Images communicate, draw attention and create interest. Images can keep people on your website if chosen correctly or lead people to leave your website.
When choosing images for your website, it is important to choose images that are high quality, relevant, aligned with your brand, aesthetically pleasing and attention grabbing.
So where can you get great images? Here are 5 ways we get images for lwolf.com.
1. Paid Stock Images
Websites like Shutterstock sell images that are able to be used on your websites and marketing materials. The benefit of getting images on commercial pay-to-use websites like Shutterstock is that these websites often have many high-resolution images to choose from. However, be careful to not get images that are overused or look ‘stocky’. If you go on Shutterstock and search ‘real estate technology’, you’ll probably see a lot of familiar images. Be creative! Choose images that will keep your audience interested.
2. Free Commercial Use Images
At lwolf.com/blog we love using free commercial use websites like Unsplash to get images. There are many other free to use websites like Creative Commons, Google Image Free to Reuse Search Engine or flickr. Images from sites like Unsplash feel less ‘stocky’ and have great unique photos that can help you stand apart from your competitors. When using images from these sites, make sure to double check the terms of use of each individual image. Some images may not allow modification while others may require attribution to the owner of the image.
3. Social Media
Social websites like twitter, Facebook and Instagram give us instant access to photos taken by our friends and family. Although I don’t recommend actively looking for photos through social media platforms, there’s no harm in keeping an eye out for good images! If you find an image on social media that you would like to use for your brokerage, contact the person who posted the image and inquire about who took the image, who owns the image and who is in the image. Before using the image, make sure all parties are willing to allow you to use the image commercially for your brokerage.
4. Call a Photographer!
Professional photographers can capture your brokerage’s special qualities while not compromising on the quality your images. Although hiring photographers to provide you with images can save you some time, photographers will likely be more expensive than purchasing stock images online.
5. Your Own Photos
If you have a talented photographer on your team, leverage their talents! Taking your own photos is a great way to give real insight into what your company is like while saving the cost of stock images or a professional photographer. The downside of taking your own photos is that amateur photos can look cheap if not done right and take more time than finding images online.
Be creative and have fun in choosing images for your website! However, don’t rush it. While the wrong photos can lead to legal repercussions and a loss of business, the right photos can help make your website a lead generation machine.
Ideas taken from James Harris' Blog 'Where Can I Find Images To Use For My Website?'.
