Reasons to take care on your Website Photography

Website photography is not always the top priority for website owners however, it is worth understanding the benefits of taking care over your website photography...

1. Increase website engagement

The statistics are everywhere that images increase engagement in online content. The increased engagement is pretty impressive too. In terms of social media, photographs have proven to be the holy grail of engagement which was why twitter moved to include embedded images on timelines back in 2013. On Facebook, images are shared more than 80% more than other types of content according to emarketer.com. These statistics though really just confirm what publishers have known for years before the digital age took over. 

2. Enhance your website communication

The idea that an image is worth a thousand words has been around for hundreds of years. For example, the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote (in Fathers and Sons in 1861), "The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book." It's this fundamental idea which can be harnessed to best communicate your brand in the fastest possible time. It's estimated that a website has under four seconds to engage a site visitor and either get a click through to another page within the site or to lose them. It's essential that images, design, and text all work together to acheive this.

3. Reinforce your company brand

Images define your brand more quickly and immediately than any other element of your website. This can be seen clearly for our clients, The Outdoor Room. As soon as you land on their website, you know they are a landscape design company and the full screen images use the whole screen to show you exactly the kind of work you can expect from them. The images are sharp, well lit with great image composition and the image content shows incredibly impressive architectural elements in top quality landscaped gardens.

All the images suggest a top level professional company with incredible attention to detail.  In contrast, this garden landscaping company's images communicate a very different type of garden landscape design company. The images show small domestic gardens which suggests the customer they are targetting. However, it's a shame that the images are very blurry on large monitors which suggests a company who doesn't give as much attention to detail and isn't as professional.

Simply uploading the right sized images would make a big difference so they're not blurry on larger monitors. Employing a professional design company can help to guard against simple errors like this which can have a negative impact on your Company and the impression you are giving. The design and images work together to create either a professional or an amateur impression of your Company. If you're a professional company asking for money for your services, then it's always worth spending some of that money on a professionally designed website. The Outdoor Room have a budget not just for their website design but also for their website photography.

4. Increase conversions

For eCommerce websites where you want customers to buy the products showcased on your website, then the images become even more important.  If you walked into a shoe shop with all the shoes locked away or where the sales assistant showed you instead a blurry image, would you hand over your money to the sales assistant to buy the goods unseen? This is effectively what hundreds of retailers are doing when they don't provide clear sharp well lit images of their products. Better is to show a variety of angles of the product in order that a customer can see as clearly as possible what they are buying. 

Can we help? 

So, we've established that website photography is a key part of your website success in enhancing trust in your business, brand and products, in turn helping conversions. What now? It can be hard to find the time to reassess your website photography or even find a photographer. If you'd like a free website audit on your use of photography, click here and for further information about web photography services, see Khoo Systems Web Services.