Choosing Images for your Website
Good images can bring a dreary site to life, and can also make a good site look better and a bad site passable. Such is the power of images.
You should look to use images to help add visual appeal to the page, to enhance and enforce the messages in the text, and also where they are more appropriate than text (for instance where it is easier to convey information through a diagram).
You should never use images just for the sake of it or because you think a picture would look nice here - make sure there is a purpose to the images that you use.
Also be consistent with your images, and take the time to ensure that they are lined up nicely relative to the content, and if you have template pages then ensure that your images display consistently across your pages in each template. Also remember to ensure that your web designer uses 'alt' tags for the images so that text appears when the image is loading and for those who have images switched off in their browser.
Depending on the nature and size of your site, you may have a clear brand identity and imagery guidelines which you will need to follow. This may tell you the styles, colours and subject matter you should use for your images. If you are adding images to product pages, again there will be a clear steer - use the best quality and clearest image of the product you have available, and also consider close-ups where this would be useful (for instance to show pattern or detail on clothing that is not immediately visible on a more distant picture).
For pages that are informational and where you have no clear brand guidelines, then look to use an image that will support the message and is relevant to the page. For instance if you have a page on the telephony service you provide, then an obvious picture would be of someone on the telephone - rather than a picture of a goldfish bowl or something unrelated.
Next you need to think about the overall image of your site - so returning to the idea of having a picture of someone on the telegraph, should they be old/young/middle-aged and should they be dressed casually/business smart/very formally? Again this should reflect the image you want the site to portray and also reflect customers where possible - if they are all senior businesspeople then a more formal and serious image would be more appropriate. If you are targetting students then someone younger on the phone dressed casually can help you achieve the look and feel you want for the site.
Remember that in order to get the images you want (apart from specific product imagery) you may not need to resort to special photo shoots. For general images across a huge range of categories there are a range of websites where you can procure images for your site at very good rates. One of the most popular of these is istockphoto (at www.istockphoto.com), and if you require free images there is also a good library of these on offer at www.sxc.hu.
Once you have defined your strategy, structure, functionality and have your content and images ready, it's time to build your business website with all the functionality and features you require.
This guide to building a business ecommerce site is by Clarity Media Ltd
Quick Links
Researching the opportunity... Site strategy... Site structure... Interactivity... Ecommerce... Future proofing and updating... Creating content... Choosing images... Site build... Launch... Measuring success... Building traffic: free methods... Building traffic: paid methods... Onwards and upwards
Home page: building a business website guide
Quick Links
Researching the opportunity... Site strategy... Site structure... Interactivity... Ecommerce... Future proofing and updating... Creating content... Choosing images... Site build... Launch... Measuring success... Building traffic: free methods... Building traffic: paid methods... Onwards and upwards
Home page: building a business website guide
