Pictures: Why Your Website May Be Dead in the Water Without Them

Online advertising has one goal, right? To get your website ranking as well as possible with search engines like Google and Bing.
However, using the right keywords, linking strategies, and off-page work to make your site rank highly isn’t always enough. That’s because the ultimate goal of Internet marketing is actually not just to make your site number 1 on Google or Yahoo! It’s to generate more business for your company. To do that, it’s PEOPLE who need to pick up the phone and call after clicking on your well-ranked website. If they don’t contact you, all you end up with is a highly placed website that does nothing at all to generate business or help your company succeed!
It’s hard to believe, but something as little as the right images can have a huge impact on whether or not people call after visiting your site. Pictures make folks feel more comfortable with your company and help put them at ease, which can be especially important if your business performs services that require you to enter customers’ homes or vehicles. And, ultimately, comfort with your business has a LOT to do with whether a prospective customer picks your company or goes with a competitor.
Don’t just take our word for it: here’s a great example. Safelite, the national auto glass company, is now e-mailing each customer a photo of the actual technician who will be coming to work on their vehicle. Obviously, Safelite understands this puts their clients at ease and makes them more likely to use Safelite’s services rather than the competition’s.

Why Your OWN Pictures Matter

The simple truth is that not all images are created equal. Your own photos of your own team at work are, quite frankly, worth a lot more than stock photos of some model posing as a plumber, roofer, or other professional.
That’s because there are loads of duplicate stock photos out there. Everyone has seen that gal or this guy on numerous sites… And people aren’t dumb. They begin to recognize these pictures and realize that the photos are of models and actors, not your actual employees. Then they may begin to subconsciously wonder why you aren’t willing to put images of your actual staff on your site… In short, having your own photos of your employees performing services will get you more phone calls than stock photos will. Hands down.
You’ve probably seen images like some of these highly over-used pictures below:

Yup: they’re all stock art (from istockphoto.com). If you’re honest with yourself, it’s pretty easy to tell that these people aren’t your actual staff. While stock photos are better than having an imageless website, they don’t provide the same benefits as real photos of you or your team doing the work that you do.

Reviews: Why Your Website May Be Dead in the Water Without Them

Your company has hundreds of competitors: You probably already know this, because if you’re the only game in town, then there’s no use spending money on advertising… But since the make-believe world in which your business has no competition doesn’t exist, you need to make your company stand out from the crowd. Putting pictures of you and your team on your website is a great way to differentiate yourself from the other guys, and so is having sufficient customer reviews available.
Remember: it’s important not to just have reviews on your site, but it’s vital to keep those testimonials current. That way, prospective customers can see that your company not only did a great job for a client back in 1999 but that you’re also providing great service today and into the future.
New reviews can be posted in a number of places from Google Maps to your website. Here’s why you need to put your reviews in a variety of different locations online:

• Google Maps: Adding reviews to your listing will help you get better placement in Google Maps.
• Facebook: The better your Facebook popularity, the better your site will perform on Bing.
• Your website: Reviews play a big role in converting site visitors into paying customers, so don’t forget to make sure your glowing testimonials make it onto your website as well. If you’re a PG customer, just send your new reviews to our team, and we’ll make sure to keep your microsite up to date.