The Value of High-Quality Images in Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a highly competitive industry.
That’s why finding unique ways to increase sales is every marketer’s #1 priority.
A very powerful yet often overlooked way to maximize sales is by using high-quality images.
Images are HUGELY beneficial when it comes to affiliate marketing. They can lead to:
- More sales. Increase your trust and authority, and generate more conversions.
- Higher reach. Create more shareable content, and maximize your reach.
- Better branding. Leverage unique images, and create a lasting impact.
Plus, if you use the right images, they will help you stand out, and be strikingly different.
In this post, you’ll discover everything about how and why to use high-quality images in affiliate marketing, and where to find the best images.
What Role Do Images Play in Affiliate Marketing?
Images play a crucial role in capturing customers’ attention, increasing engagement, and maximizing the chances of making a purchase.
If you fail to capture and hold customers’ attention, they’ll leave you for your competitors…
Source: VWO
That’s right – the average bounce rate for affiliate blogs is 90% – which means only 10% of potential customers will stick around!
Leveraging high quality images will help you improve that rate, and also:
- Improve SEO. Featuring high-quality, unique images plays a role in rankings.
- Maximize trust. Showcasing customers that you use the product yourself improves your credibility and knowledge of the product.
- Increase conversion rate. 67% of online shoppers rate high-quality images as “very important” to their purchase decision.
Images will also help you attract more potential customers.
In fact, blog posts with an image once every 75 – 100 words received TWICE the social media shares compared with posts featuring fewer images.
Source: Easil
Plus, unique images can help you create a lasting impression that boosts branding.
The Best Types of Images for Affiliate Marketing
There are different types of images you can use with your affiliate posts, depending on the type of product you sell.
Here are some of the most powerful types of images that drive affiliate sales.
#1: Product Images
The most common type of affiliate image is a product image.
In essence, they showcase the product, usually from different angles, to give customers a perspective of what they get. You can easily get these directly from Amazon if you’re a member of the Amazon Associates affiliate scheme.
If you’re looking to take the photos yourself (which is usually a great idea!), we suggest:
- Making a product stand out. Choose a background that makes the product stand out clearly, such as having a white sheet.
- Choosing the right angles. Find the angle that showcases your product in an appealing way, but also shows everything that customers might want to see.
- Keeping it simple. Don’t overcomplicate it. A product with a plain background is usually all you need.
#2: Lifestyle Images
Lifestyle images showcase how you use a product in real-life.
These images are great since they’re relatable, and can help customers imagine how they would feel if they bought the product.
Source: Results Imagery
But of course, these images vary depending on the type of product you’re promoting.
A pair of boots will need a variety of pictures of them being worn with different outfits, and in different locations. A coffee maker will need to be shown in various stages of coffee creation.
Quick Tip: Don’t just stop at showing the product in use. Create a “mood” to your images by showing how people “feel” when they are using the product. This helps you to sell the product better by giving your viewers more of a vision.
#3: Comparison Images
Comparison images are super-effective for driving sales.
This is because they’re extremely helpful for potential customers who definitely want to buy a product – but they’re just not sure which one to choose.
Source: Practical Ecommerce
Comparison images allow them to see the difference, and buy the perfect fit.
Looking to Create Amazon Affiliate Comparison Images?
AAWP is our WP plugin that can help you create appealing comparison tables of multiple Amazon products. This is extremely useful, since it can help your customers see the main differences – allowing them to choose the right product for them to go ahead and purchase.
You can see an example of a comparison table below:
You can customize these tables however you want, including selecting the products, the categories of product, and the type of information included in the table. It’s highly effective, and we’ve seen a massive increase in revenue for those customers of ours who have been using it.
Learn more about comparison tables and similar AAWP features.
How to Find High-Quality Images for Amazon
You now understand the importance of high-quality affiliate images.
However, where can you find them, or what are the best ways to create unique images? That’s what you’re about to discover.
#1: Use Paid Photo Stock
There are a lot of great places where you can get your images for FREE:
However, since they are FREE, they are used by almost everyone, and are highly generic. Not a good way to stand out and be different.
But, if you spend as little as $10 a month, you might get beautiful-looking, unique images.
There are paid photo stocks that have thousands of great images you can use with your affiliate posts. We are talking about services such as:
Since you have to pay (even though it’s almost nothing), most people won’t use them.
Most affiliate marketers would much rather use generic images that everyone else uses than pay a small price for standing out.
Don’t make the same mistake, and don’t be afraid to invest – it’s definitely worth it.
