Written by Michelle Bowen (Web Designer) and Lauren Zazzara (Web Writer)
Because the smartphone has made photography so accessible, many business owners consider taking their own photos for their websites. But unless you are a professional, we at NEXT! Ad Agency highly recommend that our clients hire photographers to take their photos for their websites!
Wondering why you should spend that extra cash? We have five reasons for you:
The Science Behind It
Our brains are visual organs! They respond best to visual information. In fact, according to Ernesto Olivares Visual Information, “Research at 3M Corporation concluded that we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.” Therefore, high-quality photos are important for viewers to take in, understand and engage with the information on your website, which can lead to higher conversion rates. Readers respond better to text broken up with beautiful visuals, rather than an overwhelming block of text!
Visual Content Marketing
Visual content marketing is a fancy term for using visuals to communicate your brand. Photography is key to an effective visual content marketing strategy, as it helps with brand association. Pairing your content with a photo will not only increase the effectiveness of your website’s content, but it will also give potential customers or clients a better idea of your brand’s vision, voice, and atmosphere. This helps you to stand out from your competitors, as well as encourages users to trust your business!
Photography and SEO
Having photography on your website creates a welcoming feel and adds interest, which creates a pleasant experience for the user. Great user experience encourages users to engage with your website, keeping them on your pages for longer. This contributes highly to your search engine ranking. High-resolution photos will be the difference between a user reading more and contacting you and a user closing out of the website.
Professional Photography Saves You Stress!
When you hire a company to take professional photos for you, it takes the stress of staging photos off your shoulders. It can be tough to get the right lighting, angles, people, and props together to create beautiful photos that accurately represent your business and are the right size for your website. A professional photographer will take care of all of that for you. They know the right sizes and layouts that work best!
Show Off Your Brand!
With photography, you get to brag. You can show off your awesome product lines, your flavorful dishes, your friendly team of experts…whatever it may be, using professional photography gives you a chance to highlight your business’s best parts. To do this, you should establish a vision with your photographer that represents and elevates your brand. You should share your company colors (including logo colors) and overall feeling or vibe of your brick and mortar with your photographer so they can keep a consistent theme with the photos. This theme should then be used throughout your website so that your logo, website colors, and photography all have a consistent theme. This way, you can use your new photos on other marketing materials as well!
Here are some tips to keep in mind if you’re hiring a photographer…
- Be sure to prepare and provide your photographer with everything they need to take the photos. This may include props, team members that need to be in the photos, the environment in which the photo shoot will take place, and any details on what you want to be included in the photos. This leads us to the next point…
- Be sure to communicate with your photographer. Kyle Roof, one of our Videographers at NEXT!, says “The best photos are a collaboration between the photographer and client. If you have a specific look in mind, feel free to reach out ahead of time so the photographer can prepare and plan. Feel free to make suggestions. Ultimately the photographer will know what will and won’t work, but will also be open to making it a group effort. The key is for all parties involved to come away happy! As a side note, if you’re receiving portraits, treat it just like picture day at school. Hair, makeup and dress should be clean and tidy.”
- Trust your photographer and web team. Just like you are the expert of your business, they are the experts in their field and they want you to be happy with your photos! Your photographer will take the shots that best represent your business and meet your goals. The web designer will use the photos that work best with the layout of your website. Their goal is to help you reach your business goals through online marketing.
Here are some great examples of websites that invested in photography services to improve the quality of their website:
Design and Remodeling Solutions
Photography is a worthy investment that we highly recommend for the health of your business and brand. For stress-free, expert photography that elevates your business, contact NEXT! Ad Agency today at 585-427-0020 (click to call)!
