Simply put, because you have to. If you want your brand to be taken seriously, you need your website to look polished and professional. You won’t be able to achieve that if you don’t have professional brand photographs.
GIVE THE RIGHT IMPRESSION
I’ve worked with hundreds of business owners and creative professionals wanting to build an online presence. Over the years I have seen the impact of professional photos in making websites give customers the right impression. Professional images encourage confidence and trust in you, and they create a brand that is instantly recognizable from your very own visual style.
Quick tip: work with your photographer to make sure the color palette and overall vibe in the images are consistent with your brand. Don’t go for dark moody photos if that’s not aligned with your brand message.
BUILD TRUST
People are far more likely to work with those whom they trust. The ultimate goal is to make it inviting for people to invest in you, and they won’t do that unless they know you. So show yourself, let people know that there is a real person behind the brand.
Quick tip: show your personality. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not, or people will see through it. The point is to be authentic to yourself. And yes, I really do wear pearls all the time, and my wardrobe consists of black, white, and pink.
SHOWCASE YOUR WORK
There is not much a web designer can do if your photos are awful. Remember that the purpose of your website is to showcase what you can do, not what your web designer can do. You need great images that are worthy of your work, and shows it off in the best way possible.
Quick tip: if you have a service-based business, it’s a little trickier to photograph, so show photos of yourself using your tools instead (iPad pro, camera, colour swatches).
INCREASE SALES
Good photography not just enhances your website’s look – it also drives sales. They give your products a ‘buy me, you know you want to’ kind of look. Plus, they make your images shareable on social media – further increasing your reach.
I am so proud of so many of my clients who realized how important brand photos are, and hired professional photographers to help them out. I’ve listed some of my favorites here:
Let it be said that a professional photographer isn’t just one who has ‘a good camera’. The difference between a professional and an amateur isn’t just talent, or equipment, or skills; it’s all of them combined, plus experience. You are not just paying for their time, or their ‘nice camera’, you are also paying for thousands of hours of practice to reach their level of expertise — all of which you benefit from when you hire them. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
(The same can be said of designers, come to think of it.)
My own brand photos are by the talented Carli of http://silkandsaltimages.com/. We chose the beautiful Raffles Hotel for the photoshoot, which is so quintessentially Singapore, and is one of my most loved places of all time! If I could live there, I would.
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