In Part 1 of our website tip series, we talked about the basics, such as stray copy in your footer and old social media logos. In Part 2, we dived into website conversion. Part 3 mentioned tips on website content. In this section, we will give you the best rules to go by for images and videos on your website.

PART FOUR: IMAGES & VIDEO

Social media can be great, free marketing. However, when measuring analytics for your website, you want people to stay on the site, not immediately go off, which can negatively affect your SEO.

1. Social Media Icons in Your Header:

Why: Putting social media icons on the top of the page can bring a user away from the website. 

Solution: If the design of your website permits, try to keep them in the footer. Another tip that could help sway a user from immediately leaving the website to check your social media pages out, is to keep the icons the same solid color so it "blends" into the website design. Don't show the full-color version until the visitor moves the mouse over the icon.

2. Old Social Media Icons

Why: Social media websites update their logos periodically. If you don't keep them up to date, it will make your website look outdated.

Solution: Periodically check to make sure that the social media logos are current.

3. Large Image Files

Why: Internet browsers download large images you upload, no matter how much you size it down. It can cause the website to load slowly.

Solution: Fit all images to the specific size needed. The image's file type also matters. See if you can save the images as a .JPG without losing image quality. If you do lose quality with a .JPG, use a .PNG. Don't forget to put text in the alt tag that describes the image, which is good for SEO and helps people with visual disabilities understand the image.

Stock photos such as above as used on the majority of business-to-consumer and even business-to-business websites. 

4. Stock Photos of People

Why: This one is interesting to talk about, so it all depends on how your organization of company runs and the opinions of management. The con to having stock photos of people on your website is that it doesn't look authentic. However, management may not want to use photos of employees for a few reasons, such as security and updating when someone leaves.

Solution: Authenticity is more important than production quality. However, ask management and HR what they think. If you can't get photos of employees, try to find stock photos that reflect the company or organization.

5. Similar "Leadership" Photos

Why: Leadership photos consist of a person in charge wearing business attire. Consistency in photos is good, but not when they look the same.

Solution: Bring some variety in the photos, such as different clothing, backgrounds, and poses.
 

6. Images With Copy On Them

Why: Images with copy embedded into the image hurts your SEO because the copy isn't visible.

Solution: Instead, place the copy directly onto the page and use the alt tag to describe the photo.

Before you publish or click save, check your images on all devices to ensure it is not cut off like the stock photo above. 

7. Images That Encroach

Why: Checking the user experience across all platforms is vital to make sure that the images look good. For instance, if you have a photo of someone under the main menu and logo on the website, check to ensure that the head isn't being cut off on a different platform.

Solution: Keep images within reasonable bounds. Don't let them encroach in other areas and check the website on all platforms to make sure that it looks ok.
 

8. Misdirected Directional Cues

Why: An example of a misdirected directional cue is a login section of the website where you need to put in your username and password. The button tells you to click to log in below, but the man in the photo is looking up.

Solution: Make sure you point directly to the action you want the website visitors to take.

9. Suggested Videos & Moving Videos

Why: Suggested videos are clunky, confusing to look at, and may contain irrelevant videos and videos from your competitor. "Moving" videos is a relatively new concept, but we are seeing this on more and more websites; especially news channel websites. A video is displayed at the top of the page. When you scroll down the page, the video places a smaller copy of it on the page, following you as you scroll down. The problem with this is that it is annoying to users and it blocks other content on your page.

Solution: Use traditional coding for embedding a video on a website and put a share button on the bottom. There's no need to have a large list of suggested videos and for a video to follow a user on the page.

We hope that you enjoyed our lengthy, but informational post about how to make your website better with these tips on images and videos. Read the last set of tips in our series, Part 5- News/Blog and Ads!