How to Choose the Right Photos for Your Small Business Website

As a small business owner, you know that first impressions are important. A chance meeting in an elevator can lead to new business if you exude positivity and competence. It’s the same idea with your small business website. You want it to showcase your business and inspire confidence in your business.
Did you know that the images on your website play a huge part in instilling that confidence? According to Stanford University’s Web Credibility research, 73% of website visitors base your business credibility on what your website looks like. And other research indicates 40% of consumers value images on a website more than other design elements.

So, what do you need to do to choose the right photos for your website? First, work with a firm that provides professional web design services. Second, follow these tips.

Choose High-Quality Images

This is important. Choose high-quality, high-resolution images for your website. No blurry photos allowed. That decreases your credibility immediately.
For header images, the photo must be at least 1024 pixels wide but ideally 2400 pixels wide by 1600 pixels height. Header images must be in Landscape orientation (horizontal). You should also select a header image where the focal point is in the center, and there is extra space at the top, bottom, left, and right side.
For internal pages, including Product pages and Portfolio pages, images can be either Landscape or Portrait orientation. They should be 600 pixels or higher.
For slide shows, the images should be 2500 pixels.
We will compress photos so that they will load quickly and not slow down your overall website speed. While we can crop photos to fit your website design, we cannot enlarge them past their original size. Doing that will decrease the quality and give the photo a stretched-out look.

Choose the Right Image File Type

For the most professional-looking and appealing website images, stick with the two main file types – JPGs (JPEG) and PNGs.
JPG files are the gold standard for website photographs. This file type does well with showing color and detail even when compressed.
PNG files are good for text-heavy images, info graphics, diagrams, some graphics, and logos.
Your web design team should be able to thoroughly explain these file types if you have questions.
Avoid Using Stock Photos
Your website is your chance to showcase your business products and services. So, show them. Don’t buy stock photos or use “free” photos that tons of other websites across the world are using. Be original. Show images of your products or before and after photos of your projects.
And try to include real people in your images. Smiles sell.
Consider Hiring a Photographer
If you’re working with a website design firm, they may have a photographer on staff, or can refer you to someone. By spending a little money on a photographer, you get high-quality images exclusive to your brand. Schedule an hour-long photo shoot with your employees on a job site. Then send them to get images of some of your projects. If you or an employee have a good quality camera and know how to use it, you can take some of the photos yourself.

Optimize Your Images for SEO

Every image on your website, whether it’s the header image, product image, blog image, or Portfolio image, it needs to be optimized for SEO. This may require you
to go through your Pictures file on your computer and rename images.
If you bulk-saved images, they likely have names with a bunch of letters and numbers that don’t reflect what the image is. You need to give each image file on your website a specific name.
Here’s an example. Rename an image of the inground pool and landscaping you just installed in Fallston from IMG_3038 to Inground Pool and Landscaping Installation 1. Make sure your SEO firm then creates image alt text for each image. If you already have a descriptive file name, this is easy. The image alt text may also include the geographic location or view of the image (aerial, side view, etc.)
By renaming your image files and giving them image alt text, you help search engines index your images along with your text content. Image alt text also helps visually impaired visitors to your website know what the images are.

By following these tips, you will help your web design company create the best-looking website that showcases your brand. A great-looking website that’s informative and easy to navigate will turn visitors into customers.

How to Choose the Right Photos for Your Small Business Website