Images in articles - copying the authority in my industry

[BobGW]

Hello,

For my site, BobWeikel.com, I have an article about the type of coaching I do. It's called "What is NLP?" Here's the link.

The two authorities in my industry which I respect the most have no (or sometimes one) images or anything in their best articles - it's all just text.

Some examples of these authoritative articles are here and here. Note the second article has one image in it. That's common for that author, and he's the top person in the field. Note that that first link has no images at all.

I'd like to refine my article until I can compete. Should I leave out all images since that's what the big guys are doing?

Thanks!

[david.smith.segarra]

Hey Bob,

Although it is good to keep an eye on Authorities in your field, I would suggest you be your own person and not worry too much about them not using images.

At the end of the day. research shows images are a great way of keeping people engaged on your page. I would always use images to illustrate a point if I can.

Hope this helps

Dave

[EGOL]

Bob,

I don't think that mimicking your competitors is a good strategy for winning.  Instead you should be doing something that is superior.  Keep that in mind.

The value of images on a webpage varies depending upon the subject.   If I am talking about how to install crown molding then images of how it is done are extremely valuable to my article.  They might even be more important than text.   So, if these guys are writing about topics for which images can play a critical role then they should have their heads examined if they are not using lots of images.

Lots of other topics might not lend themselves to an article with a lot of images.  However, images can be used for other things.   They can be used to reinforce points, pretty up a page (which is important in my opinion - landing on an article with no images is horrible for engagement in my opinon).

We take a lot of our own photos, we license a lot of photos, and we use websites like istockphoto to obtain access to a library of photos that can be licensed for minimal cost.

So, I would use photos and art and tables and graphs no matter what I am writing about.  I think that it makes for a classy website and those photos can be used as primary, secondary or "did you know?" content.

In short, I pay very little attention to my competitors, other than to take a quick look at their content and decide if I can beat it.   For me images are a major way for me to beat my competitors in richness of content and aesthetic appeal

[BobGW]

Awesome advice from both of you. Thanks!