Planning an Image-Heavy Website? Content Is Even More Important.

Most of the new website themes and design templates seem to be going heavy on photos, graphics and other imagery.

That’s not a bad thing, as long as those images reinforce what you do and the results you deliver, and the website doesn’t take forever to load.

The problem I’m noticing more and more is that the companies using these image-heavy websites are neglecting or completely ignoring written content.

When I visit one of these websites, I see the company name and logo. I see navigation. I see contact information. And, of course, I see pretty pictures.

But I don’t know what the hell the company does, or I’m not 100 percent sure.

That’s a problem.

Like I said, I’m all for an image-heavy website if it helps you achieve your goals without making the website slow. That probably means you’ll use less written content, and that’s fine, too.

If you can take 200 words and make the same point just as powerfully in 50 words, do it.

If you weren’t sure about a new gadget’s features, wouldn’t you prefer a 30-second explanation over a two-minute explanation if both versions were equally effective?

When I worked in radio, I was a big fan of 10-second commercials. If you can make your point in 10 seconds – and more often than not, you can – why should you pay for 60 seconds and get less frequency?

On an image-heavy website, content can and should be very concise. But that makes the quality of your content – every single word – that much more important.

The more concise you are, the less room you have for ambiguity.

If your content lacks clarity, how will a website visitor fill in the blanks? By looking at photos?

Do you think they’ll take the time to send an email or pick up the phone to have basic questions answered about what you do and the results you deliver?

If you haven’t differentiated your company from the competition, don’t expect the website visitor to come up with reasons why they should do business with you. That’s your job, not theirs.

And you can’t use the fact that you have an image-heavy website without much room for content as an excuse. Because nobody cares about your company or your problems.

They visited your website for a solution to a problem and you didn’t provide it. That’s a big-time fail.

If you’re going image-heavy, those images should help to tell your story. Your written content should be combined with your image-driven story to create a single, cohesive message.

But you can’t waste a single word. There’s no room for error.

You can make your case with a few sentences of content or less on each page of your website. It’s not as easy, for example, to take a long explanation and boil it down to one simple sentence, but it can be done – by a good website content writer.

Some people will say, “My website is mostly photos, so I don’t need a copywriter.”

That’s almost as ridiculous as the people who think product knowledge – and the ability to type – make them qualified to write their own website content.

The less content you have, the more important a good website content writer is.

Just to clarify, a good content writer isn’t someone who tries to impress you with poetic brilliance. A good content writer focuses on solving problems for your audience and closing sales.

If you don’t know how to economize words without sacrificing impact, bring in someone who does. Otherwise, your conversion rates will suffer.

By all means, go image-heavy on your website. Just don’t make the fatal mistake of believing less content means content isn’t as important. Because the opposite is true.

Make every word count.