Building an engaging website takes time and experimentation. We know as our website here at Tori Soper Photography is always a work in progress.
Between creating blog posts such as this and updating our photo galleries with recent images, maintaining this aspect of our online presence is definitely a commitment and one that has consistently produced results.
With that in mind, here’s a few tips on how we, as Chicago’s leading commercial photography team, can help you create visual content that tells the story of who you are and what you do.
AS CONSUMERS WE ARE VISUAL LEARNERS
Most people would categorize themselves as visual learners and this directly affects the way the audience interacts with a website. If the site lacks visual points of interest, viewers will just scroll through and leave the site in a matter of seconds. This creates a higher bounce rate which Google is not a fan of. We’ll get into this in a bit more detail below.
On the other hand, if there is original visual content including corporate lifestyle photography highlighting your team, products, and the services you offer, you’ll grab your audiences’ attention which will encourage them to spend more time checking out how you can help them solve the problem they are working on.
Here’s an example for you. We all like to place a face on the name. Home buying is an incredibly long and sometimes personal process. We are opening up our finances to a mortgage officer and Realtor in addition to divulging our hopes and dreams as we consider investing our savings into a new home. Having online reviews from past buyers is a huge benefit but having a professional headshot that conveys your authenticity and openness is a must. People trust what they know
KEEPING UP WITH THE NEW
Back in the early ’90’s, when the internet was beginning to make its way into our daily lives, websites were a basic four-color scheme with various fonts and copy and maybe some clip art. We’ve evolved from this elementary approach and now have the ability to add video, animation, and professional photography.
The technology moves fast and in order to stay attuned to our customers, we need to keep a pulse on how they expect to experience our digital marketing. Whether it’s our social media profiles, e-mail signatures, or most importantly, our website, consistently enhancing our branding through professional photography is one way to keep our audiences engaged.
Ensuring our website is fast to load, has new content, is up to date stylistically, and effectively uses visuals along with written content shows our audience that we are listening to them and care about their online experience with us.
“It’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away.”
– Douglas Warner III, Former CEO, J.P. Morgan Chase
CONTENT IS KING
There is this little company named Google. Perhaps you are familiar. They are the leading search engine in the United States carrying close to 70% of the market as I write this. Google and its competitors rely on content to understand what your website is about. It’s much more complicated than that of course and mastering SEO does involve some magic fairy dust and crossed fingers but it pretty much comes down to, in the words of Bill Gates, “content is king.”
With high-quality written content, your website can attract an audience. With fresh, high-quality visuals including professional photography, you keep your audience. Take this post for example. Of course it’s incredibly well written and you’re on the edge of your seat but if this post were only words on a page, you might just scroll through quickly. Adding in the photos illustrating the services we offer, including corporate headshots and business branding, tells you everything you need to know about what we do. I might add we cover corporate events, too but that’s a story for another day.
Words are tools. Professional photos are tools. Use them wisely on your website to showcase your talent, engage your audience, keep your content fresh, and capture the best of your brand.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH CONTENT
We all tend to be fans of what is familiar, what we know, what we have access to. By telling your brand story with professional photography, your website gives insight into your process, your services, your people, and most importantly the passion that keeps the doors open and the lights on.
For all of the written content that has been carefully created for our websites, we can give even more insight by visually illustrating this. Photograph your people doing what they do, working in teams, brainstorming storyboards, having a great time together as they develop new ideas that benefit your clients. Showing these behind-the-scenes images, a day in the life of your team is what is called corporate branding photography or corporate lifestyle photography. These images are great for home and service pages within your website.
The must-have About Us page should show your off the leadership and team at its’ best. Our sessions feature our clients in their homes or commercial offices, outdoors, really anywhere that will help us create a background that is interesting. The other popular option is corporate headshots. In this case, we provide a color backdrop and can also provide custom backdrops if that might do the trick for your team.
As Chicago’s top commercial photography team, we’re pros at helping our clients develop image libraries that upscale their brand. When you’re ready to take the next step and create images that capture you as a leader in your industry, we’ll be ready! For more information on our services, rates, and for a custom proposal, please get in touch!
