Get your Images Right!

Images have such a huge impact on your website but this can get a bit overlooked in the whole content planning process. Plonking in any old image or "this will do" just doesn't cut it - and can be damaging your brand ie how people feel about you and your business.

Our brains process images almost 60,000x faster than text - crikey! and are usually the first thing any of us see when we visit a website. So it's super important to take the time to get it right.

Images are the visual representation of your brand identity and you and your business will be judged (rightly or wrongly) by the images you put on your website. Every image you chose needs to be "on brand"

Here's a couple of examples;

If your brand is quirky, fun and interesting - your images should be too

If your brand is reliable, professional, family-focused - your images should be too

So before you think about your first photo - make sure you are clear on your brand and what look and feel you want to communicate to potential clients

Inviting, relevant, high-quality, optimised and strategic images on your website are there to improve  the overall user experience and move website visitors toward taking action

What to choose?

Be purposeful with your photo choices. Think about your audience, how you want them to feel when they come to your website and how you want to be perceived. Do you want to be seen as fun, interesting and innovative or professional, trustworthy and detail-focused? Choose photos that reflect this.

eCommerce Images

If you sell products your images can be the difference between a customer purchasing or not purchasing. Every product image counts.

This doesn’t mean you need to go out and hire a professional photographer (although a great option if you have the budget) You can work wonders with a Lightbox and a phone!

For your featured image - keep these consistent with background and product sizing the same for a unified appealing look. Weird-shaped images are distracting. Bev from Cats and Dogs has done an awesome job making sure all her images look consistent and professional - which is reflective of the quality of their products and service https://catsanddogs.co.nz/shop/

For web pages

Be intentional, be cohesive and don’t overdo it. Busy & cluttered pages are off-putting and have the opposite effect of what you are actually wanting to achieve - overwhelmed site visitors are LESS likely to buy or book with you.

Think about

• What space does the image need to fill?
• What job does it need to do?
• How does it support the content of the page - keep it relevant
• Striking a healthy balance of content to image on each page.
• Does it attract or distract?

Where to find images for your website?

There are many really great resources out there with thousands of awesome images available for free download!

Here are some of our fav's

• Unsplash
• Rawpixel
• Pixabay
• Pexles
• Istock

And TrueStock is awesome for diverse and authentic New Zealand images.

NOTE: Use stock images with caution - make sure they are not overused on other sites and check their licensing around copyright

Take them yourself!

Yes you CAN use your phone photos BUT they still need to be high quality, relevant and optimised. Make sure you check your backgrounds (no laundry hiding in the corner!).

Hire a photographer

Yes, it's an investment but yes it's an investment! If you are your product - ie you are a coach or similar service provider then we highly recommend getting professional shots. These can be used through all your marketing materials and just make your brand look a lot more professional.

Make sure you brief your photographer on the type of images you want ( brand) and where they are going to go ( website) as well as how they will be used ( marketing)

Remember to optimise your images!

This means checking the image file size and resizing to fit the space.

It also means stripping out (compressing)the metadata hidden within the image which can significantly reduce your website speed. These days, people don’t wait more than a few seconds for a site to load before they click off it - so make sure yours does!

Resizing and compressing images is super easy, just plop them into ImageResizer or TinyJPEG and upload the smaller file size to your website - this does not reduce the image quality! Just takes out the ‘background noise’ of the image.

In summary, your website images matter as much as the text and the design. They are all there to attract and convert new clients and customers - so take the time to get it right, results will be worth it.

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