4 Ways to Use Graphics to Improve Your Website

While your content sells the idea of your products or services and highlights why your customers should buy from you, images keep your audiences engaged and scrolling through your page. Without the right graphics, your content will be ignored and your pages will have a high bounce rate from uninterested visitors. To counter this, add a few images within your content and landing pages to draw in traffic and keep them on your page. Follow these four steps to an amazingly designed website.

Break Up Long Stretches of Text

Image via Flickr by Digital Markketing

While your readers will stick with your content as long as it’s useful and exciting, internet readers like scrolling and having built-in breaks as they go. This is why so many paragraphs on the web are fewer than 100 words, so readers can take a break to sort multiple thoughts.

Use images when you’re trying to break up thoughts or want to emphasize a point by isolating the text. Most content marketers recommend one image per 300–400 words, but you can add more or less when the graphics make sense.

 

Graphics Stay in Your Long Term Memory

Studies have found that the brain processes images faster than text and then stores the information in the long-term memory. Meanwhile, text information is stored in the short-term memory. This means adding images to your website is an optimal way to make your message stick more than flat text.

Try to create an engaging theme that stays with your website on each of the pages. This might be a mascot that shows up within the content, or creative memes that help audiences remember the message. This is also a chance to step out of the box with branding in an attempt to engage customers.

 

Infographics Can Simplify Complex Subjects

If you look at some of the best infographics, you will notice a common theme: they all take complex subjects and break them down in a way anyone can understand. From a shark infographic covering the number of deaths annually to a space chart highlighting how truly massive the universe is, graphics help users put your information into perspective.

The same concept can be used in your graphic design. If you work for a SaaS company or in the B2B industry, consider using graphic images to break down complex thoughts in a way all audiences will understand. This, paired with the text, will reinforce the ideas and help your audiences remember.

 

A Little Goes a Long Way

While a few graphics can drive the point home, you don’t want to stuff your content with too many images. Too many pictures can be distracting, and might even cause the pages to load more slowly. Try to find a nice balance between adding color to your site and loading down your landing pages with more graphics than you need.

Your graphics can make or break your website, so if you don’t think you’re striking the right balance, find an unbiased third party to look at your pages and see what they think should be improved.

from Feedster http://www.feedster.com/blog/sambradford/graphics-to-improve-website/