By Katherine Andes
A picture is worth a thousand words. But which thousand words will your customers bring to an image?
Each person has a unique story and background. So customers will think different things when viewing your product images.
For example an image of a sofa could have these responses:
“Beautiful! It reminds me of Provence. It must be expensive.”
“I could read Jane Austen on that sofa. But my kids would ruin it in a week.”
“Even my husband would be comfortable on this sofa, but it looks heavy to move.”
Unfortunately, many website owners are shy about putting too many words around their pictures. They want the pictures to do all the heavy lifting.
If a couple were shopping in your showroom, would you let your displays do all the work?
Of course not. There would be a salesman to serve the couple. Before he approached them, he would observe them to get clues as to their situation.
What are their ages? How are they dressed? Do they have children with them?
Then the salesman would approach them with something that, hopefully, speaks to their situation.
Let’s say their dress indicated they are a military family with children. Then the salesman might say, “This sofa is beautiful. It’s also durable and easy to move.”
When you build a web product page, be sure to keep in mind which 1000 words you would like your customers to associate with your images.
Easy Furniture Web Tip #91: On your web site, you don’t know which 1000 words your prospects will think of when they see images of your products. Help them along with headlines, captions, and some body copy.
Katherine Andes is a consultant who specializes in writing custom content for key web pages, including search engine optimization (SEO) — especially in the home improvement market. You can phone her at 559.589.0379 or email at Kathy@AndesAndAssociates.com.