Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are web design and web marketing experts. We work with companies and businesses across the region to provide top quality web design solutions. After all, if your small, local business wants to succeed online, it needs to look professional, and original. And be a big part of your company branding. As a result, visual web content is a big part of what we do. This is our guide to visual content for local business websites.
What is visual content?
First of all, what is visual content? Well, this is actually as straight forward as it sounds. Visual content includes illustrations, photographs, icons, video, and even large format custom typography. When compared to written content, or a block of text, visual content always performs better in terms of user engagement and interaction. It’s essentially why Instagram is so successful.
When it comes to web design, visual content is key to impressing your site visitors and creating something both stylish and practical. As a result, visual content placed above the fold can be very successful.
What Does Above the Fold Mean?
An old newspaper term, above the fold refers to the content that appears on the top half of the front of the paper, when it is folded on the shelves. In web design, this refers to the content that is visible, before the user scrolls down the page.
Content that appears above the fold is the only part of your website that users will see in the first 2 seconds. This 2 seconds is really make or break time for any website, as this when users will make a subconscious judgement about your website, and either move on, or stay. A website with a high bounce rate can almost always tweak their above the fold content for better results. Visual imagery here can be used effectively to make a statement about your company, and encourage the website users to want to find out more.
Visual content trends for above the fold
Web design trends are constantly evolving and changing. Currently, above the fold content is all about video. From embedded YouTube video, to video that automatically plays on load, many websites use this technique. Large relevant images can also be appropriate, and cuts down on website load time, which can work in your favour.
Visual content for local business websites
Apart from above the fold content, for the majority of your pages, visual content should be used elsewhere throughout your website. Some ideas include:
Featured images for blog posts
If you want users to click through and read your blog, which is typically text based and less appealing, you need to use a piece of stunning imagery to compel them to click through. Capturing the attention of the audience, and making them want to know what your content contains, can be achieved through the use of the right image.
In addition, if you plan to share this post on your company social media platforms, imagery is key. After all, with an ever increasing crush of content facing your potential customers on every platform, it’s important that you choose imagery that will stand out. Anything that is too similar will be lost in the crowd.
Ditch the text, and go for an info-graphic
Are you creating a piece of content that needs a lot of statistics? Are you comparing some facts and figures? Well, why not ditch the text and create an info-graphic instead? Created simply for the purpose of making facts and figures more digestible, info-graphics are visually interesting and are a great resource.
This can transform your content from a wall of text, to an easy to understand, interesting and shareable piece of content.
Video content
While above the fold is a great place to use video content, it doesn’t have to be restricted to that only. In fact, video content in the sidebar can be a great way to include video with different pages. Alternatively, including video as part of your blog posts and articles could be a great idea.
For more information or advice, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.