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What You Need to Know About Website Images

Good images make you look good!

They will enhance your content, make it more engaging and give people a real feel for who you are and what you do. Most importantly, photos give people a quick way to judge whether you are the right person for them. So choose wisely!

Navigating the world of digital images can be a bit tricky. From finding the right photos to understanding file formats and optimizing for web use, there’s a lot of things to keep in mind. SO let’s look at some practical tips for sourcing images, the different formats you might encounter, and how to optimize your visuals for better performance on your website. Let’s get started!

The Great Image Hunt

You’re writing a blog post, and suddenly you need the perfect image. Cue the stock photo safari:

  1. Write an amazing blog post (go you!)
  2. Realise it needs a snazzy image
  3. Dive into the rabbit hole of stock photo websites
  4. Spend way too long debating between slightly different photos of people pointing at computers
  5. Find the perfect image… that costs more than your monthly coffee budget
  6. Settle for a less-than-ideal but cheaper option
  7. Upload and pretend you’re totally happy with your choice

Sound familiar? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there!

First rule: You can not use random photos off the internet!

You can not use Google to find images that are owned by somebody else. Super no, no! Other people’s images are protected by copyright, and there are legal consequences for using them without proper licensing or attribution. It undermines the integrity of your website. And you could be fined thousands of dollars.

Use reputable stock image websites

There are free ones available. I love Death to Stock, MorgueFile and Unsplash. If you have a budget, then IStock or Deposit Photos are a goldmine.

Create your own

Stock photos may seem like an easy solution for filling visual gaps on your website, but investing in custom images pays off in the long run. They will enhance your credibility, create a relatable and unique brand identity and help you just stand out. So grab that camera or hire a professional photographer—your website will thank you!

Image Formats: A Quick and Dirty Guide

Let’s break down the most common image formats you’ll encounter online:

JPG (or JPEG)

  • The all-rounder of the internet
  • Great for photographs
  • Loses some quality each time you save (so don’t overdo it!)

PNG

  • The superhero of transparency
  • Perfect for logos and graphics with clear edges
  • Larger file size than JPG, but better quality

GIF

  • The king of memes and simple animations
  • Limited colours, but small file size
  • Great for quick, looping animations

WebP

  • The new kid on the block
  • Smaller file sizes with good quality
  • Not supported by all browsers (yet), but gaining ground

Making Your Images Web-Friendly

  1. Size Matters: Keep large, high-quality images between 60K and 100K. Smaller images should be 30K or less.
  2. Alt Text is Your Friend: Always use alt text to describe your images. It’s good for accessibility and SEO!
  3. Optimize, Optimize, Optimize: Use tools like Photoshop, GIMP, or online options like PicMonkey or Pixlr to shrink your file sizes without losing too much quality.

Speed is Key

Remember, most people will wait about 3 seconds for a website to load on desktop, and 5 seconds on mobile. Don’t let chunky images slow you down!

Pro Tip: Thumbnails

Make your thumbnail file sizes as small as possible. They’re just appetizers – save the main course for when people click through!

The Bottom Line

Choosing and optimizing images for your website doesn’t have to be a headache. With a little know-how and the right tools, you can have a visually stunning site that loads faster than you can say “cheese!”

Remember, the perfect image is out there – and now you know how to make it shine online. Happy image hunting, folks!

P.S. Want to dive deeper into product photography? Check out this great article on how bad product photos might be costing you sales. It’s eye-opening stuff!

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Personal Branding: How Help Me Net Found It’s Feet

I was 6 months pregnant, dealing with hip dysplasia that left me barely mobile, and had a 2-year-old underfoot when someone asked me to build them a website. With my toddler off to childcare a couple of days a week and my limited mobility, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

It’s not a great origin story, as far as they go (except for the little bundle of mayhem and magic that sprung forth – the kid, not the business). But it is a very authentic one for most of us. You start where you are, with what you’ve got and you make the most of your unique talents and circumstances and see where it grows.

