Picture perfect – choosing the best images for your new website

Nowadays, websites have to make a visual impact if they’re going to keep visitors’ attention and generate interest. Clearly, imagery is an essential part of a website’s visual appeal; as such, when developing a new website, the question of imagery should be considered as early as possible in the process.

Think about your brand

The kind of imagery you use should be guided by your firm’s brand. If you already have a strong brand, backed up by a range of marketing collateral, then the answer to this question is simple. Using the same or similar imagery on your website will ensure that your brand remains consistent across your new site and your existing marketing materials.

On the other hand, many firms are starting from scratch when they commission a new website. Smaller companies often don’t have a strong brand identity, so building a new site might provide them with an an opportunity to think seriously about imagery or branding. Other firms might be looking to develop a new website as part of an overhaul of their brand. In both cases, the selection of imagery requires a bit more consideration.

Choosing your images

While there are no clear rights and wrongs when choosing your images, you should obviously select ones that say something about you as a firm and reflect how you want others to view you. They should also adhere to a theme that works consistently across the site. The themes you can choose from are endless; however, some are more popular than others. Many financial services firms, for example, will opt for images of the City skyline and buildings. Below, we’ve provided a very limited list of some other popular choices, although of course the options are endless:

• Aspirational (images of yachts, cars, families on holiday, social gatherings, etc.)
• Corporate (professionals in suits, board meetings, glass offices, corporate buildings, etc.)
• Buildings and architecture (for example a city skyline, skyscrapers, recognisable landmarks, etc.)
• People and families

On the other hand, thinking outside the box and not opting for the same choices as lots of other companies will help your website to stand out from the crowd. For example, a more unique theme could be based on photographs of the local area in which your firm is based.

With all your images, you should ensure that they’re of a high enough resolution for use on your website (as well as other marketing collateral such as brochures, posters and exhibition stands). You also need to consider the dimensions of the space you’ll need each image to fit into. For example, website (or ‘hero’) banners are long and thin, so certain images wouldn’t be appropriate. If you are unsure about which images to use, we’d be happy to assist, and have the experience and in-house design skills to help you.

Image libraries

With visual content now fundamental to online success, consumer demand for imagery has skyrocketed in recent years, and online image libraries are now more popular than ever. Sites such as Getty Images, iStock and Shutterstock offer subscription services at various price points depending on your needs, enabling either you or your marketing agency to download high-quality, high-resolution images for your website and marketing collateral. Some libraries are even free, although their range tends to be limited.

These libraries now have highly advanced search facilities, helping you to narrow down what you’re looking for from the thousands, or even millions, of available options. Sometimes, an image might come as part of a wider collection, which is useful when you’re looking to create a theme for your website.

There are a few downsides to using image libraries, however. Remember that the images you select are also available to thousands of other subscribers, so there’s no guarantee that your site or marketing materials will be the only ones to use them. If you’re looking to minimise the chance that your chosen images will feature on lots of other websites, you could subscribe to a premium level service that will be used by fewer people, making it less likely that the images you select will be in widespread use.

Image licensing

Furthermore, it’s important to be aware that the rules relating to the use of library images are complicated. When you download an image as part of a subscription service, you’re not normally purchasing the image outright; you’re purchasing a license to use that image in a certain way. The terms will vary from library to library and will depend on the license you’ve purchased. Therefore, you should always check the terms of the license before you download, because using an image in a way not covered by the license can incur hefty fines.

Some firms might be tempted to source images from Google to avoid paying out for a library subscription, but this isn’t a good idea. Added to the fact that they’re usually of a very low quality and unsuitable for use on a website, you shouldn’t just assume that images from Google are free to use – you may end up paying a very high price for using a ‘free’ image on your website without the correct permissions.

Do-it-yourself

Some firms may choose to take their own photographs, or design their own infographics or icons, because they have a very specific idea of what they want and might not be able to find anything suitable in image libraries. Of course, creating your own imagery also means that it will be unique, and there will be no conditions attached to its use. This can be expensive, however, because it involves paying out for a professional photographer or designer if you do not have these skills in-house. Of course, it is possible to take photographs yourself, but a professional photographer will have the experience, skill and equipment needed to produce high-quality images, with proper lighting and at a high enough resolution not only to use on your website, but also on larger print items.

By Chloe Wingate