Tips for the best website photos
and the biggest mistake most people make when updating a website
5 Tips for updating your website pictures
We often are asked how to make websites better with photos.
“Do I need new website photos?”
This is a common question we are asked here at Mac & V. The answer is maybe, or perhaps you just need to take a quick look through what you have and make a few tweaks. The following 5 tips for website photos will walk you through a quick evaluation.
What makes a website amazing? What makes a website convert clients? Well of course, the information it offers, right? Yes, that is important, but design and visuals rank first in the hierarchy of significance. This can be hard to believe, because what you offer is incredible and everyone needs it, so why not just tell them all about it?!
Quality visuals are a powerful tool for attracting potential clients or customers to your brand, communicating your story, and ultimately engaging with your offer.
A handful of just ok images from five years ago won’t cut it. Even in the world of clean design, thoughtful images can have a huge impact. You are creating a website to engage
with a mature and sophisticated audience, who can quickly identify low quality and unaesthetic pictures on your website, quickly resulting in the dreaded website “bounce.”
This article will walk you through how to up your website photo game, to drive results. After all that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?
Photo by Mac + V
Quality is KEY
If you take nothing else from this blog, let this be the one that sticks with you. High quality, properly sized images is imperative to the success of your website converting to customers. Large images have a great impact and often convey passion and professionalism. Above all else do not allow stretched or pixelated images to live on your website. When in doubt, work with a designer to make sure your images are pixel perfect. Need some help with all this technical stuff? Download our do-it-yourself website photo practical tips checklist
Grab Your Free Website Photos Top 10 Practical Tips Checklist
Need some help and don’t know where to start?👇
2. Use Images Instead of Text
We have all been on that website that is just one paragraph block after another. Maybe there are a few images on the page but they are not the centerpiece and feel much more like an afterthought rather than an impactful centerpiece. Boring right? We quickly bounce off the website to another offering a more enjoyable browsing experience. Think about it, picture books are way more fun to read, they are easy to read, comprehend and keep us turning to the next page. Replace some of your text with banner images with a text overlay to drive your point home through words and visuals. Use thoughtfully placed images throughout your website to help the viewer's eye travel down the page to the next gold nugget and action step you have for them.
3. Use Real People In Your Brand Photos
Photos of people are invaluable. Think about it, people relate with people! So the potential to boost your conversion ratio on your website goes up when a viewer feels they can relate and that you get them by having people like them represented on your website. Avoid using stock images of people. Showcase the authenticity of your brand and offering by using real people in the office, or industry. Can people really tell when you use a stock image? The Answer is a resounding YES and it damages your credibility, so use them sparingly and only when necessary. Replace them as quickly as possible.
Left Photo By Mac and V
4. Make your Website Photos Stand Out
Top Photos by Mac + V
Just because there are other people and companies out there offering the same services doesn’t mean your photos need to look just like theirs. In fact, think about it, you are in business because you believe you offer something better with just a little more magic than the others out there. So why would your photos not show that off? Take a step back and invite a little creativity into your images. We loved this blog article by Flywheels in house photographer, Kimberly Bailey. She shoots whimsical and fun photos, in what COULD be perceived as an industry with little creative opportunities.
5. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR WEBSITE PHOTOS
A picture is worth a thousand words right? So, what 1,000 words are your website photos saying? Are they words related to your brand story? Are they telling your customers what you are about, how they will feel working with you, what to expect or how your offering is different? A pretty image is just that, a pretty image. What is the substance of your image and are you getting the most out of it? Are your images relevant to your offering? If you are a luxury brand your images should ooze with luxury items, feelings of luxuriousness and opulent locations. Are you a manufacturing company focused on relationships and high performance, technical photos of your high performing product don’t show what an awesome experience your customers have working with your sales team. Make sure your images tell the real story of your business.
Photo By Mac + V
Photo By Mac + V
Bonus! Avoid the Biggest Website Photo Mistake
Discounting the importance of photos on your website is the biggest mistake companies make when creating a new website or doing a website refresh. Ever heard (or maybe even said) something like this?
“Photos are not our highest priority.”
“Yeah, we will get to those new photos later when we have a bigger budget.”
“I don’t see why we need to spend money on photos, just use what we have.”
Good high converting websites don’t use photos as just a creative decorative element.
Think of images as the key driver and first “hook” that equals your website's success. Quality website photos paired with great copy and call to actions equal the ultimate success of your website conversion.
Make sure you identify the kind of images you will use at the very start of your website design or refresh. Do not use images as an afterthought and you will see amazing results.
Want to chat about booking a photo session for your website? Contact Us
Photo by Mac + V
Photo by Mac + V