Want to bring – and keep – paying customers to your company’s website? Be sure you’re keepin’ it real.

That’s what web usability expert Jakob Nielsen advises: Ditch the clip art and use real images on your site.

Pictures of real people or products are much more likely to win over customers, says Nielsen, who’s well known and respected for tracking how visitors view and use websites.

There’s enough phony stuff out there already, he says. Dump those generic shots and show customers something more specific and substantial.

Have a blog? Use a snapshot of the actual writer, not a stock photo of the product being written about. The same thinking applies to profiles of salespeople and staffers, and even Customer Service folks. Visitors want to see the people behind the scenes.

It can really pay off with products. Example: Pottery Barn, which uses genuine images of actual products, scored much higher in reader recognition than Amazon, which relies more on generic images.

Tags: Amazon, clip art, images, Jakob Nielsen, Pottery Barn, stock photos, usability, website