Websites are visual – and long gone are the days of pages and pages of text. That means that your website (and your marketing, including your social media posts) need to use images, and use them well, and that usually means using great photography.
They say a picture paints a thousand words, and it’s very true. Facebook posts that include a picture tend to have a better response rate, and Instagram and Pinterest are two of the fastest growing social media platforms. Not only that but most web design these days is image led, meaning that pictures are more important than ever.
What does that mean for your business?
Well, it means that good branding and good design also means good images – and that means clear, well sized, professional looking pictures that add something to your message. Most websites are image-led these days, meaning that they have lots of room for images. However, because website design is done mobile-first, many of the spaces for images are very wide (a minimum of 1920 pixels) but they aren’t very deep – which is a tricky orientation for good pictures and it means that your fabulous portrait photo isn’t going to fit – so you’ll need some new ones. This may mean digging out your camera if you know how to use a good one, finding some good photography in Lancaster or using stock imagery.
If you have a great brand and a great message you need good pictures to go with them. You can purchase stock imagery from various stock image websites (such as Shutterstock or istockphoto) or you can use your own as long as the images are sharp, clean and high resolution.
Often you’ll have a great photo that is too small – and goes blurry when you try to use it on web or print – don’t do it! Take the time to get high-quality images that represent you properly, and that fits your website and marketing well. If you need to get portrait shots done of you and your team then do them with a decent camera using a simple background and good lighting, or hire a local photographer to do it for you.
When you add photos to your website it’s important to add in Alt Tags to the photos. This is a description of your picture that you can add to the back end of a WordPress site and it means that your pictures are more likely to help you get found on Google, and it’s crucial for accessibility too.
You also need to make sure that your photos aren’t too large for your website so that it slows down the load time. You can use software to compress pictures such as WP Smush but it’s also sensible to size them properly before you upload them so that they are large enough to display properly but small enough that they don’t slow the site down.
If you want help with creating, finding, uploading or choosing images for your business then get in touch – we do it every day! We work with some great photographers based in Lancaster and beyond and we can help you to find great photography Lancaster and provide art direction should you need it as part of your new website project.
