We are living in a visual age. In addition to the importance of technology in our home business, I think we also need to pay attention to how we are using pictures and images—and whether we are making the best use of the visual opportunities to promote our businesses.
Words are important too, of course. Many of us have learned how important it is to update the text on our web sites and make sure our content stays fresh. We also know that our marketing materials, e-mails, and other correspondence need to take into account this need for understandable and exciting text. Images and photos, however, are more important now than they have ever been. We need good quality images that help us to convey the message we are trying to send about our work.
You notice that I added “good quality” to my declaration? With the increased capabilities of technology, there has been an increased expectation that things will be crisp, clear, high resolution, and visual appealing. We cannot get away with fuzzy black and white images or low quality. As you look for ways to use images to enhance your marketing materials and your web site, make sure that you are taking quality into account and getting the highest quality images and photos for your purposes.
Images should be fresh and interesting but they also need to be accessible. Using images that are too “artsy” or too obscure may work for some specialty businesses but for most of us, we need those photos and images to enhance our web site or materials without causing too much of a distraction. Providing photos of yourself, your products or your business is a great way to tell the story of your business, but you can use other photos as well—they just need to make sense and be pertaining to the story you are trying to tell.
See Also: The PHOTOGRAPHY Blog