When it comes to website development, many business owners are so focused on the technical side of things that they forget the aesthetics. While the layout, verbiage, code, and functionality are equally important, a website with well-executed aesthetics will make visitors stick around.
One of the most important aspects of any website is the visual design. (First impressions for the win!!!) This is where the beautify of photography comes into play. Professional photography can take your website’s template from ultra generic to an eye-catching masterpiece. Photography is truly the easy go-to essential for creating a visually appealing and memorable website and overall online presence. Just imagine your website visitors loving the look of your website SO MUCH that they decide to really have a look around???
You’re already thinking about all the positive effects this is having for our business, right!?
Let’s explore the many beneficial roles of photography in website design and web performance!
Why Professional Photographs are Important to a Visually Appealing Website:
- Professional photographs make a website look polished, professional, and credible.
- Professional photographs convey your brand’s message, values, and personality.
- Professional photographs create an emotional connection with your website visitors.
- Professional photographs create a sense of trust, enticing your website visitors to engage with your website and take action.
- A visually appealing website increases the amount of time visitors spend on your website, which improves your search engine rankings.
The Role of Professional Photography in *SEO and User Experience:
- Professional photography improves your website’s SEO by making it more engaging for visitors and increasing the amount of time they spend on your site.
- Photos that are relevant to your website’s content and *keyword-rich descriptions will improve search engine rankings.
- Interesting photographs can improve user experience by providing a visual break from text and by making the website more interesting and engaging.
Why Custom Photography is Better than Stock Imagery:
- Stock images are often overused, which can make your website look generic and unoriginal. Custom photographs can make your website stand out and be more memorable.
- Custom photographs are tailored to your specific brand, message and aesthetic, which makes your website more authentic and relatable to your target audience. This can be particularly important for businesses in niche industries or that have specific products or services.
- Custom photographs are often more relevant to the keywords that you’re trying to rank for. And because your photographs are unique to only your website, they are less likely to be used by other websites, which can also help to improve your search engine rankings.
- Stock images may not always be legal to use, while custom photographs are commissioned specifically for your website and eliminates any legal misunderstandings.
How to Optimize Your Photography Files for Web Performance:
- *Compress Files: Large photo files slow down your website and make it difficult for your website visitors to load your webpages. Compressing files before incorporating them on your website will drastically reduce the file size and ensure your website loads faster.
- Use the Best File Formats: JPEGs (.jpg or .jpeg) are best for photographs and other images with many colors, while PNGs (.png) are better for images with transparent backgrounds or graphics.
- Optimize Photographs for the Web: The resolution for photos on the web should be 72 by *DPI / *PPI (Dots Per Inch / Pixels Per Inch) to ensure that your photos will look great on any device.
- Use *ALT Tags: When your photographs are used on your website, it is important to use descriptive ALT tags which tell the search engines what the photo is about for indexing purposes.
Collaborating with a Professional Photographer with Your Website in Mind:
- Research Professional Photographers: Look for a photographer who has experience in commercial and corporate photography and who is familiar with website design (You found one right here – that’s me, Kelly Heck!).
- Communicate Your Vision: Before your private photo shoot, it is important to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with the photographs visually. Brainstorm your vision with your photographer to further expand upon your ideas!
- Communicate Technical Needs: Many website designs have sections where a specific image ratio will work best, such as horizontal / landscape vs. vertical / portrait vs. panoramic. Some website designs also have layering, so being aware of leaving negative space to the left or right or top or bottom of a photograph may really make your design pop! Before your photo shoot, get specific about any of your possible technical needs.
- Specify Photo Sizes & Resolutions: Any custom image sizes and resolutions needed specifically for your website should be handled by your web professionals. But make sure your photographer provides the quality file output that meets the web team’s design needs.
Working with a professional photographer to create unique photographs is an essential component of any eye-catching website design. We can all agree that a visually appealing online presence is more likely to engage visitors, and the benefits include:
- Increased Brand Awareness
- Improved Search Engine Rankings
- Increased Visitor-to-Customer Conversion Rates
- Increased Return Website Visitors
- Better User Experience
- Increased Trust & Credibility
- Increased Social Media Shares
- Increased Email Subscribers
- Increased Customer Loyalty
- Increased Referral Business
By working with a professional photographer who understands your brand and goals, you can ensure that your photographs are tailored to your specific needs. This can help you stand out from your competition and provide a better user experience for your website visitors.
If you’re looking for a commercial and corporate photographer in Central Maryland, please trust that I would love to help you achieve your vision. and goals. Contact Kelly Heck Photography HERE.
GLOSSARY
ALT Tag – An ALT Tag is alternative text in HTML code for a visual element on a web page, such as a graphic, photograph, or video. The ALT Tag acts as a description of the visual element to which it is attached. The ALT Tag is used for search engine indexing as well as for visually impaired website users who need the alt tag to explain the purpose of the image.
Compress – Image compression is a process applied to a photo file to minimize its size in bytes without degrading quality below an acceptable threshold. By reducing the file size, more files can be stored in a given amount of memory space, and therefore files can be uploaded / downloaded faster.
DPI (dots per inch) – DPI refers to the number of printed dots contained within one inch of an image printed by a printer.
Keywords – Keywords are individual words and short phrases used to define what your content is about for search engine indexing. Summarize everything on a single webpage (verbiage, photos, graphics, video,, etc.) down to specific words and phrases to compile your primary keywords.
PPI (pixels per inch) – PPI refers to the number of pixels contained within one inch of an image displayed on a computer monitor.
SEO (search engine optimization) – SEO is the process of making your website more visible to search engines like Google.