What I love about branding is that it gives you a persona – it’s a model of your best self that helps you live up to it. It’s not fake because it needs to be an extension of you. Branding elements encompass colour, look, feel, voice, logo, and images. They are the clothes you put on to show up. While it’s subjective, there’s a lot that goes into it – psychology, user experience. There’s really good branding, and there’s exceptionally poor branding resulting from poor decisions, lack of knowledge, or bad execution.

Here are a few pointers from the road

Throw away your first idea

When I started, I was convinced that a simple wire frame diamond would be a great symbol for my brand. It was all about precision, quality, and class. I had a graphic, and I thought it was going to be great. It really wasn’t. Diamonds are hard, cold, and elitist – I’ve never worn a diamond in my life. It in no way reflected me, my work, or the people I would be working for. It’s so common to have an idea, get excited about it, and then realise it doesn’t fit when you step back and think about it.

Instead of jumping into the first idea, have lots of them ideas. Write them down. Play with them. Try them on for size. There’s no shortage of ideas in the world. Evaluate each one from the outside before committing.

Find your hook and evolve it naturally

When developing your brand, start with where you are and remember that brands, products, and businesses all evolve.

Find a hook and grow it into a concept. For me, mountains became the perfect symbol – beautiful, calm, and serene, yet incredibly powerful. They have peaks and troughs, representing adventure. Plus, who doesn’t like pictures of mountains?

There were tons of allegories, similes, metaphors, and cool ideas that could be built upon for product names, processes, concepts, and storylines.

Don’t be rigid with your ideas

Let them percolate and see associations. Use resources like dictionaries, thesauruses, or Pinterest to gather ideas, information, and visuals to help your concept grow.

When seeking advice, be cautious

Friends and family may not be the best people to consult due to emotional investment or lack of understanding. Look for professionals whose work you admire and who are willing to work with you as partners, guiding you along the way while ensuring your voice is heard.

Remember, your business is your business. You don’t need to change something just because one person doesn’t like it. Instead, listen to multiple perspectives and look for patterns in feedback.

Start small with the basics – logo, color, and font

You can buy premade brand kits as an excellent first step, but be choosy. Your branding doesn’t have to be a big, expensive experience, but live it in everything you do.

When choosing fonts, make them readable and choose a pair that goes well together. Set the right tone and avoid overused or inappropriate fonts like Comic Sans unless your target audience is children. Consider special characters and choose high-quality fonts that display well on computers.

Don’t skimp on your logo design

A good starting point for a logo is $500-1000. If you want to start small, approach a good graphic designer whose work you admire. Have background information ready and inquire about their process.

Why so much? Because there are lots of things to consider and you want to ensure you get the right files in the right format that you need from the get go.

As your business evolves, be prepared to adjust your branding

Over nearly 4 years, my business has evolved tremendously. I now understand the market needs better and know my strengths more clearly. When looking to change things up, I go back and set my compass again. Through my brand’s evolution, I’ve moved from a typical web design site to a more wilderness-focused, people-centric approach. I realized that digital marketing, often fixated on technology, is actually all about people.

It’s as much about how you are in person as it is about what you do online

Develop your concepts and shape them to show your unique perspective. For me, that includes using grids to emphasize structure and add a distinctive look to my designs. Think about how you can stand out in a sea of similar visuals.

You can do much of this branding work yourself, but know when you need help. Your brand is an essential part of your business identity, so invest the time and effort to get it right.

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Stuck Sucks

Remember that time you broke up with what’s-their-name and you crawled under the covers and didn’t want to ever get up? Because you just couldn’t face anything and life from this point was just unimaginable.

You remember that, right?

But then you had to pee. Although you lay there uncomfortably for a good 15 minutes trying to think of ways to avoid that too.

It took every bit of willpower to get your butt out of that bed. And while you were emptying your bladder, you thought “ok, I should have some water.” And you toddle into the kitchen and you open the fridge and “Hey, I’m going to need snacks.”

Am I right?

