6 Ways to Use Photos and Images More Effectively on Your Business Website

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Digital Transformation Strategy (145-slide PowerPoint presentation). Digital Transformation is being embraced by organizations across most industries, as the role of technology shifts from being a business enabler to a business driver. This has only been accelerated by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Thus, to remain competitive and outcompete in today's fast paced, [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Customer-Centric Design (CCD), take a look at Flevy's Customer-Centric Design (CCD) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

A website without images is like a car without wheels; it still exists, but it’s fundamentally flawed and needs to be fixed.

Even if you’ve got graphic elements integrated with your site right now, there’s a high chance that there’s room to improve how you’re implementing them.

To that end, here are a few ways to avoid common website imagery snafus and make every page look great and load quickly.

Resize Your Images before Uploading Them

Lots of platforms let you upload images and alter them afterwards before you add them to pages. However, this is inefficient and leaves room for problems to arise. Aside from eating into your storage, uploading raw images also leaves the door open for unaltered versions to appear on live pages, which will sap performance significantly.

This is where carrying out image resizing prior to initial upload is essential. If you get into this good habit, you’ll save time and hassle in the long run.

Pay for Professional Snaps

The temptation to settle for stock images is significant, and in certain contexts it makes sense. However, when it comes to representing your business and its products in a unique and engaging way, it’s best to push the boat out by getting a professional photographer onboard to help out.

Hiring a pro to capture your company and its offerings is better than skimping and attempting to do it yourself with your smartphone. It also means that you’ll be giving customers and clients a clear vision of who you are and what you do, rather than feeling like a firm fronted by generic imagery which doesn’t set you apart from the pack.

Consider Your Brand Identity

It should go without saying, but if the images on your website aren’t aligned with the values and ethos of your brand, they need to be cut.

Building a strong brand is about understanding what makes your brand special, and identifying the expectations that your target audience will have. This means you must be consistent in everything you do, from the tone of your marketing copy to the types of pictures that appear on your website.

Integrate a CTA

Usually a call-to-action is talked about in the context of including this within the web copy itself. What you might not realize is that CTAs can also be embedded as part of images, or featured directly alongside them.

This works particularly well when showcasing a product in a photo, as you can provide visitors with a link to find out more about it, or even to buy it direct, so that there’s no separation between these two elements.

Give Imagery Room to Breathe

Even if your pictures are high quality, there’s a potential for them to be swamped by the other elements of the site design.

This will point to a wider problem with the layout of your interface, so it is advisable to consider the impact that images can have, and ensure that they are included in a way that doesn’t leave them overwhelmed and ignored. If you can’t handle this in-house, consider outsourcing.

Name Files Appropriately

There are many search engine optimization tactics which come together to make a website a success, and even the names you give to your image files matters in this context.

Be as descriptive as possible, and don’t use default, auto-generated titles, but change these before upload so that users can mouse-over images and get a sense of what is in the image in question.

All of this should allow you to revamp your approach to using images on your website, and the benefits will quickly become obvious.

Want to Achieve Excellence in Customer-Centric Design (CCD)?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Customer-Centric Design (CCD). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

In the modern Digital Age, advances in technology and communication, combined with the explosive growth in data information, have given rise to a more empowered global customer. Recent economic and political events highlight the need for organizations to understand how consumers view the world and the most important attributes for their purchasing decisions.

Thus, increasingly more organizations are seeking to invest and focus on Customer-centric Design. A clear understanding of customer needs and behaviors across the organization will help drive profitable growth strategies and provide the confidence to invest in opportunities at a time when staying within budget can be extremely difficult.

Learn about our Customer-Centric Design (CCD) Best Practice Frameworks here.