Why it is important to use quality images on your website
We as a species are exceptionally visual and will in general look first and ask questions later. Basically, this implies our brain will concentrate on the symbolism before pursuing the wording on a site. On a more natural level, our brain stores pictures in our long-term memory whilst the content is put away in our short-term memory. We process images much faster than we do words. It could be argued that words are fundamental to help clients find out more about your products or services, while also increasing the odds of indexing your website page positions in the search engines. More importantly, as your site has just a few fleeting seconds to establish the correct first impression, in general, images will tend to be the first thing they look at, and along these lines will be a key factor with respect as to whether they remain on your site or leave.
Signposts using Icons or Infographics
Great photography can be used in your website for many reasons. It can highlight your work, help to strengthen a point you wish to make or be used to make your clients emote. Another popular idea is to show a group photo of your team at your premises. This is a great way to show the individual side of your business to your potential clients. It humanises an otherwise faceless corporation and helps to encourage trust. Imagery is also vital from a perspective of convenience. A good website should also consider using icons or infographics. These can help guide a potential client to quickly and easily navigate to their chosen area of interest on the website.
Is your imagery up to scratch?
If you already have a website that was created by a professional web design agency then you should expect that the images have been appropriately chosen, optimised and cropped where necessary, as part of the everyday skillset of the web developers and graphics teams. Professional web designers should be suitably experienced to handle the content and imagery using software such as Adobe Photoshop or similar.
Things to consider when building your own website
However, if you’re responsible for your own website development, you need to make sure you’re following some basic guidelines to ensure the best browsing experience is created for your customers. Images should be carefully selected from a reputable source such as a good photographer or stock photography website. Ask yourself if it conveys the product or service that you want to sell in the minimum amount of time with maximum efficiency. Look at it from the customers' point of view, coming to your website and seeing it for the first time – not your own perspective – you have to climb into their shoes for a moment, so to speak.
What to Avoid
It goes without saying to never use an image that appears squashed or stretched. Your images should be optimised and resized correctly so that the page loads quickly but doesn’t suffer from a poorly over-optimised image. It’s a balance of trial and error that comes quickly to a professional working in this field on a day to day basis, but with a little patience and practice can become part of your own skillset. If you're using a few images on the same page, think of your alignment. If your mixing portrait and landscape images in your content, make sure they line up appropriately and follow a basic good sense of layout. There’s nothing worse than differently sized images looking like broken teeth on a webpage.
Using a Web Design Agency
If on the other hand, you have decided to place the creation of your new website in the hands of an official Web Design Agency, finding the right choice is the only thing left to worry about. Your page layout and functionality should be excellent. The difference between a professionally designed website and a DIY one can be staggering, and remember, the difference in the customer’s reaction in those first few seconds can be the difference between converting traffic to a sale, or potentially losing the customer altogether. At Blue Whale Media Ltd, you’ll be in safe hands with a choice of budgets and support packages to suit everyone.
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