When it comes to selling products, the images you use play a big part and it is very important to take a proper picture, and optimize it on your website so it can generate new traffic and help you rank better in organic searches. Yes, your content is still very important but an image is visually much more appealing and can generate better conversions when optimized properly.
Here are a few tips on how to take and optimize an e-commerce product image.
Quality photographs matter
Optimizing a low-quality image will not get very far. Even if the photo shows up in the SERPs, the quality itself can turn customers away.
Using a smartphone to take pictures is perfectly fine but only if they have enough megapixels to create a clear photo. If you are not satisfied with the performance of your phone, use a camera instead. Either way, it is recommended to use a tripod; it provides a steadier, less shaky result.
Once you have the proper equipment down, think about the lighting. People usually prefer to use artificial light which is fine but if you are selling products that are meant to be used outside, go with the natural light. The same goes for the background; think about what you are selling and how can the product be used. The background should show some context but so much that it could overshadow the product.
Photo editing
You took a perfect photo but you notice a small defect or maybe the colors are not quite right. Using a photo editor can help you to enhance your images. You do, however, have to be careful not to go overboard. Using filters and color boosters is perfectly okay as long as you keep it tasteful. Going too far can be off-putting, and can make a customer question your integrity.
Optimizing your images
Image SEO is just as important as content SEO; search engines will boost properly optimized pictures. How to efficiently optimize them?
1. Name the images accordingly with the photo description. This way you give the search engine a better insight into the picture’s subject matter; instead of soaking the title in keywords, be descriptive and straightforward.
2. Add an alt tag; an accurate description in the alternative text is a great way to guarantee that your picture shows up in the SERPs.
3. Resize the images to make them aligned with the website dimensions.
4. Make sure your pictures are designed responsively. This way, a user-friendly experience will be provided for both customers; those visiting your website on their mobile devices and the ones visiting from their desktop.
Conclusion
Having an optimized content is not enough anymore, and many people neglect the fact that optimized images can go just as far, if not farther, as good writing material. As you can see there is a lot of little things, that are easily ignored when creating the perfect photo but taking just a little extra time will get you a long way.
