Best Practices for Using Images and Photographs in Your Online Business

Adding photos to your website content can nearly double the number of visitors who see it. If you're not using photos in your content, you're missing out on a tremendous potential to boost engagement, attract a larger audience, and increase conversions.

Images must be carefully selected and of excellent quality, and they must bring actual value to your text. They should be pleasing to the eye, relevant to your industry, and appropriate for your company. Images are handy for transforming your material from boring to engaging & injecting a new spirit in your presented content.

The suggestions below will help you in selecting the best image for your business. 

 

• Make some inquiries

 

After you've chosen photographs/images that are a good fit for your business, do some more research before you make a final decision. Make sure no couple of users are going with the same picture. If you're using stock photography, chances are your competitors are as well. Don't come across as a plagiarist.

Your competitors do not use a comparable image. Within an industry, there will always be some similarities, but your photos should emphasize what sets your business apart. There's no reason you and your nearest competitor should both be running commercials showcasing men on boats unless you sell boats. Find something more unique than your customers can relate to.

 

• Post photos and videos that are unique and interesting

 

Posting original and fascinating photos and videos on photo-sharing sites will attract viewers and friends. People want images that are attractive, unusual, kind, cute, or educational, therefore that's what you should provide. 

It’s not a must to be a professional photographer to take good photos, but you do need to know what you're doing. Before uploading any of your photos that include people, make sure you receive formal permission from them.

 

• Make your website SEO-friendly.

 

Invest your time to optimize each and every image you upload, whether you have a blog, an online business, or just a standard website that you want to improve with high-quality photographs.

First, double-check that the photographs are in acceptable shape. Then, by ensuring that the image file is named correctly so that they are easily indexed by search engines.

 

• Is an image is Copyrighted or not?

 

Unless you know otherwise, always presume that an image is copyrighted. Be aware that if you use copyrighted images without permission, you risk being sued by the owner. It's not true that just because an image appears in a Google search that it's free to use. Copyright is expected to cover the vast majority of photos on the internet.

It doesn't matter if it bears a copyright symbol or not. Even without a copyright sign, digital photos typically contain hidden metadata that proves who owns them.

 

• Examine the image license.

 

Always check the picture license when employing photos for your online business. If you opt to use an image from the web, ensure the image is free to use for commercial purposes.  Go to stock image websites to purchase photos to verify that you have the necessary permissions to use the image in your marketing campaign.

 

• Make use of Reverse Image Search

 

There are numerous image search facilities available on the internet. These websites all feature a database of photographs that may be searched using keywords, tags, or topics.

There are several resources that you can use to determine who created an image, such as reverse image search, Tineye, Bing, and other image search utilities. These utilities offer plenty of benefits for users, few of those are; finds out who owns the image, checks for Plagiarism in Images, finding an image with a high resolution, detecting an Image's Object, searches a Backlink Opportunity & last but not least hunts for similar Images in a Variety of Aspects. If you have a slight doubt, you could always take your own product images to safeguard your company from lawsuits. You have the option of taking your own photos or hiring someone to do it for you. 

Conclusion:

It's not enough to have well-written information on your website; you also need outstanding visuals to accompany it. Google is a fantastic resource for a lot of things, but locating photographs that you may use legally on your website is not one of them.

The greatest shots are those that are original and relevant to your business, but there are various free and paid choices available if you don't want to take your own photos or can't afford a photographer.

Always make sure you have the copyright owner's permission before using any photos on your website, and don't assume it's good to use if it doesn't contain a copyright sign.