In a day and age where technology is making everything quicker and more accessible, it’s no surprise that people’s attention spans are dropping. Having quality photography on your website can grab attention a lot quicker than words can, and that’s why imagery is one of the most critical aspects of your website.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s true. You can tell a whole story in one image. You can give a first impression of what it’s like to work at, or with your company. You can also share your culture through photos.
On top of that, they can help break up your content and make your site more pleasing to the eye.
Now that we’ve sold you on why you should use images, here are some tips to remember when you do use them.
- Quality over quantity
Be mindful not to use too much photography on your website just for the sake of it. A picture can tell a thousand words, but it can also be an annoyance if not used correctly.
There’s nothing worse than having to scroll through lots of information or images to get to the one thing you want at the bottom of the page. People get bored, and rightly so. So make sure you use the right amount of photo.
If your budget allows, a photographer can help you take a few decent quality images that match your brand, emphasise what you’re trying to say and enhance the overall look of your website.
- Size matters
You want your images to be the right size to go alongside your text. If it’s icons, you probably want them as small thumbnails. If it’s images to show a product, you’ll need them to be larger so people can see the detail.
It’s always best to take your images at their largest size and quality and scale them down as you need, rather than not being able to do it the other way around. Imagine the devastation if you’d taken lots of photos, uploaded them to your site, and they’ve turned out blurry when at the correct size.
- Be careful of stock images.
Stock photos are great to use in the proper context. If you’re building your website and don’t have images yet, or you don’t have the budget to hire a photographer, stock images can be a lifesaver.
However, they are often very generic and sometimes it’s both nicer and way more helpful to the viewer to see some authentic images from you, with your people in them.
For instance, you can’t use stock images for your products (if you sell products, that is). It’s false advertising and not helpful for your customers.
They can help attract potential employees. Let’s say one of your selling points is that you throw the best annual Christmas party. You go all out; there are magicians, awards, great food, drinks, a beautiful venue and more. It’s one thing to say it and tell people, but to show them would back up your claim.
- Ask for permission
How would you feel if you realised you were all over the new company website and marketing brochures and hadn’t been asked or didn’t even know the photos were taken? You’d be pretty annoyed.
On a human level, you never know what people’s personal situations are to use images of them.
If you don’t get permission from the people in the images, they can ask you to take them down, and then you’d have to start again. So, it’s essential to tick that box at the very beginning and save yourself that potential slip-up.
- Refresh your images from time to time
Once you’ve got your website up and running and you’ve got your lovely images on show, it’s always nice to refresh them from time to time. They can help make your website feel updated and new without actually having to update the content.
If you’ve got a website that people visit regularly – maybe a shop website or one where you update blog posts regularly – users will become familiar with the same old home page. Refreshing your photography on your website can help keep that spark alive.
It may be that rather than having a calendar reminder to update your images periodically, you could have a carousel of pictures. This way, it shows more than one image and a different one every time a user is on the page. This can keep your website from looking stagnant.
And that’s it from us. They are our top five tips for using images on your website.
If you’re looking to update your images and need a photographer in Melbourne, Australia and the surrounding areas, get in touch, and we can help find the right one for you.
