Three Useful Tips on Choosing Images for Your Website

Every now and then, a new website pops up and creates greater competition in the marketplace. A professional website does not only feature the best design practices but also considers the quality of the images. Since people process visual content 60,000 times faster than text, adding high quality images can help decide visitors to stay on your website or not.

Images invoke specific emotions that complement a website’s content. As a small business, it is important that your website reflects your mission and offerings. Click this link. Consider these three tips to transform your website, drive traffic, increase conversions, and attract the audience your business wants.

  1. Use high quality images. The images on your business website communicate different messages to your audience. High quality ones allow them to make educated decisions about the value of your site. Thus, it is important that you spend equal time and effort on both content and images. They offer your audience a sense of your business and the level of professionalism they can expect from you.High quality images do not only make your website look good, they also uphold you company to a certain business standard. They emphasize your products and services, as well as bring them to life. Keep in mind that your customers can notice the difference between average and professional images. Give them a reason to believe in your company by adding professional images.
  2. Choose images that relate to your business. Make sure that your images add relevant value to your business website. They should speak to your products and services, and the business industry you are part of. Your viewers will get a true sense of your business and the people behind it.Images help create a holistic representation of your brand. Use them to convey what your content cannot. Their logical combination with text showcases your entire business well and adds to the chances of your viewers to respond.
  3. Make sure your images are optimized for mobile. Skewed images and slow load times are two of the main reasons why visitors abandon a business website. According to studies, 40 percent of people abandon a website when it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Guarantee great user experience by optimizing your images for desktop and mobile.

 Today, customers have many ways to access your website. Make sure your images pop up quickly and clearly across multiple devices. Choose clear and impactful images that are not too complex at smaller sizes. Also, make sure that their proportions and sizes are correct. If your business site features large images, find the largest pixel dimension and don’t exceed that.

Majority of users decide if they want to stay on your business website or not within the first 20 seconds of viewing. To make your visitors remain, let your images do the talking. Use high quality images that relate to your business and make sure that they are optimized for both desktop and mobile. Keep in mind that images present a powerful opportunity to drive visitors to your site. By integrating them to your website strategy, you are opening the door of your business to sale opportunities.

Corbis Motion and Getty Images Stock Footage

corbis-motion-logoCorbis Motion and Getty Images stock footage – You are probably thinking about a burst of premium videos. Well, you are right! With VCGs acquisition of Corbis Motion and its merge with Getty, the world’s leading stock media agency has once again ensured its top spot in the industry. Creative professionals from broadcasting, advertising, brands and other companies now have more than enough choices to complete their projects.

Since May 2, 2016, Corbis Motion is no longer accessible to its members, read more. Thus, they are all invited to enjoy the expanded benefits at Getty Images instead. Why is Corbis shutting down? Well, the stock site is not really shutting down. It has only found a new home for its content. All significant stock footages, images and other assets are migrated to Getty. The transition was completed during the summer. If you are looking for Corbis content, you should visit GI from now on.

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You will no longer have access to your Corbis account, nor will you have access to your previous Corbis activities on Getty Images. If you are a GI user, you should use your account to browse through stock footages, images and other assets. If you do not have a Getty account, no worries. Corbis automatically created an account at Getty for you, using your Corbis account email address. Of course, you need to request your new password to ensure security.

Not all Corbis content will be migrated to Getty Images. Only the most popular Corbis Motion, Corbis Images, and Veer assets will be available at GI’s collection. Many of the stock media agency’s partners will also be available as separate collections. So now, you can access BBC Motion, Walt Disney, National Geographic and other media companies at Getty. Because of this, you will be using GI’s buying options to purchase and download Corbis content, too.

Now, Getty Images has over 200 million content in its library. Aside from the more comprehensive and diverse collection, it will now be easier and faster for you to find the stock footage you need. You can use Ultrapacks to get discounts on bulk purchases or buy a stock footage a la carte, whichever fits your creative needs and budget. To find Corbis content in the stock site, check out this collections:

  • Bettmann
  • Contour
  • Contour Style
  • Corbis Entertainment
  • Corbis Historical
  • Corbis News
  • Corbis Premium Historical
  • Corbis Sports
  • Sygma
  • Sygma Premium
  • Corbis
  • Corbis Documentary
  • Corbis Video

What can you get from Corbis Motion and Getty Images stock footage merger? Well, you can get plenty of benefits. You will have a more complete and unprecedented offering, the convenience of having all the highest quality content in one place, and getting Corbis content with pricing that fits all budget levels. That’s right! Thanks to Getty’s Ultrapacks and coupon codes, you can now purchase and download Corbis content without going beyond your budget.

The Cons of Cheap Stock Footage

A picture is worth a thousand words they say. Imagine what a video is worth. A video can explain in a few seconds or minutes what it takes a paragraph or an entire article to imply. It has the power to elicit emotions and reactions from the audiences. When you’re creating a video, it needs to feel authentic. You can shoot the entire video yourself or make use of cheap stock footage. Whatever you decide to do, consider time, savings, effort, creativity, and your audience. Connecting with them and getting them to take action is what matters most.

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While cheap stock footage can help you achieve a strong video, it also has some serious disadvantages which includes:

  • It can be pricey, too. Compared to conducting your own shoot, buying cheap stock footage is a lot cheaper. But, it can be pretty pricey, too – especially if you are getting the highest resolution. Many stock sites offer video clips for various purposes. Footage for web is cheaper compared to its standard definition and high definition counterparts. 4K videos are the most expensive, which can range from 180 to 280 dollars. That bill can add up if you are looking to get more stock footage.
  • It can be too clichéd. Cheap stock footage represents general ideas, increasing the risk to cliché videos. There are a number of footage in the market, giving you a lot of choices. The most requested footage are streets shots and business meetings. If you want to create an amazing videos, do not settle for overly staged shots. Look for a footage that feels real and authentic.
  • Different scenes can be difficult to find. With cheap stock footage, you may feel that you are stuck with what you find. You can be searching for different scenes, but you will only get similar results. For instance, when you search for an office scene, you may see the same buildings and cities over and over again. If you want something specific, stock footage is not the best option for you. You should probably shoot the scene yourself.
  • It may not blend with the rest of your video. Luckily, there is a solution to this – color grading, color correcting and other post-production editing techniques. Using cheap stock video is not an easy task. You have the match the footage to the rest of the video in order to create a consistent look.

Using cheap stock footage has its own pros and cons. It can help you save time and money on travel, equipment and talent, but it might also get your story lost in translation. Fortunately, these pros can be easily resolved by post-production strategies. By doing so, you will still be able to attract your audience and get them to take action while saving time, money and effort.