Attracting More Readers With Branded Imagery
Are you ready for a simple lesson in reader psychology? You sure??? It’s a doozy!!
Readers read pretty things.
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I know…mind blown.
Could it really be as simple as your blog’s photography? Think about it…when you look through a catalog or go shoping, whether it’s online or at the mall, what stores attract you the most? What do the photographs of the products look like? What colors do they use? What music are they playing? What do their models looks like or even just their dummies?
Are they instantly recognizable?
The answer is…for the most part…yes. Think Abercrombie, Macy’s or even Spencers (ewww)!! So, why do teh vast majority of bloggers choose to ignore their blog’s imagery? I’m going with one or two things…laziness, or they just don’t know how to fix it. I know that sounds rough…but it’s true! I can’t help much with the laziness factor…but BOY do I have some great tips in the imagery department!
SO…that being said. Let’s get you out of the ‘lazy’ category…since we all know that is NOT where you belong, and get your images AT LEAST a little bit more uniform and high end. I will be focusing on taking gorgeous photographs a little bit later…but this is an EASY first step to get you blog headed in the right visual direction.
First, check out your competition! Do a quick Google search for the key phrase that you would like to be found under. What do their images look like? What do the HIGH QUALITY images look like? I guarantee you…they are going to be well lit with nice…clean backgrounds. (Don’t pay attention to the ads.)
What you need to do now, is determine which background will show off your product, help you stand out from your crowd AND fall right in line with your blog’s already established brand!
One of my FAVORITE places to get inspiration for backgrounds and product photography is Instagram. Below are some of my FAVORITE artists on Instagram who use everything from tabletops to butcher paper to keep their galleries uniform and unique. Why not try to illustrate your post with a little pizazz?
If you look at Lizzie’s Instagram account, she uses various colors of butcher paper to make her account look uniform AND help her art really pop! She sticks to a particular color pallet which helps bring her gallery together.
I love this idea!! Do you need a reason to collect fancy wallpapers…and putting them on your wall is NOT that reason? How about collecting patterned papers and wallpapers to use as product backgrounds? These are a little tricky, since you’ll need to make sure your lighting is spot on and your product pops off the design. In addition to that, if you use different backgrounds…you’ll have to make sure that they are all in the same color family! You wouldn’t want your shop to clash! (If it’s appropriate, try keeping to your brands color pallet! It will help to make you immediately recognizable!)
Not only do I lovev Birchbox’s product…but I love their product photography too! The solid background helps make the products pop…but they’ve taken it a step farther and created a physical pattern with flower petals to help add some texture to the photograph!
If you are an artist, a great way to show off your work is SHOWING your customers how it will look in their home! Do a little research to see how other artists have displayed their pieces. I love the simple way that Katie Jobling puts more in her product shots than just the art. The flowers show the size of the piece, in addition to giving a sense of simplicity to the product.
First off…FULLER HOUSE!! Gotta love some Stephanie Tanner! Second, if you’re a jeweler, clothes maker, scarf designer, etc…try taking some product shots that show of your brand colors AND your product!! The lighting of this shot shows off the necklace perfectly…and the bright pink cardigan is in line with Studio DIY’s branding. One last thing to notice, is the mint green shirt in the photograph acts perfectly as a non-distracting, solid frame for the necklace.
Let’s take a look at you furniture makers! This MIGHT be a bit more difficult…since you’ll have to clear out a room of your house when you need show off your work…but put your back into it!! Clear out that dining room…take your photos during they day where there is a ton of window light…and make sure your images are edited to focus on your final product.
Speaking of editing your photos…If you are using your iphone, I recommend checking out apps like VSCO and Instagram to give your images a uniform look. DO NOT use different filters for each image! That will royally destroy your cohesive shop feel. In fact, I recommend using NO filters. Use these apps to brighten your colors, blur out the background, and add an INCREDIBLY slight vignette. Like…INCREDIBLY slight! Like…2%!
Finally, for all of you digital product providers (word to yo’ muthuhs!), there a TON of options on websites like “Creative Market“! This is what I (and hundreds of other shops) use to create the desktop scenes in photoshop. They help out customer see what working with out product would be like if they print it out! Click the image to check out my shop on Etsy and see how I’ve utilized this awesome tool!
If you’re looking for even more Etsy tips, join me on Instagram!! Every day I’ll put a mini- post that will help you DOUBLE your views and increase your sales!
Till next week!
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