Why aren’t you taking more pictures? Why aren’t you posting your customers’ pictures? People love pictures. Think about all the people who want to see your dog or your kid. Pictures are gold.

Best Idea That Almost Worked

My friend, John, had a great gourmet sandwich shop. His business was dying. (Truth was, the problem was location and nothing would save him.) On the way out, he had a great idea.

John started taking “customer of the day” photos of people and their sandwiches, and posting them on his blog. He’d hand out a card showing the buyers where their photo would show up. Overnight, he got tons more traffic to his blog because people love pointing themselves out to others when they get a little press, even if it’s a sandwich shop blog.

Pictures Tell More

If you’re doing custom woodworking, why would I want to read about it? I want to see the grain of wood, smell the oil soaking into the freshly planed and sanded boards. I want to see the craggy faces of your skilled craftspeople. There’s a big story wrapped in those pictures. Don’t you read catalogs? Look at how they tell stories and copycat that a bit for your blog posts.

But Don't Forget Words

Sorry, but Google doesn’t see very well. Search engines still need words to drive home what you’re talking about. So don’t hesitate to caption and story-tell around all the great new pictures you’re adding to your site. Your future rankings on search engines will thank you for it. (Also use metatags on your pictures by using the “alt” tag in the HTML -- if your eyes just blurred, ask your web person if you’re doing this.)

Faces: #1 on Our List Since Birth

As freshly born babies, we’re trained to see the strong contrast of the eye area and the rest of the face. Way back at birth, we’re doing this because we know that milk is about a foot or so below that face, and we want milk. As we get older, we still look at faces but for (hopefully) more complex reasons. Adding faces to your online presence and your blog gives people something to look at besides blocks of text.

Always the Basics

If ever you wonder where things are going wrong, start with the basics. If you want to market more strongly with your website and/or your blog, think about putting more visual stimulation back into play. The results will come right out and wink at you.