If you are a current customer, feel free to take advantage of our online support system available 24/7 to view, manage and submit support tickets.
Support SystemAre you ready to talk to one of our specialists to discuss next steps for growing your business. Schedule an appointment below.
Request MeetingWhen it comes to your website, online marketing, and social media, visual content is quickly becoming a leading aspect to promoting your business, your products, and the work you do. So how do you decide between original photos and stock photography? Here are 3 reasons why we feel original photos are almost always a better option.
A quick search can show you that there are over 91,700,000 options that show up when you search "Stock Photography" on Google. How many people have time to go searching through all of them to find a specific photo? How long would it take to find "professional woman, smiling, looking over an office?" Or "Happy programmer working with teammates?" With that many options to scroll through, it's easy to say it's far more time than most people want to invest. When you're building or updating your website, you don't want to search through pages upon pages of photos trying to find just the right photo which has the appropriate content, matches the culture of your office, and doesn’t look completely staged. Especially if you can't find what you want at all in the end -- then all of the time you spent (or paid someone else to spend) was wasted.
It could be a bit awkward or embarrassing to find the stock photos you use on a competitors’ website. Your team spent significant time finding these photos, but now that photo and message is linked with someone else as well. The problem here is twofold.
According to the Nielson Norman Group, "Users largely ignore photos that are irrelevant to the purpose of the site.” What does this mean for photography on your site? If you’re using stock photography just for visual appeal, your visitors are likely skimming right over it. Thus, the images are likely not driving value for your site. Instead, custom photography can showcase specific products and business atmosphere relevant to your site and your visitors. Your visitors will be much more interested in photography that serves a purpose. Custom photography can establish an authentic brand image for your website and marketing materials.
With these three reasons in mind, it’s clear that original photos are better and more ideal than stock photos in our opinion. Customized photos will not only show off your company at its best, but you can also guarantee they will be yours and yours alone to utilize however you choose (website design, brochures, training manuals, etc.).
However, we do understand and respect that utilizing stock photos can sometimes be unavoidable. If you do find that you need to use a few stock images, try to avoid these types of images:
If you're interested in learn more about our product and commercial photography services, please contact us today.
Ben has possessed a passion for technology since a very young age. He was always enamored with the newest gadget and software packages. At age 11, Ben began learning about website design and constructed his own website. By age 13, he had designed and published his first website for a corporate client. As Ben grew both in skill and experience, he found a recurring theme that small businesses' needs were not being met with affordable technology and marketing solutions.
In response to that opportunity, Ben founded Igniting Business LLC to meet his clients' growing needs. Igniting Business, with offices in Columbia, MO and Lee's Summit, MO, is dedicated to helping businesses become more effective and efficient by implementing cost-saving and revenue generating tech and marketing systems. Igniting Business was created to provide affordable Web Design, IT Services, and Marketing to the small business market. Ben has built both his career and his company around helping small businesses succeed.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.ignitingbusiness.com/