How To Create The Perfect Marketplace Listing

A Guide To Promoting Your Business On The Wellbeing Umbrella Marketplace

We only have a few short seconds to make a great first impression with our business… and then we get scrolled past.

And we shouldn’t “judge a book by its cover” but unfortunately in the fast paced world of the internet, people have very short attention spans and very quick scrolling fingers!

Potential customers can create a very quick first impression as soon as they see your logo and images, and based on that will either stop to click on your business… or find another they prefer and trust more.

Don’t put put people off by not having the very best images you can have to promote your gorgeous wellbeing business.

I would love to help your potential customers stop and click on your listing, whether here on the Wellbeing Umbrella marketplace or else where on the internet. My quick tips will help your listing get that professional edge plus you can use them across the rest of your marketing.

So, what do we need to be looking at?

The Perfect Picture

If you have the budget for professional photography to help promote your business, brilliant! It’s a great start. However, for many small businesses especially in the wellness sector, it’s not a possibility. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use professional looking images.

There’s lots of good stock photography and if you choose well, they can fit your brand. And you can also take your own pictures ­ phones these days have excellent cameras and with good lighting you can get some decent images.

Stock photography can really help if you are in a service based industry ­ I rely on it especially for my blogs but I do see the same images used by other people so I have to get creative with them to make them look like part of my business.

It goes without saying though, if you are promoting your actual products or a venue, you do need to use your own images so your customers can see exactly what they are buying into.

So, when choosing the perfect picture for your listing try keep the following in mind.

Light

Is your image bright enough? Can you see the image properly?
Taking your pictures in natural light so try near a window or even outside.

Focus

Is your image in focus? Can you easily make out what it is?
Don’t be afraid to take a few different pictures and then pick the best.

Resolution

Is your image resolution big enough?

An image that has to be expanded can look bitmapped and blocky making it difficult to see what it is.

Branding

Do your images follow a particular theme? Are they easily recognisable as your business or are they a random mix?

Relevance

Is it the right image for the job? Is it helping to promote your business or your product/service?

Cropping

Keep in mind how the image will be cropped ­ cover pictures tend to be horizontal and narrow, listing pictures are more square. Make sure important elements aren’t cropped out when uploaded and that they balance in the space provided.

If your image doesn’t crop well, don’t take a short cut and stretch it. Try find an image that does fit the right crop as chances are you’ll probably use it again. It’s worth having a selection of images that fit different crops.

Colours and Fonts

For some wellbeing businesses a simple picture might suffice but often you might want to add some text, maybe a strap line or sentence for clarity.

Fonts

It’s best to stick to just a couple of fonts as part of your visual branding ­ clean, simple and easy to read. The more you use them, the more they will come to be associated with your wellness brand.

If it’s part of your brand you can choose a fancier font to use as headings and strap lines but make sure it reads easily especially small. Lowercase is usually easier to read than upper. If you’re not sure, ask a friend to read a selection of headings.

Text Over Images

For additional images such as your gallery, text over images can look very powerful and striking. Pick a part of your image that is simple and doesn’t have much going on. Usually white text is the most effective but black can work over a paler image. Take care with colours so they don’t fight with your image.

Ensure your text is simple and straight to the point. Your listing image isn’t the place to put a detailed description of your business ­ it will be hard to read and cover your entire image so customers won’t know what to look at. And will probably scroll past.

Colours

You will probably have a selection of about 3­5 brand colours. Two or three will be your logo colours and then you might have a couple of supporting colours to balance out your palette. Work out your RGB or Hex references and stick with these across your marketing to help build on your brand.

When choosing your images try to find ones that work with your colour palette. For example, if looking for a sky image, do you need a bold blue midday sky, a burning bright sunset or a soft gentle sunrise? What fits your colour palette.

And Finally

Take a look around and notice how different images, different colours and different brands make you feel. How do they influence you? What assumptions do you make about certain products or services?

Which ones turn you off and which ones do you eventually buy from?

Us humans are very visual creatures so make sure you wave a beautiful image in front of your potential customers and give them a reason to ignore your competitors and pick you instead.

Download my handy checklist to help you remember next time you’re creating a listing or even a social media post.

If you’re still stuck, do get in touch for a design quote and I can help create a beautiful listing for your wellbeing business.