engagement

How imagery influences website engagement

Angela Manning Business , , , , ,
How imagery influences website engagement

If your website isn’t encouraging visitors to interact, share, click, register, visit, or buy, it’s not doing its job. The strategic purpose of investing in a quality website is to connect with potential clients, customers, or fans, build brand recognition, and convert visitors to engaged followers or customers.

The right imagery can support grabbing, holding, and encouraging the attention of visitors. It’s a main element in creating shareable content and a web experience with which visitors will happily engage. If you have a substantial budget, a skilled photographer and a talented graphic designer can supply content-specific imagery, but if that’s out of reach, you can easily access images from stock image sites, from which you can download free here.

If you want to create a strategy that maximizes website engagement, there are five types of visual content you should consider:

Banners and wallpaper

Banners and wallpaper imagery help you to craft a consistent, appealing brand experience on your website. Create a unified feel across the site by using a limited palette of colors or by choosing images with thematic similarities. Current trends in website design often feature a single large photo or design at the top of each page or post that supports or extends the topic of the content. A good banner communicates that a brand is up to date and professional and is worth attention. Wallpaper graphics add visual interest to backgrounds or fill an entire screen for a graphics-first experience, with text layered on top or following when users scroll down. This design trend feels fresh and immersive and can help your brand feel more likable and engaging to visitors.

Photographs

While banners and wallpaper may be photograph or graphic based, using photographs in-line with content can also be a good strategy. Break up large blocks of text with photos to hold interest and make information more enjoyable and easy to scan through for visitors. Use photography to illustrate or extend ideas from the text where possible. Good photographs can encourage content sharing, boosting your organic reach via social media. Be cautious with stacking or cluttering the space with too many photos, though. Remember to include ample white space and follow layout best practices. If you sell products, custom photos of the products are a necessity.

Vector Graphics

Vector graphics are a fun alternative to photography and may suit your brand or offer more flexibility in portraying an idea or accompanying a topic. Illustrations and vector graphics may be placed in a sidebar location or alternated with text like photos. Vector graphics are ideal because they can scale up or down to suit the space without losing resolution. Draw from the enormous pool of premade graphics in a good stock image store, or commission custom graphics to suit pages and articles if you prefer. Graphics are a useful way to illustrate services since stock photos for professionals could seem cheesy in that context.

Video

Video is preferred in search and on social media, which is a huge opportunity for your website and brand. Keep videos short for best results. You can embed them on pages to accompany things like products, services, and informational content, as well as using them in content marketing campaigns on social media. Good stock imagery sites offer stock video that you can adjust with custom text and/or voiceovers. If you’re finding your website and social media efforts aren’t getting the traction you want, adding or switching to video content can give you an instant boost in visibility and sharing.

Infographics

Make the most of your content with infographics. These combine graphics or illustrations with informational content to visually show the data or convey an idea at a glance. They are excellent for engagement and sharing because visitors can scan them and get a snapshot of what you’re trying to communicate at a glance.

Boost engagement and make the most of your website and social media efforts with the correct use of high-quality graphics. Photos or illustrations are great for creating appealing layouts, page headers, and breaking up content. For e-retailers, crisp, attractive photos of products are a must, while service providers may have more success with illustrations or vector graphics.

Infographics are highly shareable at-a-glance snapshots of information and ideas. Video keeps visitors on the page longer, can convey more information and strengthen your brand reputation, and improves search rankings and social media sharing and visibility. You can work with specialist creators for custom content or draw on the deep pool of creative content provided by good stock imagery providers to craft an engaging site that regularly converts visits in

Engaging a Learner Audience without Direct Contact

Angela Manning Education , , , ,
Engaging a Learner Audience without Direct Contact

The Great Courses are very popular all over the world. For founder Thomas Rollins teaching had to be done in a different way, giving people with particular learning styles the opportunity to learn as much as possible as well. He developed the Great Courses in an interactive way, delivering video lessons on a variety of subjects. He was committed to delivering the highest quality courses possible, which means he spent a lot of time in trying to identify the right teachers.

Finding Great Courses Professors

Naturally, a professor’s experience and knowledge was important. However, at the same time, they had to demonstrate engaging personalities, particularly because they deliver their courses virtually. Essentially, Rollins looked for both brains and bravado. He spent many years trying to find the right people for this.

One way in which he achieved this, was by encouraging learners to suggest professors that they believed would be good at the job. He has considered each and every one of the suggestions and, indeed, found a number of excellent candidates. In all cases, he met the lecturer personally before agreeing to have their courses turned into Great Courses. This meant frequent travel across the country, attending academic conferences, auditing classes, visiting association meetings, and more.

Interestingly, Rollins was often confused by the fact that he was the least intelligent person at these events and meetings, while at the same time being the most interesting. This is because many professors would relish the opportunity to have their lectures turned into a Great Course. While it was all very time consuming, Rollins was able to find the best of the best.

Understanding the Audience

Another key element of Rollins’ quest to develop the best courses, was understanding the audience. He knows that two people will buy into the Great Courses for two completely different reasons. However, what all participants have in common is that they expect high quality. He also found that:

  • Most participants already have an advanced degree.
  • Most participants have an annual income of $100,000 or more.
  • Most participants are at least 50 years old.

Naturally, cost was also an important factor. Because the majority of students of the Great Courses have high earnings, Rollins believed that he could also charge a substantial amount of money for the lectures. At the same time, however, his target demographic has a keen eye for value for money. As such, he had to charge prices that were realistic, while at the same time being high enough to cover all the associated costs and still make a profit. Each course now has its own price, and the Great Courses also has a number of subscription programs in place.

This was a risky choice, particularly because there are now so many MOOCs (massive open online courses) available, which are all free. However, the Great Courses are of such high quality in terms of how they are delivered and who by, that participants have been more than willing to invest in them.