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You are here: Home / Archives for pictures

A Hands-Off Campaign Means Cookie-Cutter Advertising

Last Updated: November 13, 2015

cookie cuttersYou hire an online advertising company because you don’t want to do all the work yourself. We get it. But here’s the thing: Any worthwhile campaign is going to require a mild amount of effort on your part. Unless you want drop-you-in-a-directory, cookie-cutter advertising, you can’t be completely hands off when it comes to your campaign. You have to have some involvement to make sure everything that’s being put out there about your business is correct and that your advertising will attract the right customers. Otherwise, you’ll be misrepresented online and receive calls for services you don’t even offer. That’s a big waste of your time and money.
You’re paying your advertiser to do a specific job. Your participation will allow them to do that job with much greater success.

Advertising Campaigns Are Like Home Renovations

If you hired a contractor to renovate your kitchen, you wouldn’t expect them to do all the work without any of your input, would you? No. Instead, you have to tell the contractor exactly what you want. You must select the kitchen tile and cabinet styles, pick out the colors and materials, and stay in constant contact with the contractor team in case they run into a problem or have a question. If you don’t do any of this, your contractor won’t have any guidance and you won’t get the results you want. Plain and simple.
The same goes for your online advertising campaign. Your advertiser requires a few hours of your time at the beginning of your campaign in order to collect raw information about your business. This information ranges from company contact details to thorough descriptions of the services you offer. Your advertiser will only need to interview you at the start of your campaign, so you won’t have to be hands on forever. (That being said, you should always make yourself available to answer any questions your advertiser might have down the road.)
So, what does your advertiser need from you, exactly?

Answer Your Phone When Your Advertiser Calls

If your advertiser is calling you, it’s because they have a question about your business. Most likely, they need to clarify a couple of details for your website’s content or Google listing so they can make certain everything is correct. Often, if a major detail is unclear or unknown, they won’t be able to go forward with that stage of your campaign until it’s resolved. By picking up the phone and answering your advertiser’s questions promptly, you’ll not only be making their job easier, but you’ll also be helping your own campaign.

Give Us Some Personality With Photos

You need to set your company apart from local competitors. The best way to do that is to show off what makes you unique. When your advertiser interviews you, they’ll ask you about things like your professional experience, company values, and any other noteworthy qualifications that make you stand out. However, the quickest way to stand out to prospective customers is to have pictures of yourself and/or your team front-and-center on your website.
With your smartphone, it’s super easy to take good-quality pictures and submit them to your advertising provider. Even if it’s as simple as you wearing a t-shirt with your company name and standing in front of your truck, it will allow customers to put a face to your name. Plus, photos with real-life people in them (NOT stock photos) make your company look much more legitimate and trustworthy.
Bonus points if you have a memorable company logo!

Send in Customer Reviews

Your advertiser will want to add customer reviews to your site in order to show off your company in the best possible light. If you’ve received customer feedback—whether through e-mail, Facebook, Google, etc.—you should forward it to your advertiser. You should also encourage your customers to leave reviews whenever possible.

Speak Up If There Is a Problem

You can’t expect your online advertising provider to be psychic or all knowing. If you’ve noticed a problem with any aspect of your campaign, tell your advertiser immediately.
A common example is when a customer leaves a negative review on one of your pages or listings. Your advertiser isn’t constantly monitoring your listings’ reviews, so it’s up to you to let them know when an unfavorable one pops up. While your advertiser won’t be qualified to respond on your behalf (because they don’t know the details of the job or transaction and they aren’t the spokesperson for your company), you should consult with them and ask for advice on how to proceed with a professional response.

Give Us Access to Your Listings

If you’re going to pay your advertiser to advertise for you, you might as well go all in and let them advertise all the way. To do this, however, they need access to your Google My Business profile and other listings. That means you need to pass along your verification PINs as soon as you receive them. If you have any other existing listings or profiles, you’ll need to trust your advertiser with your log-in info for those sites. (And if you don’t trust them, why did you hire them?) Sharing log-in info can be uncomfortable in this day and age, but it’s the only way your advertiser will be able to ensure consistency and accuracy across all platforms.
As we know, consistent, accurate information is essential; bad things happen when information isn’t matching. Read these blog posts for more details on the consequences of not having a singular manager of your listings: “For SEO Companies, Two’s a Crowd” and “Hand Over Your Google+ Local Listing to a Pro.”

