I am currently working with a very motivated client. Finally, you’re working on getting your offline business online. His website is a topic that has been around for literally years, and he has finally decided to buckle down.

Unfortunately, she has convinced herself that she can’t handle the technical stuff.

Now, truth be told, if I EVER had my back against a wall, she’s the person I’d want by my side (did I mention she’s also one of my best friends?) I KNOW she can learn all of this! Trust me, she is more than capable!

Right now you are having a hard time learning how to edit your website photos and most recently we have been working on the necessary thumbnails for the products in your shopping cart.

Product images are vitally important website content!

As I tell my clients, product images on a website are an extremely important element, for several reasons:

Product Images – Professionals

For human visitors –

• Product images can efficiently provide information. However, pictures are NOT an appropriate substitute for meaty, detailed, written product descriptions.
• Product images can provide attractive eye catchers.

For search engine visitors:

• Image filenames can be a powerful search engine tool
• Image alt text tags can also reinforce appropriate keywords and product brand names when used judiciously.

Product Images – Cons

For human visitors –

• If your images aren’t the right size, they may load slowly and your human visitors may get impatient and leave your site.

For search engine visitors:

• Google has started evaluating websites by load time. If your website loads slowly, you may be penalized in the SERPs (search engine result pages)

And with the cons, we come to the crux of the matter… my client has not been able to successfully and consistently handle the resizing and editing required for these ever-important product images.

She has been insisting on using a couple of the free Microsoft Image programs that seem to come preloaded on new computers. They are designed for doting grandparents and not serious business people.

We’ve run into permissions issues (this is the first time I’ve had this issue…and boy, was it hard to track!) and resizing issues. Even though I asked him to download a free solution, IrfanView, he has avoided taking the time to learn it…

As a result, she (and I) have wasted several hours trying to fix what shouldn’t be broken in the first place…

I was a painter in a previous life and believe me, having the right brush for the job is non-negotiable!

I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out a way to explain this to her and I’ve finally found an analogy that will make sense to her – basically, she’s been trying to knit with two crochets… for you woodworkers: she can’t use a straight blade screwdriver if you need a wrench!

As with any endeavor, take the time to find the right tool for the job, and then take the time to learn how to use it correctly. Trust me, it will save you time and tears in the long run!