How do you find the right website images and video to use to represent your firm? You should do this right from the start when you’re discussing making any changes to your website: include imagery in your very first strategy session!
You want your website to exude that WOW! feeling your clients have when they see the amazing results they get from working with you. It’s vital that you communicate to your web designer or developer why you want to use certain images and videos so they can understand the right mood and color palette to use throughout your site.
Watch this video to learn how to incorporate the RIGHT imagery on your website.
Questions? Send Robert a message!
Full Video Script
On a recent website project, my client was very clear that stock images of people were not their jam. They felt that stock images weren’t authentic to their culture. So we needed to talk about images that DO match their culture and their clients.
The client was right. When you are refreshing or designing your website, images matter. They create your first impression. They offer a mood and a color palette. They also communicate your brand difference.
Plus, you want to feel proud of your website and excited to share it.
Images include video. More and more websites have videos to grab interest and create movement on the page.
So where do you start when developing images and video for your website?
I always recommend a discussion of images as part of your website strategy session. Before the session, do some homework. Look at other websites and take notes about what you like and don’t like about them.
The websites you look at could be competitor sites or websites you just like. Your designer will want to understand why you like them. What colors and images give you positive feelings and trust. Which images do you dislike?
You should also talk about images of your team. These images will be for bios, career and community pages and contact images for your services pages. They should be professional and high resolution, so you may need to hire a photographer as part of your website process.
If you don’t want too many images of real people or stock people, then conceptual stock images can work. We often use modern images that can symbolize services or your brand. It helps you avoid boring or frequently used images.
Modern conceptual videos can represent an industry or a mood. Videos can also represent a core value or a result that you deliver.
The next step in the process is for your designer to introduce some images or videos as part of the web design. They could provide a mood board, a contact page or the actual image links to review. This helps you collaborate to finalize the design strategy before building out the website.
Selecting images and videos can be a subjective process, so have patience with each round of review. Taking the time to select the right images is worth it.
Let me know if you have questions about website design and video for your side.
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