6 Ways to use images to improve your website. Great for SEO and user experience.

Using images can be a real asset to your website. Not only are they great for SEO, but they also help to make your website user friendly. They help you to make a better connection with those visiting your website.

1 Break Up Text.

Using images you can make your web pages more aesthetically pleasing, and easier to read. Where you position the images can help to guide the website visitors from on paragraph of text to another paragraph of text. You can get them to look at exactly what you want them to look at.

2 Not everyone likes to read.

Some people just consume content more by graphics and images, some people just do not like to read. Having images and graphics really helps these people. They also act as a great back up for the text content, reinforcing the message.

3 Images can be made clickable.

You can and should use images as buttons on your website. In your website settings it is possible to add links to your images. This could be more details about something in the image or a link to buy etc. They are a really great way to move people around your website, helping them to consume more of your content. This way they will learn more about you and your business, building a long term relationship. Building know, like and trust. Just make sure that the links have been set up correctly, and they go to the right place. Also check them regularly for broken links, as all these do is frustrate people.

4 Images of your shop and your team

As we have already touched on above, images help to build know, like and trust. Great photos of your happy, smiling team and gorgeous shop, create an image. This gives potential visitors an idea of what to expect, when they visit. They can get an idea if the place is what they are expecting, the type of place they want to go to.

5 Photos are important for Google Local Ranking.

When you take photos at your business location using a phone they are automatically stamped with Longitude and Latitude, locations. Google will read these when returning searches to its users. So if someone is looking for a Coffee shop in Buxton and you use your own photos of your business on your website, then you will benefit from the location details that have been automatically embedded in your images.

6 Give your images names.

Firstly make sure that your images have proper file names not just numbers. The file name that you give them should be relevant eg 'HomemadeBuxtonMilkshakes' or 'DuckEggBlueCushionChester'. As well as giving them a proper file name you can also give them a title on your website. The keywords that you use in the file names and titles will help with your SEO.

These are all great ways to use images and photos on your website. They help website visitors and potential customers to find out more about your business and see what you have to offer. They make the pages easier to read and understand, and also point people in the right direction for resources and other things to buy.

When used correctly images help Google to find its way around your website easily too. Google looks at lots of things on your site when choosing content to show when people search. Google really want to show people what they want to see. Well optimised website images help Google to do just that.

Go on get out there and get snapping some great photos of your business. Your business will thank you for it. You can use them on your website and in your social media. They might just give your website the boost it needs, more website visitors, means more eyes on your business and the stuff you sell.

Good luck if you get stuck or need some inspiration just pop me an email claire@getfound-online.co.uk

If you are interested in giving your web presence a boost, grab yourself a FREE copy of my Google My Business page guide.