – verbal. At the end of the day, humans are pretty visually oriented creatures, so the more visual content you can produce for your site, the better off you’ll be.
Visual content marketing is a very effective tactic of brand marketing for business websites of all types, including (but certainly not limited to) those which are specifically designed for eCommerce. It’s designed to focus more specifically on visual elements, including graphics, motion banners, videos, infographics, and static images – each of which plays right into the hands of online marketing. The right visual content can grab your web visitor’s eye, turn more visitors into customers, and also help to build brand value. Engaging visual content will help your target audience to keep your brand and your messaging in mind when it’s time for them to make purchasing decisions related to the products and services your business provides.
In recent years, the typical customer’s shopping journey has changed dramatically. Nowadays, many people will start by looking at product imagery and messaging on Pinterest and Instagram, and they’ll also compare and research future purchases through watching videos on YouTube. These shoppers are used to researching and checking out products and brands on social media, so once they arrive at your website, they also expect it to be visually attractive and similarly engaging.
By leveraging high-quality visual content, you’ll not only attract more visitors, but you’ll also encourage them to stick around and actually shop for your products and services. Excellent visual content is a pivotal key for customer engagement and better landing page conversion rates. The right visuals really can help to separate your business from the competition!
Based on this knowledge, it should come as no surprise that good visual content boosts conversion rates. However, this is only effective when the visual content in question is used correctly. Here are five of our preferred methods for accomplishing just that:
A good product photo is a crucial method for catching the attention of customers in an eCommerce store – or on any business website, for that matter. A clear, sharp, and detailed picture which effectively illustrates what you’re selling will make it innately more enticing to your customers. How can you make your product images more interesting?
For starters, it’s wise to use a professional photographer with some higher-end camera equipment. Don’t be afraid to add some unique style, flair, and props to your product photos. And if these photos are intended to be published online, by all means make sure that they render in a high-enough resolution to ensure that no details are lost in the visualization.
If you have much familiarity with digital marketing, then you’re probably aware of infographics. An infographic is simply a focused way of visualizing statistics, data, or how-to tips through visually-appetizing imagery delivered through a simple-yet-effective layout. An infographic that’s both attractive and informative can really generate some massive traffic for your website!
The trend of placing product infographics on third-party eCommerce sites like Flipkart and Amazon continues to trend upwards. Note that on most third-party platforms, sellers are limited it terms of visual layout restrictions and the amount of written details which can be included. Because of this, it’s better to focus simply on highlighting key features with your infographics, rather than finding yourself lost in the weeds with lengthy, text-based descriptions.
Planning to leverage some video for your digital marketing efforts? In that case, you should give more thought to producing 3D digital videos. The creation of a 3D video removes any imperfections from imagery of your products, and really helps to make them pop. We’ve observed, for example, that 3D product images and videos are a primary focus for iPhone-related videos.
Unboxing videos have become another hot trend in visual marketing and are incredibly popular among most consumer bases. YouTube reviewers, celebrities, and influencers love to use this unboxing method. Generating video where you unbox your product and display its many features is a great way to create some unique content which is sure to resonate with your target audience.
Personalization is another key marketing strategy for attracting and engaging more customers. It involves finding ways to enable your customers to personalize and customize your products for themselves, and also allow them to effectively visualize the personalizations and customizations they create. The idea is to help them to visualize your brand and your products through the lens of their own personal preferences. Two great examples of combining AR (Augmented Reality) with personalization are the Lenskart and Warby Parker apps. These apps utilize facial recognition technology to suggest glasses for shoppers depending upon their particular face type and shape. Customers even have the ability to “try on” their custom glasses virtually.
In the past, guest blogging specialists relied on posting content that was purely text-based. But purely text-based content isn’t as attractive to blog sites as it used to be, and mostly high-authority websites won’t accept an article which contains text content alone. If you’ll choose to focus on generating more visually attractive infographics instead, you’ll probably get a lot more content published. Plus, you’ll probably find this approach to generate more targeted traffic for you, as well.
To learn more, try following the Guestographic technique utilized by Brian Dean. Try writing various versions of specific summaries for your infographic to share along with the infographic itself. You’ll increase the possibility of actually getting your infographic published on various sites, generating more backlinks, and being able to share your infographic with a wider audience.
Don’t get too carried away with your fabulous images. It will also help if you’ll remember how critical it is to make your photos easy for bloggers to copy. If they don’t have to work too hard to use your images, it will be easier (and more likely) for them to give you some link attributes, as well.
Try making a “stock photo” page of your visual content. This is a database which bloggers can use to easily access and embed your created images. Be sure to create a clear title and description of your page, which includes keywords that bloggers are likely to be searching for. For example, phrases like “common creative photos” or “free stock images” will likely attract more bloggers to your content.
When you create visual content, of course you want to host these images, infographics, and videos on your site. But your website isn’t the only platform on which you can showcase your visual content. You can also try uploading your content on some top media hosting directories in order to generate more backlinks to your original source page.
People love to watch and read about success stories. You can publish your marketing surveys, campaigns, case studies, and success strategies through visual content: videos, slide shares, infographics, photographs, etc. Many top-level bloggers are happy to cite statistics that are fresh, relevant, and current. These citations can become important backlinks for your source page, too.
High-authority sites are often challenging when it comes to getting them to help generate backlinks for you. Even so, here’s one tactic you can try – look for broken links on these sites.
Some sites are so large and expansive that they may occasionally contain some broken links. When you find one such broken link, this gives you an open window to offer your valuable content to their site administrator. If you can flag broken links for these administrators and also offer valuable content they can use as a replacement, you’re actually doing them a service, and you’re making it much easier for them to want to use your visual content!
Visual content is an important tool for helping visitors to make good shopping decisions. Because you’re delivering real value to website visitors through the content you’re providing, in the process you’re also flagging your products & services for their consideration, and you’re also helping to reinforce your own branding. Visual content can offer the visitor a better overall user experience, which can then produce more conversions and ultimately result in increased brand loyalty for you.
The right visual content can also help provide your users with a more “in-store” experience online. This can help to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping, improve the shopping experience for your visitors, and increase user engagement. The opportunities which arise through proper use of excellent visual content are almost endless!
Is visual content currently a key component of your overall digital marketing strategy? Would you like it to be? Then look no further than the team of friendly experts at Cibirix Digital Marketing Agency! We’re here to help, and we’d love to start a conversation with you about how we can help you to use more visual content to help GROW your business!
Since founding Cibirix, Ashish has leveraged his marketing degree to lead the agency in crafting meaningful digital marketing experiences for clients. His results-driven approach is a unique mix of analytical thinking, crisp visual aesthetics and a desire to simplify frontends while developing robust architecture. With a passion for design, technology, & marketing, He leads each aspect of the agency’s business and oversees its talented team of digital professionals.
