Your website’s homepage is your digital calling card and certainly one of the most important touchpoints a lead can have with your brand. It’s only natural that you’ll need to invest as much of the resources you have at your disposal to make it look top-notch.
Furthermore, images are one of the most important aspects of every homepage. Humans are incredibly visual creatures, and images often speak louder than your homepage copy (no matter how well-written it might be), so the images you choose can determine your entire relationship with a visitor. Naturally, you want the odds always to be in your favor.
In this post, we’ll look at the value of using professional images on your homepage and how to choose them.
The Downside of Stock Images
A lot of websites, especially smaller ones, reach for stock images to feature on their homepage, as this is often the most affordable option.
Stock images can certainly be of very high quality and look incredibly professional. They can be sharp and perfectly in line with what you are trying to convey. Nevertheless, they still won’t be good enough.
Stock images pale in comparison with professional images because they can be used by anyone, which means there is a somewhat high likelihood that the images you use will be featured on another website. There goes your unique homepage.
Secondly, stock photos are made to appeal to a wider audience and to serve more than one purpose. This also makes them a poorer choice than original, professional images.
Professional Images Will Reflect Your Brand
Whatever it is you do as a business, your homepage needs to reflect your values and beliefs and what your brand stands for. The simplest and most straightforward way to do this is with your images.
They will be noticed first and will be able to convey emotions more completely than your homepage copy.
Not to mention, your images can show your products in action. The brand Runners Athletics, for example, uses a simple yet effective image on their homepage. It’s a photo of a person wearing their sunglasses. Making this photo won’t have taken up an insane amount of resources, yet the effect is spot on – it helps the brand stand out and etch itself in the minds of visitors.
Source: runnersathletics.com
Consistency and Lack Thereof
Another important aspect of homepage and website visuals to bear in mind is consistency. You want the images throughout your pages to be cohesive and tied together in some way. This can be the style of photography, the color story, the hues and shades you use, the illustrations you add. Think in terms of any element that provides some sense of uniformity and tells the user they are still on your website.
Best of all, this cohesion will help you stand out even further. Ahrefs does this exceptionally well – they’ve tied their entire online presence together with their choice of blue and their authentic illustrations.
Source: ahrefs.com
Personality and Personability
We’ve touched upon branding and standing out a fair bit, but it’s worth reinforcing the issue a little bit further.
By choosing to use branded professional images that are tailored to your website, you can express your personality much better than you ever could with a stock image or a poorly shot image from your phone.
For example, Somnifix has managed to convey all the personality and uniqueness of their product with a single image on their homepage. If you are able to achieve something similar, chances are you are going to stick in the minds of your visitors for longer than a mere couple of seconds.
Source: somnifix.com
How to Choose Your Homepage Images
Now that you understand the value of using professional images, let’s take a quick look at a couple of best practices:
- Ensure your images are sharp and that the main topic of the image is clear to see.
- Use a high-quality camera and lens to take them.
- Hire a professional photographer, or at least someone who has an eye for detail among your team. A lot will depend on the angle and positioning you choose for the photos.
- Make sure the images are as small as possible in terms of file size, without sacrificing the actual quality of the image. You can use a tool that will properly compress an image for you in just a couple of clicks.
Final Thoughts
Using professional images on your homepage is simply a must in today’s digital landscape. As more and more companies are reaching for digital marketing to promote their products and services, you need all the help you can get to stand out and attract the attention of your potential customers.
Investing time and money in these images will certainly demand a fair bit of effort, but you will notice that your investment pays off manifold.
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