Not only textual content can be found on websites, but also pictorial content. Pictures, photos on the website
Whatever your business, pictorial illustrations are part of communication, so it’s worth emphasizing the use of lifelike, entrepreneurial images when designing a website.
Our image content can be diverse. We will now take a look at the most common sources for obtaining images.
Stock photos:
- advantage: cheap and legal
- downside: not really authentic, cliché
There are websites where you can buy photos for a few dollars, from a legal source, using them freely. You can find the most relevant photos on these websites with a free word search. Photographers from all over the world upload photos so that anyone can use them legally for a small amount. This way, you can offer a simple and fast solution even when creating a website. This is called Stock Photos. That are, pictures that are not made for you / about you, but if you fit in with your business, you can use them for a few pounds.
The advantages are therefore favourable price and legal use. The downside, however, is that anyone else can use the same photo if they buy it, and every stock photo shows that it’s not really about our business, it’s not taken in our microenvironment. I am thinking here of a handshake photo with skyscrapers in the background, or a choice made on a construction site with yellow headgear typical of contractors, let’s admit that the usual website visitor does not have a micro-environmental image, which hinders trust. That is why I have classified the images on the website here, among the costs of creating the website.
My photos taken with my mobile phone:
- advantage: high level of trust, because of authentic photos and also does not cost money
- disadvantage: the quality or composition is not always appropriate, possibly amateurish
Your own photos always work much better on a website than stock photos. Even if it’s just pictures taken with a mobile phone. A gardening reference, an exterior or interior image of a factory building, a photograph of a vehicle, or construction phases or references can be solved with this method. In some cases, cell phone photos can work perfectly on websites, so they can be used effectively during website creation. And the cost of creating a website is NOT increased. This is so great if you have the time and energy for it. Yeah, we’re here again, or you do it or you pay and someone else does it for you.
However, this method should not be used for product photography for webshops or food photography for restaurants. For these purposes, you already need special lighting, noiseless, perfect photos.
Own photos with the help of a professional photographer:
- advantage: authentic images, high level of trust, the product or service sells itself
- Disadvantage: not free
Your own professional photos are the perfect and demanding solution. Why? Because the photographer also pays attention to things you may not be able to pay attention to when taking photos. The photographer will watch the whole composition, i.e. he will pack a trash can or empty bottles in the background, he will photograph the product, building, vehicle, from the best angle, at the best distance and in the best lighting. This way, these photos will work much better on the website. He sees this at idle, and you’ll notice it when you’re already looking at the photos you’ve taken on your laptop in the evening and you’re annoyed that you can start all over again the next day. Images taken by the photographer will not be noisy but will be needle sharp. The colours will vibrate, and by choosing the right lens, the subject will appear in the photo in the most impressive way.
By photographing buildings or hotel rooms with an extra wide-angle lens, we can portray larger, more imposing ones in a way that we don’t lie. We can show the products to the visitors in perfect detail using the right lighting technique.
It is not worth saving on this, an image photo or product photo should be included in the website creation prices.
Uploading the content of the website, ie placing it on the website
Here is another factor that can certainly affect the cost of creating a website. It needs to be clarified whether the price includes uploading the content to the website, or if the website development company undertakes to do so if required. If there is an administrative interface to the website, you can upload the text you write to the website, but if you still entrust the uploading of the first content to a professional, will the website creator upload it to the website, and if so, for what fee?
These are not always covered in the offer, which is why it is necessary to clarify what is included in the price and what is not included in it! Do you get instruction on how to use the administration interface, or are just a user manual pdf file pressed into your face? Requests of this kind can significantly affect the prices of website development in retrospect!
So find out with your chosen website builder what their position is on uploading content and what the options are?
This way, uploading the content of the website is not a time-consuming task, but it is uploaded by a professional, tastefully and professionally, in a fraction of the time it would cost you.
If the website has an administrative interface (this should be basic now), then you can also upload the content, texts and images intended for the website, the question is whether this training is included in the price of creating the website, and it is worth mentioning that is the administration interface is in English or in an other preferred language? Not everyone copes well with the English language, especially in an area that is unknown to him, even in his native language.
The other issue is that if you don’t have time to upload content, you can trust the website builder with it, but it should be your choice and there should be no compulsion at all.
