They say a picture can tell a thousand words—and—they're not kidding! We are visual creatures and are drawn to attractive things by nature.
The way your website functions, and the copy (text) that is on it is important, but it's the "high quality" images that grab peoples' attention.
In this day and age where we expected an answer to our question five seconds ago—and decided to stay or leave a website we were browsing within 10-20 seconds of visiting—image quality matters.
"High quality" images have a couple of key components:
- The professional aspect; and
- The resolution.
In regards to the professional aspect of the images displayed on your website:
Do your images display your company's mission, values and goals? Does each image communicate and deliver its intended message? If your dog walking business displays a picture of a visually appealing hockey stick, what is it's purpose? If the picture is there with a brief write-up on how the dog walking business donates to a local kids hockey team—then—the image works. If it's there on the pure fact that it is a "cool" picture, then it leads to confusion. Images that have a purpose are essential in being considered "high quality".
In regards to the resolution of your images.
Visually appealing images wouldn't complete the "high quality" label without them also being high-resolution. High-resolution is determined by the size of the image. A picture taken on a phone and placed on your website to span the width of the site will not display properly on a large desktop screen. It will look blurry, distorted and cheap due to the fact that the image is too small. Which is why the resolution of your image is vital to be considered "high quality".
So how do you get these "high quality" images?
A professional photographer is a great investment for images on your website, if not a camera that takes high-resolution images paired with an image editing software like Photoshop is a close second (I include this in my Website Design Package). And, if you have no other options, stock images are a good temporary fix.
You can find stock images in Adobe Stock, Shutterstock and Pixabay (free) to name a few.
But why do I say that stock images are a temporary fix? Because they don't really display your business's personality. People enjoy authenticity. Stock images are far from it.
An example of why "high quality" matters for website conversions:
I was browsing a business's website a while back and saw that the website was covered in stock images that were not purchased. How did I figure this out? Because they still had the "Getty Images" watermark on them. What did I think about this business after less than one minute of browsing? Unprofessional. Did I contact this business? No. Why? Would you want to contact a business you deemed unprofessional for the "job" at hand?
Images help act as the voice of your business. They're able to provide you with the opportunity to shorten the copy (text) on your website. They're able to direct people to what they are looking for quickly. And, they are able to help build a sense of trust in your company.
Images are integral to a successful website that creates conversions and should never be overlooked.