NO. 6 – DON’T HAVE LOW QUALITY IMAGES
To employ a rather overused phrase, a picture is worth a thousand words. The images on your site should be of considerable quality. If these images are actually of the product you are selling, this speaks for itself – you want them to be as clear and self-explanatory as possible for prospective customers.
Generally speaking, it’s better to use no image at all than to use something that’s over-compressed, poorly resized, pixelated, of a low resolution, or otherwise dubious-looking. Be careful because some images look fine when you are viewing then in a small size on your computer screen however when they are increased in size for a website they can look very blurry. This situation is exacerbated when someone is using a large screen monitor.
The importance of high-quality images is also heavily related to the kind of “feel” or message you want to create with your site. Images have the power to instantly evoke an impression, emotion or idea, and can give depth and context to a description, story or testimonial. This is amazingly important to the way you construct your brand.
Maddeningly, however, this size issue can go both ways. Oversized images are also inadvisable. However spectacular or evocative an image you select may be, if it takes too long to load, it will only turn potential customers off. Loading time counts for a lot, and a slow site will cost you customers (more on that in a moment). Select images judiciously and optimise them.
