The number of people who utilize visual tools online continue to grow as people become more and more entrenched in technology, and more and more pressed for time. Consumers are more particular about what they view and how long they take to do so. Businesses must stand out in the crowd and adding visual aids to content is the key. It attracts eyeballs, makes difficult material easier and quicker to grasp and gives your content uniqueness and more interest. Additionally, in this day of information overload, I find people are scanning more. Breaking up a longer article with visuals increases the potential of keeping the reader to the end. A long post or article with no visual breaks is sometimes seen as too daunting to even start for the time-pressed professional.

This photo is in honor of three clients who are all new or expectant fathers!

 The Huffington Post, with a Nielson NetRating of more than 4.2 million, and Boing Boing are ranked in the top ten most-popular blogs on the Internet by Technorati. One reason for their high ranking is they always have a unique or different photo that is more interesting than other news or blog sites. Boing Boing, with a Nielson NetRating of more than 765,000, also has an entire page devoted to videos. Post Secret is ranked as number 11 in popularity by Technorati, with approximately half of its content being visual. The point is: People respond to visuals. According to an article by Patricia Vakos on Phschool.com, 65 percent of the population consists of visual learners. A report on “Presenting Effective Presentations with Visual Aids” by the U.S. Department of Labor noted that three days after an event, people retained 10 percent of what they heard from an oral presentation, 35 percent from a visual presentation, and 65 percent from a visual and oral presentation. Visual aids can deliver your message quickly, as well as help the viewer remember it better and retain the information longer.

Below, is an example of a video we put together for one of our clients, The Élan at Bluffview, a mixed-use development comprised of retail space and luxury apartments in Dallas.  For the opening of The Art of Élan gallery, the apartment complex hosted an art contest where local artists could enter an art piece and compete to win six months of free gallery space in the new gallery and a $1,000 Visa gift card.  The video allowed us to spread the word about the First Annual Élan Art Gala Mix and Mingle event as well as draw attention to the artsy community. In addition to getting the video out in all tradional and online PR, we were also able to share the video on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, thus gaining exposure to our target audiences and building excitement for the event in less than 60 seconds per view.

If you want to get more business you have to make yourself visible to your potential customers. By supplementing well-written content with visual aids such as videos and photos, you can gain positive attention from your audience, enhance your “digital footprint,” and better communicate your message in a clear and concise manner. Consumers are actively searching for information and they expect to find the content they need; it’s the company’s job to make sure the content, be it visual, oral or written, is in the right place at the right time.

“Some 69% of all Americans have used the internet to cope with the recession as they hunt for bargains, jobs, ways to upgrade their skills, better investment strategies, housing options, and government benefits. That amounts to 88% of internet users.”

It also emphasized that 52 percent of Americans have been hard hit by the recession. What this means is, if your company has a service or product that can help consumers through this hard time, now is the time to optimize content about that product or service and make sure it is well distributed throughout the Internet. Your customers are searching for you. Whether you are a financial planner, bankruptcy attorney, headhunter, realtor, training or education provider, or a fictional writer, you most likely have an offering that can spell relief to some niche. For instance, you may have a small boutique PR firm that can provide major relief and value to companies who are paying large-agency retainer fees. This is a message (and yes, shameless plug for us) that you would want to get out there.

My only warning is this: If your company is considering a blog, know that blogs require constant upkeep in the form of fresh content, and it is better from a brand-image perspective to never start than to start and quit. Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation (with 60 to 80 percent abandoned within one month), Besides, there are plenty of other ways to distribute your content on the Web.

So, contact your content writer or online PR specialist and make your case on the Internet now while your prospects are looking for all forms of recession relief.