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With so many different tasks to handle on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget the importance of great pictures on your website.

Sure, stock photo libraries make it easy to find compelling photos for your site, and whatever you can’t find in a library, you can probably just shoot yourself, right? And there are some great photography portfolio websites that will definitely inspire you.

Chances are, you don’t have the time, equipment, or experience to produce great photography on your own, and there’s a laundry list of reasons why the important and often overlooked step of photography needs to be addressed.

Today, we’ll tackle the importance of great pictures for website use, and why it’s easier than you may think to get started today.

Visual Content Marketing and Great Pictures

Visual content marketing refers to all of the visual elements of your site. This includes graphics, photographs and any other visual elements that are part of your site.

Creating synergy between the different visual elements on a page are important ways for you to create lasting brand imagining, but it’s also important for another reason: the human brain.

In the 21st century, we’re bombarded with so much information that it’s often impossible to recall the things we learn on a daily basis. It’s estimated we only remember about 10% of what we read in text. But, when a photograph or visual accompanies that text, we’re able to remember 65%.

Focusing on visual content marketing not only helps create a lasting brand image; it also makes it easier for people to recall the information they saw on your site.

What Photography Means for SEO

Another critically important reason for you to have great pictures for website use is the SEO implications.

Great photography compels people to stick around your website longer. This signals Google that you’re providing a great user experience on your website, which in turn gives you an organic boost in search.

Hook Agency – Minneapolis SEO experts, use quality photography to improve their customer’s websites, search position, and user experience. Whether you’re an SEO newbie, or a seasoned pro, employing quality pictures for website use is a great way to impact your site’s SEO.

Consumer Trust

While this is especially important for businesses that sell physical products, everyone can earn a lesson in consumer trust when it comes to website photography.

A recent consumer survey discovered that a whopping 94% of survey participants consider image quality important in their product buying decisions.

That means that poorer quality images don’t inspire the same level of consumer trust that high-quality ones do.

Keep in mind that everything, from your products to your copy to your photography, has a profound impact on how consumers view your business. If higher quality images are going to inspire more consumer trust, it’s in your best interest to provide them.

Quality Photos Make Your Job Easier

Unless you have a photography or design background yourself, it’s easy to overlook the small details that go into what makes a good photo objectively good.

Things like the composition, cropping, and orientation of a photo have a major impact on the overall look of your site.

Working with a professional photographer helps to ensure that each element of the photograph is well composed and that the behind the scenes stuff like orientation and cropping is all designed to fit your website’s aesthetic seamlessly.

Nothing can derail an otherwise good website like poorly matched photography that’s warped, poorly cropped, or squished to fit the frame. Most importantly, these design and composition tasks are things your photographer will take care of for you, so you won’t have to worry about them at all.

Copyright Concerns

Perhaps the most compelling reason to own all the photography on your website is concerns over copyright.

Anyone who has tried to get by with photos they scraped together off the web can tell you; copyright law is comprehensive and difficult to understand. Even some fair use images come with requirements and concessions that makes understanding how you can and can’t use them difficult.

By having your photographs taken professionally, you’ll never run into the copyright issues that are common when using other people’s photographs, and you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing every aspect of your site belongs to you.

Guest Author