The Official Wix Blog

How To Choose Images For Your Website

Posted by The Wix Team | November 8th 2011

Choosing images is definitely one of the most fun and difficult tasks in creating a website. Different websites need different images for different reasons. You might need photos that convey atmosphere or you might be using photos as part of your marketing or sales strategy. Either way, there are some common ground rules that are true for almost every kind of website, and this short guide covers them all.

Technical Quality

 

The easiest criteria to follow is the technical one: you must make sure that the images on your site are high-quality. Blurry, grainy or smudged are simply out of the question.

Low quality images are not only unpleasant to view, they also leave an impression of an amateur operation, and that’s the last thing you want people to associate with your website.

Another important technical spec  is that images should be at least medium-sized if not larger (not smaller than 300 pixels width or length).

BUT! Even though you should use images of good quality and medium+ size, for the sake of your site’s loading time you should try to reduce the file size, especially if your site has many images. Here are few great tips for enhancing image quality  for you Wix website.

 

Photos for the Business

If your site is a business website for a product or a service, you need to choose images that can effectively promote your business.

When marketing products, use a separate photo for each product. Don’t cram your entire line of products into a group photo.

Products look best on a simple white background. You may find it helpful to use images from different angles to show your product in all its glory.

When promoting a service, you can use images that capture the action – delivering packages, fixing a car, sewing clothes, etc. – or images that present the result – a steaming meal, a decorated event hall, a unique hair style, etc.

Being a service provider, sometimes using your own photo (in the “About” section of your site) is not a bad idea. In that case, a friendly but simple portrait will do the trick. To add spice, you can use a photo of yourself with an accessory that symbolizes your business (construction hat, apron, camera, tape measure and so on).

Stock Photos

Generic images that illustrate a situation are extremely helpful when creating a website. They save you time and money, and are usually of very good quality.

Since stock images are created to fit as many scenarios as possible, they might appear too general or even completely irrelevant. You can avoid this by following these tips:

• When searching for the right stock photo, try being specific and don’t use keywords that are too general like “people” or “food”.
• Are you trying to look vintage? Are parents your main target market? Is your site designed in a minimalist style? Choose the image that doesn’t only display the right situation, but also the right mood and atmosphere.
• Don’t try to be extra sophisticated. The images should be clearly connected to the site’s content.

For an easy start, check out our guide on where to find niche or category-based stock photos.  

Most Importantly – Use Images!

Too often we come across sites that have very few or no images in them. In almost all cases, this is bad for the site’s design and bad for the user experience.

Images are not only a pretty topping. They are a marketing tool, they enrich the site’s content, and they create confidence for the visitors that your site is not a hoax.

This doesn’t mean that you should drown your site in photos, paintings and illustrations. Just be sure to keep images as one of the priorities when you’re creating your site.

Tagged with: Web Design . Web Design Tips