Your website images are a way for visitors to discover your brand. These steps will ensure that your website’s images are relevant, high-quality, and useful to both new and returning users.
A good picture is worth 1,000 words. A good picture on the internet, however, seems to be worth 10,000 words. Images trigger an emotional and subconscious response that sets the tone of your website and determines whether visitors stay on your site.
Website design is dominated by images. a web design company will help you find the best images to create a user-friendly experience. Your website design can either support or detract from your brand’s messaging and message. The wrong images can cause a disconnect in your website’s design and create distrust among web visitors.
Here are five tips for using the best images on your website, from stock image licensing to custom photographers:
How to Choose the Best Images for Your Site
- High-quality images are always chosen
- Your brand should be authentic
- Be smart about using stock images
- Respect for image rights
- Concentrate on the most important web pages
1. Choose only high-quality images
High-quality images are important, regardless of whether you’re using stock images or your photos. You should always start with the largest image you can manage and reduce or crop it as necessary.
You can make a small image look blurry or grainy if you try to increase it. To keep your website looking great, choose images with large pixels and high resolution.
You will need a larger file size if you choose an image to use for the banner or hero section of your website.
Your web designer should prepare a style guide after a website project is completed. This will outline the colors and fonts that will be used on the site. The dimensions of the main banners and images are usually included in the style guide.
Images for the web are different from images for print material. Mobile responsive websites allow images and content to adapt to the screen size of the user’s device. This means that a poor-quality image will not look as good on large desktop screens with high resolution.
Because large images take too long to load, it is important to strike a balance between quality & resolution. Web designers and developers can optimize your images to improve performance while still maintaining beautiful images.
2. Be authentic to your brand
A skilled web designer will incorporate your branding in every aspect of your website design, including the color scheme and image selection.
Brand equity is built on consistency. Customers won’t recognize your brand when they see a new logo or mixed messages each time they encounter it.
Your web design should be consistent. It’s easy for web visitors to spot images that aren’t appropriate. Visitors can be distracted by images that aren’t in line with the design of the rest of your site and lose interest.
You should also be authentic when choosing images. If possible, include photos of your staff on the “About” page. These images are often viewed by web visitors as a sign that the business is trustworthy.
You should be careful with the images of physical products that you sell or display on your website. Customers expect the product images on the website to be identical to the products they have purchased. Stock images that do not match the actual product can cause customer dissatisfaction and even distrust of your brand.
3. Make sure to use stock images wisely
Although you may be hesitant to hear the term “stock photos”, the truth is that nearly all websites require some stock photos. There are ways to use stock photos in a professional, engaging manner on your website.
Think about what your product or service is before you start looking at free and paid stock images. It can be challenging to portray your product or service if it is abstracted, like consulting or biotechnology.
A skilled web designer may instead choose stock icons and illustrations for B2B website design. It’s best to choose a lifestyle image that isn’t too specific and add a design filter if stock images are required.
Although there are many free stock image sites, they tend to have smaller inventories and photos that are frequently used on multiple sites. You might consider investing in 5-10 paid stock images from professional sites such as Shutterstock, and Getty/iStock. Each site has millions of images and the quality is much better than the free images.
4. Respect image rights
It is important to ensure that you respect the image licensing and rights when selecting images for your website. It is not possible to search for images on Google and save them, then put them on your website. This would be considered a copyright violation.
If you wish to use images that you haven’t taken yourself, you will need to either purchase the rights or obtain permission from the photographer. Stock images are valuable because of this.
Already, stock image websites have negotiated licensing agreements for photographers. Make sure to understand the licensing options before downloading or using images.
There are two main licensing options: “royalty-free” and “rights managed.” A royalty-free image license allows you to download the image once and use it as many times as you wish.
A rights-managed license is usually more restrictive. It covers only certain uses for a specific time. You will most likely want the images to remain on your website for a very long time so royalty-free licensing is the best option.
Shutterstock and Getty Images are only to be used if purchased. For years, copyright lawyers and stock image companies have filed lawsuits against businesses and websites for the misuse of images.
5. Concentrate on the most important web pages
Your website’s home page is the most important page on your site. This page will be seen by the majority of visitors. The home page’s top section will determine whether a visitor stays on the site or goes elsewhere.
Web visitors will leave your site quickly if they see a poor-quality image or a grainy one as their first impression. This area of your website should be high-quality and have a video or image that is clear. You can also consult a web designer to make any adjustments.
You will typically upload a large image to the top of the hero image. Make sure to use a high-resolution, larger image.
Make sure to spend more time and money on the most important pages of your website, such as your homepage, About page, and Service pages. These pages have the potential to impact site engagement and conversions.
It’s common to make changes over time after your website is launched. Without the assistance of a Miami web designer, you should be careful about replacing the featured images and hero images on critical web pages.
Choose the best images for your website
Your website’s success depends on the quality of your images. Make sure to choose high-quality images that reflect your brand. Also, make sure to focus on the most important pages of your website.
