You might not have thought too much about the visual content on your web pages and how much of an effect it has when attracting traffic. However, studies have shown that visuals play a far larger part in attracting traffic than you might think.

Compared to content without visuals, any content that has some kind of visual content increases its chances of being read by 80%. That is just any old unrelated photo or video posted with some written content. Now, should the visual content have relevance to the written content, that increases to over 90%!

Those stats alone should convince you that you might have neglected the importance of visual content on your website. Visual content is more valuable than most people think, but using the following tips, you could bring a huge boost to your website traffic.

1. Use Visual Content That Adds Value to Your Content

While stock photographs serve a purpose, they will not always be the right choice for your content. Try to use images that help to convey the message of your content and add value to it. Also, choose the right type of virtual content for the right moments. A video can help to convey a story, while infographics, graphs, and illustrations can help to unravel and explain more complicated points. Screenshots work well with ‘How To’ guides while the right photograph can add some emotion to your latest news piece or story.

2. Optimise Your Visual Content for SEO

By now, most of you should know of the importance of optimising your website for SEO. This is the optimising of the pages on your site that you wish to rank for. You should optimise each page for different keywords so that they stand a chance of ranking high in search engines such as Google or Bing. While it is important to place your keywords within your content, meta descriptions, titles, tags, and so on, also add them into the Alt tags of your images.

3. Get the Placement of Your Visual Content Right

If you are writing a piece of content that also contains visual content, think about the best place for each visual. Your piece should tell a story, educate, or inspire. The visual content should aid the story and not slow it down.

For example, an infographic full of statistics would probably work better to the side of the text. This allows the reader to glance across when needed without having to scroll. Visual content in the wrong place can lead to a reader having to scroll up and down. Just allow the written and visual content to flow together.

An advanced drag and drop website builder such as Editor X works great for experimenting with visual content placement. You can seamlessly move around pieces of content in blocks until you are happy with the result.

4. Use Eye-Catching Images on Social Media

How many people just quickly scroll through their Facebook or Twitter feeds and never stop until something catches their eye? The right image will force people to stop scrolling, click the post and read it.

Studies have shown that our brain reacts to and understands images much faster than written text. 90% of the data our brain takes in each day is done through visuals. Within 1/10th of a second, our brain understands an image. How long does it take you to read 100-200 words?
Whenever you plan to share content on social media, always take as much time considering the right visuals as you would in writing the piece. Catch the eye and it stands a higher chance of being read and shared.

5. Understand Copyright Laws

You cannot just use any visual you find on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter. Unless you created the visual content yourself or found some that are royalty-free, copyright laws protect that content. Breaking copyright laws can lead to stiff financial penalties and the removal of the content from your website. By law, to use anyone else’s visual content, you require written permission from the owner.

6. Create Content that Matches the Quality of the Visuals

Visual content will work wonders at attracting views but this means little if the written content offers no value or is poorly written. You could have the funniest memes, most informative infographics, and videos created using high-quality production methods. Yet, all that falls to the wayside if the written content does not match the quality.

You may get the views and people may read it (or some of it at least), but that is where it all ends. Traffic is great unless it’s traffic that does not end up in your desired destination.

The Takeaway

Whether you realise it or not, visual content plays a much bigger role in attracting traffic than you might think. Visuals capture our eyes and our imagination- use them correctly and you could earn your website a nice boost in traffic!