Photography has always been an integral part of design. Unfortunately, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing cheesy stock images of people in suits shaking hands. Not only are a lot of these stock photos tacky, but they cost a lot of money.
Thankfully, there’s been a growing number of websites with beautiful stock photography popping up all over the web. Best of all, they’re free!
In this post, we’ve curated a list of awesome websites for free stock photos. [continue reading…]
When Instagram Stories first rolled out, I remember actually saying out loud “but what’s the point if it disappears in 24 hours? No one will want to use this.”
I was very, very wrong.
Instagram Stories–which were a copycat of Snapchat’s classic disappearing-after-a-day content– became a wildly popular feature, and it was so successful that Facebook eventually rolled out their own version, and they both moved from mobile-only to mobile- and desktop- friendly. Stories have developed rapidly on these platforms in the past few years, offering “Swipe Up” links, Story Ads, interactive stickers, highlight covers, and even Shoppable content that allows users to purchased tagged products.
If you’re wondering why you should use them, it’s not just about the fact that Stories have become more high-tech than we ever expected; it’s because users love them. Consider the following statistics from Embed Social:
The biggest challenge with Stories for many brands isn’t getting engagement on their content; it’s reliably coming up with enough ideas to be posting consistently. In this post, we’re going to look at 7 different types of Story ideas that you can use to build up your brand and engage your audience across social media. [continue reading…]
Social media is one of the best ways to connect with your target audience. It’s often one of the first touch points users might have with your business, introducing them to your brand and what you offer, and it’s an incredible way to build long-term relationships with interested users who can eventually become customers.
This doesn’t just happen instantly, however, and social media marketing for businesses requires more than a few random posts with philosophical quotes attached; you need to have a strategy in place to help you brand and represent your business in a meaningful way. Branding on social media involves a series of decisions that will help you stand out, connect with your audience, and make a big (and strong!) impression.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at 3 crucial elements of social media branding: the voice, the visual, and the awareness strategies you need. [continue reading…]
Instagram story highlights are a great way to showcase your best Instagram stories on your profile page. Using your Instagram story highlights, you can divide your archived stories into different categories, while having the flexibility to choose which stories you would like to display for profile visitors to see.
With the introduction of IG story highlights, your Instagram stories can be viewed after 24 hours of being posted. But, what’s neat is that you have the ability to create Instagram story highlight covers to spice up your profile.
In this post, I will be giving you an in-depth guide on how to properly use Instagram story highlights and a tutorial on how to create free Instagram highlight covers to attract more visitors to your IG feed!
Squarespace has exceptional ease of use and zero learning curve, which is a huge advantage for non-techy business owners who want an affordable but reliable site that will help them sell well and that’s easy for them to use. It only makes sense that it would become so popular for eCommerce sites looking to quickly connect with their target audience.
Many of our clients use Squarespace for their sites, and they’ve recently been asking us about Squarespace image sizes and best practices to help them effectively sell their products and services.
You’ve asked, and we’ve answered! In this post, we’re going to take a close look at the best Squarespace image size for different types of product photos, along with some design tips to ensure that you’re maximizing the potential for conversions. [continue reading…]
Shopify is an incredible eCommerce platform, making it easier than ever for businesses and merchants to create a site for their business, market their products, and sell like never before. They have multiple different shopping cart and payment options naturally integrated into the platform, and there are thousands upon thousands of apps that can help you do everything from automate your accounting to create shipping labels at a discount.
There’s so many incredible options that sometimes merchants can still feel a little lost with some of the basics. If you can upload images of so many different shapes and sizes, for example, how do you find out which one is best?
Fortunately, there are straightforward answers about the best Shopify image sizes, image subjects, and overall best practices. In this post we’ll look at everything you need to know about the best Shopify image sizes and how to optimize them to help you sell more right away. [continue reading…]
In under two decades, Amazon has grown to be a juggernaut in the eCommerce space, with many people happy to pay for a Prime membership and product prices that are sometimes a dollar (or five) more than what they can pay in a long supermarket just for the convenience and accessibility. You can search for anything, and immediately see hundreds of options for whatever you’re looking for with reviews attached, and you aren’t bound by geography.
There’s a lot that goes into a great Amazon product listing, but there’s one part of the equation that weighs the most heavily on whether or not you get clicks to the product listing all together – the Amazon product image.
Product images are what users typically scan through most intently in their search results, and it’s what will catch their eye if you’ve run an ad to try to draw attention to you, and there’s a lot to keep in mind. If you don’t have the right Amazon image size, users won’t be able to zoom, and the wrong image files will be rejected by Amazon all together.
We don’t want any of that to happen, so in this post, we’re going to take a look at Amazon image requirements for product photos and best practices to help you get those sales. [continue reading…]
YouTube has more than 1.5 billion users (second in social only to Facebook), and the average viewing session lasts almost 40 minutes to create a combined 500 million hours of video watched daily on the channel.
Unsurprisingly, with this kind of engagement and enthusiasm from its users, YouTube has exceptional marketing potential for brands who are ready to offer interesting, valuable content tailored to their audience. The content itself, though, isn’t the only thing that you need to be considering; you also need to put time and effort into the look of your channel itself, and your profile picture is an important part of that.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at your perfect YouTube profile picture size and other tips, examples, and even a few templates. You can use these best practices to create a great impression and get more clicks to your channel. [continue reading…]
If it feels like there’s a million and one things to consider when writing our blog posts, and that’s because there is; you need to keep everything from word count to keywords to distribution in mind. Since blogging means trying to balance all these factors while simultaneously creating valuable, it’s no surprise that WordPress featured images are often overlooked.
While it’s not a surprise, it is a shame; utilizing high quality, proper WordPress featured image sizing, consistently styled post thumbnails on your blog offers a ton of benefits– starting with increased brand awareness and recognition for your business (but definitely not stopping there).
In this blogger’s guide to featured blog images, we’ll answer all your questions about why you need strong photos and the best WordPress featured image size on your blog. You’ll also learn how to create them, and the best practices to follow when choosing and creating a strong post thumbnail! [continue reading…]
Ever since their release, Instagram ads have been an advertiser’s dream. You’ve got a visual platform that’s primarily used by mobile users, eliminating other distractions on the screen, and a highly engaged audience that’s actually excited to discover and engage with brands they love. And of course, there’s the potential reach: Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, all ready to see your ad if you choose to target them.
Instagram ads really can yield exceptional results, which I’ve seen firsthand when writing PPC copy for my clients. And as a copywriter, I can happily attest that while the text does matter, the images and videos you use on Instagram carry perhaps even more weight than they do on Facebook.
We want to help you harness the incredible power that is Instagram ads, so in this post we’re going to discuss the ideal Instagram ad size for every format and look at general best practices to find success with the platform. [continue reading…]
