| Utilizing photographs in your web design is very important to add visual interest, as well as factual information about your business service and/or product line. It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words; however, it is just as true that search engines cannot see photos, unless you imbed alt tags (alternative text attribute) in the HTML or XHTML code where the corresponding photo or other image appears.
Imbedding alt tags also serves additional purposes for the web site visitor. For example, alt tags can assist the hand-held device user or those users with disabilities that need to utilize screen readers. See our Web Accessibility section to learn more about the importance of making sure your site is accessible.
Here are some key items to remember when selecting or shooting photos for your web site:
- If you have a staff page, provide enough lead time to your staff to prepare to have their photos taken. It is suggested that the photos be: (1) taken in a well lighted area, (2) using a standard background, and (3) be headshots only, with a standardized distance between the subject and the photographer, as often staff photos are taken on the run and do not look consistent.
- If your business operates year round and seasonal changes are an important factor, for example, a New England Bed and Breakfast, you may consider hiring a local professional photographer who will be able to take great photos on the fly. For example, he/she will be able to capture your property after a fresh snowfall or be able to capture peak foliage shots on the perfect day.
- Remember to save your photographs in jpg (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format. Other common formats are GIF and TIFF. The best advice is to save them to a disc or email them to Webconsuls for use on your site, remembering to give the photos a descriptive name, not just “photo 1, etc”.
- If the professional photographer wants photo credit or has copyrighted© the photos, then be sure to provide this information to us.
- If you purchase stock photos from other sources, like Getty Images, be sure to keep a record of the purchase and a copy of the License Agreement. Note: Webconsuls will not use any photos in a web design project, unless we receive proof of ownership for the photos in question.
- Remember, unlike print media, your website can be “refreshed” with new images very quickly, don’t be afraid to contact us if you have new and better photos.
- Digital photos are great to use in your blog, as well as video clips.
Finally, photography is something that everyone enjoys and the more engaging your photos are the more visually stimulating your site becomes. Digital photos can also be tagged and uploaded to social network sites, used to produce promotional video to use on your website and/or to upload to social network sites. |