Your Participation Is Vital to Success

If you don’t offer at least a small degree of participation, then you can expect close to zero customization. As a result, you’ll be stuck with bland site copy, phony stock art, and an altogether boring and inaccurate campaign. And if any online advertising provider is promising a cheap, totally hands-off campaign, that’s what you’ll get. However, if you spend a little extra time and money, you’ll get a personalized campaign that accurately and effectively showcases your company. You’ll get more valuable leads seeking the services you actually want to perform, which means you won’t waste your time or energy on bogus ones. It’s 100% worth the small investment.

REPORT: Images of Cats Nearly Double Your Site Traffic

Last Updated: April 1, 2015

Jack
A brand-new study from the Pew Research Center was published today, and as always, it contains lots of relevant and actionable information for us advertisers. However, there was one finding in particular that startled us. According to the study, which examined the analytics of thousands of websites, there is a correlation between website traffic and the presence of cat pictures. As the number of cat pictures increases on a site, the volume of site traffic does as well. In fact, site traffic increases by an average of 93%!

What’s Behind This?

If that sounds too bizarre to be true, we couldn’t agree more. But the numbers don’t lie. While correlation doesn’t always mean causation, it’s still a significant trend that you shouldn’t ignore. Websites from all different industries saw that their SEO efforts were greatly improved by simply adding cat pictures to their sites and sharing those pictures on their various listings on Google, Facebook, Yelp, Angie’s List, and so on.
Emmett2
We aren’t exactly sure what’s causing this phenomenon, but there’s been lots of speculation that one of Google’s newer updates could be behind it. A study like this hasn’t been performed before, so there’s no telling for how long this trend has existed. While our industry’s technical knowledge of the relationship between web traffic and cat pictures is still very limited, it feels safe to say definitively that cat pictures improve your SEO.

What About Dogs?

Emmett
Shockingly, dog pictures had the opposite effect. According to the study, sites that contained images of dogs saw, on average, 36% less traffic than sites with no dog photos and 72% less traffic than sites with cat photos.
We urge you to read the full report here.
The takeaway? Find a cat picture and add it to your site today.

Quality Photos = More Phone Calls!

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

We’ve talked about this once or twice before, but having photos on your website is so important, I’ve decided to revisit the topic again. Here’s why:
Studies have repeatedly illustrated that when a website features good photos, it performs better than those without. But, beyond the realm of research, here at PG, we see that rule of thumb play out among our clients every day. Customers who send in photos for their websites really do get more leads and overall better performance for their sites!
If you still don’t have images on your site, or you only have low-quality, stock photos, it’s never too late to make changes. You only need a handful of great pictures to make a difference for your webpage, and the old adage, “Better late than never,” certainly applies.
So what kinds of photos work best? I’m glad you asked, because great photos ensure you reap the maximum benefits.
Staff photos: Group shots of you and your team are a great way to literally put a face on your company. Take the photo standing in front of your shop, or get your technicians company shirts for an extra-professional touch. Staff photos can help make prospective customers more comfortable with your company, making them more likely to hire you, especially if you’ll be coming to their home for a job.
Kids and pets: Everyone loves a cute kid or two. If you run a family-owned business, a family photo is a great option for your website. Just be sure to work in some sort of company branding or tie-in. That can be as simple as miniature company shirts for the kiddos, but other options include adding your business’s logo to the image or taking the picture at your workplace.
Action shots: Pictures of you and your staff at work can show prospective clients exactly what it is you do, helping secure that ever-important peace of mind. Before and after photos can also make a powerful statement about the quality work and outstanding results you provide.
Community involvement: If you support local charity events, sports teams, or other community programs, take advantage of that involvement and put pictures up on your site. Your prospective clients are also members of the community, and most would rather support a business like yours that volunteers to help out neighbors and charitable organizations than one that doesn’t.
Logos: These aren’t photos, per se, but a simple logo can add that final touch of polish to your site as well as make your company’s name memorable.
Remember, not all photos are created equal. While all of the above ideas for images on your webpage can help your site—and your company—succeed, stock photos don’t do much to help you get ahead. The fact of the matter is, most people can pick out a stock photo a mile away. Since images are supposed to add a personal touch to your site, display your work, and make prospective clients more comfortable with YOU, stock photos pretty much fail to accomplish a single one of these goals!
Want ideas for good pictures for your site? Check out these examples:

  • Ace Appliance Repair, Inc.
  • A+ Insulation
  • Advanced Tax Solutions, LLC
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