Grab Your Visitor’s Attention With These 8 Simple Graphics

Today, you come across a lot of websites that have obviously just been quickly cobbled together to try and make some easy money – and everybody knows it. If you want your website to rise above the rest, you have to do something different.

Adding a set of professional graphics is one way, but often people simply don’t use them. However, graphics can really grab your visitor, increase their level of engagement, keep them on your site longer, and increase your opt-in rates and sales.

When I first got started back in 1999, I built my very first site with Microsoft’s FrontPage. Most web surfers only had painfully slow dial-up Internet access. It took forever to load images, so by default we were forced to keep our graphics to a minimum.

These days, of course, a lot, if not most, of us have access to high-speed Internet connections. So now the owners of websites really don’t have an excuse for not having graphics on our sites. Everyone else is using graphics, so collectively we all have to step up our game.

Using graphics to your advantage is the key to rising above the competition. Though some may argue otherwise, outsourcing website graphics to freelancers is very affordable.

If I were to recommend a single freelancer website, I would recommend Elance. All you have to do is organize all your ideas into a single project (to save money), post it, and let the freelancers bid on it.

How Elance Works

On Elance, you’ll find a lot of pro graphic artists that know all there is to know about designing icons, graphs, logos, cartoon characters, illustrations – they know it all. The thing is, you have to do a fair amount of work on your end. In one sitting, just put your nose to the grindstone, brainstorm, and organize your project. If it helps, look at some websites you like to get your creative juices flowing.

The best way to think about this process is to think of it like you’re writing an extremely detailed email that you’re going to send off to a potential graphic designer. You want vivid details so you get the graphics you want.

To make your final choice easier, you’ll get a lot of very different submissions from graphic designers all over the world. If a particular designer catches your eye, choose them and put the payment for the project in escrow so you can release the money for them as the work comes across your desk. Before you know it, they’ll have created a beautiful website for you and your conversion rates and revenue will get a healthy boost as well.

A lot of people will immediately assume that their project can’t be handled by a simple freelancer, not knowing that freelancers really are professionals. They are essentially running their own small graphic design businesses and they know their craft. These freelancers are very talented can can handle all kinds of projects for you. It doesn’t matter if you need a simple set of graphics as as I have shared below or something elaborate where you need the assistance of an infrared photographer I’ll bet you will find the right person for the job on Elance.

The Top 8 Things to Get from Your Graphic Designer

Site owners all want great graphics, but I have found quite often they don’t pursue the effort because they really don’t know how to find a graphic artist or on which aspect of graphics they should focus. If you use graphics, however, you will find that it really boosts your sales and opt-in rates.

1) Header Graphic

Every site worth its salt has a header graphic. Your site’s header graphic shouldn’t be too big or flashy; just something simple that draws in visitors. Personally, I always advocate placing your smiling face prominently on the header to quite literally put a real face on your site to let visitors know that there is a real person behind the site.

For example, the graphics you see below were developed for my wife Arlene’s website which was put together to support moms who are struggling with an epileptic child.

2) Thumbnails

Everybody has come across thumbnails – the small graphics we see everywhere on the Internet. These small graphics are cheap and easy to make using your header head shot. Ask your graphic designer to make up a bunch of thumbnails for social media sites like blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

3) Banner Ads

Banner ads are those (often annoying) graphics that run across the tops of websites. You don’t want your banner to have that effect; you just want a warm, welcoming message that is polite and alluring. Banners are easy to put together and your graphic designer can put together a few variations for you to choose from.

 

4) Signature File

This is just your signature in a digital, graphic format. All you have to do is sign a blank sheet of paper, then scan it. Then you can insert it appropriately on your website to give it an authentic feel.

5) Control Panel

Control panels are a bit more complicated and as such are often considered “specialty graphics.” This may be the most complicated graphic required for your site, so make sure your designer is confident in handling it. Your control panel essentially lets visitors navigate your website via an attractive, interactive graphic.

6) Promotional Graphics

If you have a podcast, you’ll want to have some promotional graphics made up for you. People won’t be able to listen to your podcast if you aren’t advertising.

If aren’t podcasting, I recommend that you do as an awesome way to get the word out. Arlene’s podcast has had well over 50,000 downloads the last time I checked. Podcasting is great because a lot of people prefer to listen to them on their IPods while working out (for example), rather than reading a lot of text on websites.

7) Cover Art

Even if your book is only a PDF at this point, you’ll want to have your graphic artist draw up some cover art. This can then be put up on your website to show everyone that you have a book and encourage them to read it.

 

Newsletter

You’ll want to start up a newsletter, if you don’t have one already. Your graphic artist can easily use previously created graphics to make a consistent, attractive newsletter for you to send out.

Form a Relationship with Great Freelancers

So now your project has ended and everything is going great. This does not mean, however, that you should sever all ties with your chosen freelancer. If you found that working with that freelancer was really smooth and fruitful, keep in touch with them for future jobs.

For example, some day you may want to retouch a photo on the site. If you use the same person who designed the graphic in the first place, it will be much smoother and probably be done faster.

At the end of the day, I’m confident that you will have a smooth a ride as I’ve had using graphics to boost your sales and opt-in rates. I welcome any and all questions and look forward to hearing about your outsourcing experiences.

Image Credit

Tagged as: attention, Blogging, covers, elance, engagement, graphics, header, marketing, visitors