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What to Consider when Using Photos in Your Web Site Design

Your website’s images play an important role in attracting and engaging visitors. The right images can significantly improve your web site design and offer visitors a visual experience they won’t forget.

Many of today’s websites use large, high resolution photos in their design. You don’t have to be a photographer or own a photography studio to use photos in your site. Photos add a certain degree of authenticity to any website, and make it easier for visitors to relate to your site and what you have to offer.

Quality and Format

The website for Ringle39 shows off their yachts using high quality photos.

Professional-looking, clear, and vivid photos are always the best choices for web design. They need to be formatted and compressed properly so they won’t appear blurred or pixelated and will not slow down your website’s loading time. The ideal formats for photos are JPEG and PNG.

Color and Contrast

The website for The Paper Mill uses photos of their food and restaurant as background images.

When using photos as the background for your website’s main content, they have to be in the right color and should contrast with the text or content you intend to place on top of it.

Relevance and Purpose

What purpose do your website’s photos serve aside from providing interesting visuals? Do you need to show off your products or work portfolio, or provide a tour of your establishment? Knowing what the purpose of your photos is helps you figure out what to use in your custom web site design.

CDH Partners uses great photos to showcase their architecture, engineering, and interior design work.

Some of the common uses for photos include:

  • Illustration – Photos can help illustrate concepts and ideas expressed in text content.
  • E-Commerce/Product Marketing – 67% of online consumers say that product photos are “very important” to their decision-making process. Using the right photos can help convince them that your products or services are worth paying for.
  • Branding – Your website’s photos can show off your brand’s unique personality, qualities, and mission.

Visual and Emotional Appeal

Focusing too much on relevance in a literal sense can make you choose photos that look boring and cliché. Consider your target market and their taste before deciding on what images to use in your website’s design. The photos you chose should make them curious about your products or services, appeal to their emotions, and eventually convince them to act on your calls-to-action.

Vintage Hope is a china-rental company that donates 100% of their hire fees to a children’s home in Malawi. They use photos to appeal to their visitors’ emotions and get them to care about their cause.

Photos can turn a good website into a great one. Contact us if you want to start working with an SEO and web site design company that creates beautiful websites that provide memorable user experiences.

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