Good Product IMAGES – without them, you might as well shut down your web site!

I have a handful of coaching clients, and I help them with their web sites to varying degrees…

One of my clients has had an online presence for quite a while, but she tends to treat her web site like it is her red-headed step child (I LOVE that description! LOL)

This time she sent pictures of several versions of one of her new products. This is a product that I am only dimly familiar with…

She sent me no written information about the product (not unusual) but the pictures are not only bad, they provide no information about HOW the product works!

These products are very small and desperately need at least one photo with a ruler showing the scale, a photo of the back of the product — displaying the fastening mechanism, and a photo showing them in use… needless to say, I have already emailed her back, detailing what we need in order for these pictures to do justice to the products!

Certainly written descriptions are vitally important for online selling, but pictures are also important. There is a reason everyone uses the *One picture is worth a thousand words* quote all the time! LOL

I know a large part of my client’s problem is being overwhelmed… but she is really hurting herself in the long run by not taking the time to educate herself about the proper way to use images online AND how to MAXIMIZE their effectiveness with both humans and search engines..

She has been struggling with these issues for almost 10 years now. She doesn’t use the right software to do the job efficiently and effectively… she uses whatever she has at hand and then wonders why the results are less that stellar.

In fact, when I wrote the Survival Guide: Preparing Product IMAGES for Presentation on the Web, I had her in mind! LOL … and, to my disappointment, she has always been *Too busy* to read it! ;-(

The reality is, if she had read this and applied the information, she would have saved herself many hours over the last year or so!

It is important to realize that good product Images can help a web site. Now, Google is giving a growing emphasis on rewarding fast loading sites and penalizing slow sites. This means that bad product images can HARM your site!

The Survival Guide – Preparing Product IMAGES for Presentation on the Web provides the information you need to create and display effective, fast-loading, and appropriate product images on your  web site.

Online Product Presentation Strategies … You Need Good IMAGES to Minimize the Lack of Interaction – Touch and Feel — with your Product!

A major challenge when dealing with images online is the rapid pace of technological changes. It used to be that images were either GIF or JPG. Now PNG has entered the mix. What will our options be two years from now?

This Survival Guide begins with an explanation about WHY it is important to ask *Technology Independent Questions*

This will enable you to talk to web geeks and get the answers you need that are accurate for the technology that is current at the time!

With all of the changes going on now — with things like the evolution of mobile devices and the need to provide mobile friendly web sites — you will be able to stay up-to-date and know that you are getting the information and help you need, even if you don’t *Speak Geek*

What are the TWO tasks that a successful web site MUST accomplish?

Unfortunately, it is very possible for an uninformed web site owner to sabotage his or her web site, by ignoring these tasks.

This information will keep you from making these mistakes!

What are the current types of IMAGES used on web sites?

At the moment, there are three different image types appropriate for web display. This section details:

• WHICH kind they are
• HOW they are different from each other
• WHEN to use which one
• GIVES good examples of each one, as well as showing how images may need to be modified, depending on the circumstances.

With this information, you can be confident that you know which to use when and why!

In addition to the THREE images types mentioned above (GIF, JPG, and PNG) there are also TWO different image types needed for effective presentation – large images and thumbnail images.

Again, you will learn which to use when, their individual pluses and negatives.

IMAGE PRESENTATION – STEP BY STEP

Here we have the most powerful section of the Survival Guide.

You are taken step by step through the entire process of organizing a project’s images and developing your own, customized, lean and mean image production machine!

The benefit?  Once you have done done the planning and created the templates, you have to do is prepare each image step by step!

Phase A – Initial Decisions

How to analyze your products, including the information that is provided by the images you will be using.

How to decide which IMAGES are needed to complete and extend your product information. (Remember my friend at the beginning of this page? This is what she doesn’t do!)

• List your Products and decide their Image Needs
• Evaluate the Technical Aspects to Meet Your Products’ Image Needs
• Consider Your Web Page Format

Phase B – Getting Organized

List photos needed for each Product, where to get them and what you need to look out for!

Plan steps needed for Images (Learn the secret weapon known as *Batch Processing*)

Phase C – More Organization

Here is where you start housekeeping on your computer. Tedious but well worth taking the time to plan and execute this. If you think about it, just 30 items in an online store with one large image and a thumbnail for each product will result in 60 files… just for the finished versions that you’ll be putting on the web site.

This section alone will save you BEAUCOODLES of hours and prevent may headaches over the life of your web site!

Phase D – Gather Your Tools

The hardware and software needed to accomplish these tasks and where to get it!

Phase E – Create Raw Image Files (RIF)

• How to create the files using digital cameras or Scanners
• What resolution to use
• How large the images need to be
• What problems you need to avoid when acquiring these images

Again, taking the time to do all of this correctly the first time will save you time and frustration down the road.

Phase F – Working with Raw Image Files (RIF)

As you may suspect, Image Preparation results in a LOT of files and a number of different steps. Think of them as a virtual mountain. If you don’t plan accordingly, you may be buried in an avalanche.

Trust me on this – you DON’T want to be looking for an important, but AWOL Image at 3 AM!

Phase G – Start Editing the Raw Image Files (RIF)

This section deals with editing the RIFs to create the main, large Product Images … NOT the Thumbnails.

There are detailed illustrations comparing the different options side by side.

Phase H – Optimizing for the Web

Unfortunately, this is where a lot of web site owners miss the boat, with even knowing that it can cost the BIG!

Taking the time to do this can mean that your web site shows better in the search engines because your pages load faster than your competition!

Phase H – Creating Thumbnails

Thumbnails are the final step in creating effective, efficient, web happy Product Images.

While some web Page Creation Programs create Thumbnails on command, we want/need to create them ourselves.

Thumbnail Creation is NOT one of the common tools provided with Shopping Cart Software or Catalog Software. In addition, it is important that we be able to control where the thumbnails files are stored and backed up, what they are named and finally, to have the option to Batch Process them.

Ultimately, it is about CONTROL, and as business owners, we are all about control! Right?

Phase J – VISUAL Presentation Tips

A couple of strategies to help along the way!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Finished is Better than Perfect!

While a web site is never finished and is always an ongoing project, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the idea that it has to be perfect.

From a practical business standpoint, finished and functioning (with room for improvement) is MUCH better than perfect!

The last step of it all is simple..

Take Action!

If you don’t do it, it won’t happen!

The Survival Guide – Preparing Product IMAGES for Presentation on the Web consists of:

A PDF file of the Survival Guide eBook to read on your computer or to print out and read.

The PDF file is a Download so you are able to get it immediately! (Even at 2 AM!)

You NEED this comprehensive overview of what is involved with creating and presenting Product Images.

Purchase Survival Guide – Preparing Product IMAGES for Presentation on the Web for just $14.95, and get started right away!

Click HERE to order the Survival Guide – Preparing Product IMAGES for Presentation on the Web for just $14.95