Complete Guide to your Website Images

The images you pick for your new website can significantly influence the way visitors perceive it. Continue reading to learn the details of what makes a good website image as well as how to obtain and distribute images for your website.

The design and feel of your website are greatly influenced by the photos you use. But, it can be very challenging to determine what qualities a photo should have for your website or where to find the photographs that will have the desired effect on your audience.

This guide will provide you the clarity to select the right images for your website, ensuring that it has a stunning visual impact from the very first click.

What defines an effective web image?

When a client asks what images they need to give, of course, that’s a tough issue to answer!

Later in this article, we’ll go into a bit more detail on how to identify or capture the correct picture, but to get started, we’ll talk about the technical prerequisites we need from you.

orientation

Although it frequently goes unnoticed, it is always preferable to supply landscape rather than portrait photographs.

This is due to the fact that many of the images used for the web pages are actually more letterbox-style, filling the width of the screen without going too far down the web page.

If all you have to work with is a portrait shot, you just have a very little portion of space to deal with. That form is quite simple to construct from a landscape photo.

See what I mean by looking at these samples.

See how the usable area on the landscape image is significantly larger than on the portrait image.

Hence, if you’re sending pictures to your designer, include as many landscape images as you can. In some situations, portrait images may be useful, but while it’s simple to turn a landscape photo into a portrait, it’s far more difficult to do the opposite.

Focus

When choosing an image for your website, consider where the focal point is supposed to be.

There are enormous headings with text over them on many websites. If you are included a picture in one of these spaces, be sure that the image’s primary subject will not be covered by the text.

Quality and size

For image sizing the rule is: bigger is better! The larger the file size, the better because your designer can compress it as necessary for use on various devices.

Again, it’s simple to reduce the size of a huge file, but it’s hard to increase the size of a smaller file, so supply the highest-quality images, you can and leave the compression to your designer.

style

Choosing an image style just because you like it can be detrimental. Your designer will help you choose a look that will appeal to your target market and work well with the rest of the design.

Your designer will be able to provide you with guidelines on the types of images they require, including a list of necessary shots, what and who should be in them, and the right approach.

They’ll probably utilize stock photographs as templates, and you may use those as a reference to help you decide what kind of image to get for each blank space on the website.

Where to get pictures for your website

Before you start collecting images, you need to agree with your designer on what type of images will be used on your website. They will provide guidelines that will be specific to the needs of your site. 

Professional photography

Hiring a professional is the simplest way to get the right website photos. Hiring a photographer can rapidly pay for itself, and you’ll get access to a library of images that you can use on your website, in brochures, ads, and on social media.

Many individuals attempt to take their own photos using a phone or camera, and although they can produce some decent pictures, there’s no comparison to what a skilled photographer can produce.

Lighting and composition are factors that a pro will be able to control. They will be aware of how to take natural-looking pictures of you that don’t appear staged.

They’ll be able to capture a wide variety of pictures that will provide your designer with a decent selection of suitable images to choose from because they’ll have experience producing the perfect kind of image.

Of course, the drawback is that hiring a photographer is expensive. But, it is strongly advised that you include this expense in your website design budget because a picture really does speak a thousand words.

Stock images

In some circumstances, your only alternative may be to use stock photographs for your website.

Normally, it’s best to let your designer select what they think will work best in these situations, but if you opt to acquire stock photos on your own, make sure you’re picking the proper kinds of pictures.

Licensing is the main issue with stock pictures. Many people don’t know what images they can use on their websites and believe that if they find an image on Google, they can use it for nothing.

This is NOT the case, and you must comply with licensing and copyright requirements when using any photos.

A designer will assume that if you submit them an image you have the legal right to use it because they have no way of knowing whether the images you send them are licensed or not. This may even be included in the contract you sign with your designer!

There are many websites devoted to this service that will provide explicit licensing details for each image before you download it. Look at a few of the examples below for ideas.

• Canva
• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Unsplash

Your team photos

Your team images are some of the hardest photos to get. There are some pretty typical dangers with these.

To start, it’s not uncommon for people to strongly state that they dislike taking pictures and are unwilling to participate. That’s acceptable if you’re content that they don’t really need to be on the website, but if they’re a relevant face for your business, obtaining that profile picture is crucial.

Never allow your staff to upload their own images. You’ll wind up with a chaotic collection of styles, many of which were taken with phones, were of bad quality, or just looked unprofessional.

Some people enjoy having a style photo shoot and getting adventurous with their staff photos. This can help you stand out – but remember, any time you have a new employee that needs to go on the site, you’ll need to produce a similar photo.

To ensure uniformity and consistency, it should be you who captures the team images for the website. Your team page will appear professional and everyone’s profiles will be uniform in this way.

Hiring a photographer to take care of the team shots for you is one of the greatest methods to avoid the issues mentioned above. They’ll have experience getting a natural shot from even the most uncooperative person, creating a look for your profile pictures that’s quite simple to replicate, and reflecting the philosophy of your business and the aesthetic of your website.

Organizing and sharing your photos

Organizing and sharing your photos

The next step is to share the website images with your designer.

It’s essential to send imagery to your designer as soon as possible so they can review the work and let you know if they need any further instructions from you regarding what goes where.

Naming and SEO

It’s a good idea to ensure that your image file names accurately reflect the content they represent. However, when it comes to SEO, creating descriptive file names becomes essential.

Typically, a file might be labeled as “IMG_34567.jpg” or something similar, which doesn’t contribute positively to search engines.

To enhance your SEO value, consider changing the default file name. This adjustment helps search engines comprehend your images, ultimately boosting your SEO.

Keep in mind that image naming isn’t about overloading with keywords to improve rankings. Keep image names brief, focusing on your main keyword for optimal results.

Alt text, also known as a text alternative to images, plays a crucial role in helping search engines understand your image content. Ensure the Alt text accurately reflects the image.

Defining the image’s content is essential for both users and search engines to comprehend it better. The more relevant information an image provides, the more significant it becomes to search engines.

Crafting quality Alt text adds to your SEO value. Additionally, incorporating appropriate keywords into images contributes to higher search engine rankings.

Follow these simple guidelines for using alt attributes:

• Describe your images using straightforward language, similar to your image file names.
• Keep the Alt text brief yet informative.
• Be creative but avoid excessive keyword stuffing in your alt attributes.

conclusion

Now, you should be able to handle some of the trickier problems with finding the ideal photographs for your website.

Nonetheless, the basic rule is to always consult your designer if you’re unsure. They will be more than happy to walk you through this because they are aware of what is required for your website.

The website imagery actually sets the tone for the entire design and aids in showcasing your company’s brand.

Get in contact with me if you’re ready to begin a project and want a designer that will assist you in selecting your photographs. I’d love to hear from you!

Interested in further understanding and improving your website? You may like my popular article, ‘50 Questions you Need to Answer before Building your Website‘. 🧡