Then, I’m guessing there is a 80% chance the couch was closer than your bed. So you sat down and there you were with liquid, food, and more comfortable than you were just 10 minutes before, being distracted by terrible television – because that’s all that seems to be on offer when you’re feeling shitty. And I know you know what I’m talking about.

So  what happened? What is the thing that got you out of that bed and got you back on track?

 You moved.

It wasn’t far. But it was enough and the next time was easier. And the next time and the time after that. Movement got you into the bathroom and into the kitchen and got you on with your life. Tiny steps. Moving forward. 

Actually, I’ve just done this right now – sitting down at the keyword, thoughts swirling, my fingers just hanging waiting for the right words. But I was stuck because I didn’t know how to start. Once those fingers were tapping, the ideas started flowing. I know you’ve felt this too – whether trying to write, or trying to decide, or trying to move forward or trying to change your life. You’re stuck. And stuck sucks. 

Oh I know about the suckiness of stuck – I used to be the Queen of Stuck. Stuck waiting, stuck, wanting, stuck not knowing, stuck with not enough, stuck. The only way I ever got out of it was by moving.

There will always be some stickiness because life is like that. But knowing a way to get out of it is gold.

You know what stuck feels like. It’s that heavy mix of doubt, anxiety, depression, overwhelm. Your body doesn’t want to move, you just wish someone threw a big duvet over you where you could hide until it’s all better. Unlikely to happen unless you have one of these– but wow, what a weight to carry around!

The only way to find out what you want, or what’s going to come next, or how to solve the problem is to do something. It’s to move. Movement is energy and the only way to go forward is through movement. No one got anywhere by just simply thinking about something. They had to move at some point. 

Because this is what movement does for you:

Movement helps you think

Movement makes you feel better

Fortune favours the bold

Movement is energy and people want to be around others with good energy.

Find out what excites you and follow it

Pretending nothing is wrong gets you nowhere

Because happiness is knowing what you want and feeling like you’re moving towards it.

Help Me Net? Because I have friends who are amazing at what they do, incredible talents. And they have big beautiful dreams that make the world better. But we all get stuck – overwhelmed, anxious, confused,  depressed, sad, or simply dont know what to do to make those dreams happen. I hate seeing people stuck. I’ve got some skills around content creation, business, marketing and technology that can help people get unstuck. I want to help people move forward. 

Help Me Net exists for one reason. It’s to get you unstuck. It’s about creating movement. It’s about opening up the possibilities and moving forward with consistent action. It’s about slaying overwhelm because getting your head out into the fresh air will help you see what you need to do. 

If you are stuck in your business and don’t know what to do next. Let’s take a walk together, get your head clear and work out how to move forward.

We can talk about who your customers are, what you do for them and how you do it.

We can talk about what a successful website looks like for you

We can talk about what your customers need to hear from you to Know, Like and Trust before they buy.

We can talk about how to work Facebook or Instagram.

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Digital Business in just 3 steps

Let’s get crystal clear.

You’ve spent a whole lot of time doing a lot of thinking and planning and reading and fretting and there’s just so much to this business stuff you’ve got overwhelmed.

Am I right?

That’s what a good guide does – make sure you’re prepped for the journey, and reminds you when things get a bit rocky that if you know where your feet are – you’ll be ok.

We’re human – we make stuff complicated. Sometimes we just have to strip everything back and look at the foundations. If you’ve got good foundations you can stand proud and true.

And If you’ve been in business for a while and you’re having trouble finding customers, then this is a great way to pull yourself back on track and find clients who will love to work with you. you may just be amazed by the results.

1. Set your compass

  • Work out:
    • Who you are
    • Who you can help
    • How you can help them

2. Build a basecamp for your online adventures

A solid and effective website to show people what you’ve got.

3. Tell the world

And that’s easier than you think with the whole range of technology at your disposal.

“It doesn’t need to be so complicated”

Want to work with me to get you there faster? Click here to see how Help Me Net can guide you

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Start here

Start here:

Answer me three questions:

Whose your ideal client?

What are their problems?

How exactly can you help them?

Don’t worry about anything else in your business until you can answer these three questions.

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