You know the old adage…”A picture is worth a thousand words.” When it comes to website development, this couldn’t be more true. Whether creating a new website or updating an existing one, it’s essential to evaluate your current stock of images and make sure you’re using photos that are high resolution, focused, and represent your business in the best way possible.
Here are a couple reasons why photography should be one of the key investments you make when it comes to your website:
Quality photography makes your website look more professional.
It’s as simple as that. Your website is one element of your overall marketing portfolio. You’re using it to communicate, inform, and, bottom line…sell. If the images that you’re using on your website do not represent your business in a professional manner, visitors will likely not take your business seriously. This is a lost sales opportunity. If you have product images, examples of the work you’ve done, shots of your team members or of your building, make sure they draw visitors in and help tell your company story in a dynamic, professional way.
Quality photography makes your website more shareable.
Website content should not be created to live in a vacuum. Blogs, product listings, portfolios…these are all pieces of content that need to exist beyond your website in order to help your website rank higher with search engines. Yes, it’s important to have pictures associated with all of these things, but, more importantly, pictures that share well on social sites like Pinterest or Facebook. When users click on images or links found on social media sites, they are directed back to the origin of that content…your website.
Of course, we don’t ever recommend just slapping a bunch of pictures on your website and calling it a day. Every image should check off the following criteria:
- Does it have a purpose or help tell your story?
- Is it focused, cropped correctly and of the right size?
- Will it share well on social media sites?
- Is the file size small enough that it won’t slow down website loading time?
- Does it translate well on a mobile device?
You may consider taking photos yourself to save on cost, but if you don’t have a steady hand (guilty!), or a good eye for lighting and composition, we recommend leaving it to the professionals. There are also myriad options for stock photography that go beyond the typical “business person in a suit handshake” shot. Check out Modstock, Unsplash and Pexels for just a few examples.
Building a website is an investment – whether it’s your time to build it, or the money to have someone else build it for you – so it might seem overwhelming to also have to invest in photography, but it’s going to make the world of difference in your overall website design!