#2: Shoot Your Own Photos
The best way to get unique images that you like is by taking them yourself. There are two ways you can create your own images:
1. Create a Screencast
A screencast is a digital recording of your screen, which is a highly useful way of taking images or video of a software solution you’re wanting to promote.
Any step-by-step post or how-to guide will be 10X easier to follow if you include images or record videos showing visitors what to do.
You might even step it up a notch and include annotations such as arrows, texts, or highlights.
This will ensure you can properly showcase what the product is capable of, and help customers make a decision about whether it’s the right choice for them.
2. Shoot Physical Product Photos
If you sell a physical product, we ALWAYS recommend shooting your own images.
It increases trust and makes you seem like an authority – since you’re someone who is most likely using the product yourself.
Here are a few tips for taking your own images:
- Find the right light. The ideal is usually a bright room without direct sunlight. Work with lamps in the house to light your room as though it’s a professional photo shoot. Shooting outdoors is often the very best way to light a product, unless it’s extremely bright sun, or pouring with rain!
- Refrain from using flash. Using a flashlight on your photos almost always produces an unnatural look.
- Choose the right setting. The background in your photo may be visible. if you shoot in a living space, ensure it’s tidy, and you’ve chosen the right aspect of the room.
- Always shoot several photos. This way, you can pick the best photo later, and you won’t miss out on shots due to blurring you didn’t notice while shooting.
Note: The only exception to taking your own photos is when you don’t have a high-quality camera or equipment (but these days most mobile phones have cameras that are more than good enough for this).
However, you can also use AI for help. We’ll cover the exact step-by-step process of how to set it up and use it later in this post.
#3: Use Official Product Photos
You are allowed to use official product photos if you’re a part of the Amazon Affiliate program. This is great, since most of these photos are high-quality, and they tend to show the product from multiple angles.
But, of course, the downside is that everyone uses them.
However, If you want to use Amazon product photos, you can’t just download them and upload them on your website. To use Amazon’s images, you have to be a registered Amazon Associate and use Amazon’s API (which is what our AAWP plugin uses).
Failing to do this can get you kicked off the Amazon affiliate program.
#4: Use AI Image Enhancing Tools
AI tools can help you create stunning images in seconds.
One of our favorite image enhancing AI tools is Pebblely. It’s super-easy to use and you can make your images look professional in just a few clicks.
Here is an example of what can Pebblely do for your images.
You can also use it to remove the background or resize and extend the image to any size.
Pebblely offers three paid memberships, starting at $19 / month (which will be sufficient for most small businesses).
If you’re not sure whether it’s the right solution for you, they also offer a FREE version – allowing you to generate up to 40 images a month.
Give Pebblely a shot right now to start creating beautiful images, and making better first impressions.
Remember: Quality Is KEY
It’s tempting to create tons of unique images and include them with your products.
However, the thing to keep in mind is that the quality of your product images is VITAL. If you include 10 unique images, but they look dreadfully amateurish, it will have a negative impact on your sales. That’s why it’s essential to focus on quality, and create the best possible images.
Don’t Forget About SEO
Alt text is essential for making your images and website more accessible.
In essence, the alt text/caption is a description of an image. It’s essential for visually impaired readers, who can’t see an image.
Source: Ahrefs
If you don’t include alt text, a screen reader will read aloud the file name of the image (which won’t really make sense to a reader!).
We highly recommend adding alt text for both better UX, and also SEO. If you add alt text to your images, Google will be able to understand them (and what’s in them) better. This increases your chances of ranking high in image search.
Quick Tip: Keep it short and to the point. Often just 2 or 3 words are enough to describe the image.
Now It’s Time to Put it in Action!
Images play a crucial role in standing out, building trust, and boosting sales.
They can help you create a lasting first impression, build your brand, and keep customers on your page longer. The two most important things with affiliate product images are the quality – and being unique.
And that’s what we are here to help you with!
AAWP allows you to stand out with its unique features such as New Releases or Bestsellers. This allows you to present products in an entirely new way.
The best thing about it is that you can set it up in seconds – and forget about it.
You just choose the category of the products, select filters such as color, material, and price, and you’re all set. AAWP will automatically pull data from Amazon and populate your website with the latest and most relevant products.
This also automatically updates, so your customers get the most up-to-date data.
(There is no other plugin that does this.)
And there are many more features for creating a lasting impression, driving revenue, and standing out from competitors.
Get AAWP today and find out how you can boost your Amazon Associates commissions.
Start now with AAWP!
AAWP is the #1 WordPress plugin for Amazon affiliates who are serious about earning more. Get started today!