The Power of Website Imagery!

In today’s tech savvy world, it’s no surprise that every organization needs to have a presence online. An engaging and visually appealing website will generate better customer traffic and create new business opportunities. As humans, our brains recognize images long before we start to read text. When it comes to designing successful websites it’s important … Continue reading “The Power of Website Imagery!”

In today’s tech savvy world, it’s no surprise that every organization needs to have a presence online. An engaging and visually appealing website will generate better customer traffic and create new business opportunities. As humans, our brains recognize images long before we start to read text. When it comes to designing successful websites it’s important to embed high quality images that will resonate with your viewers and showcase your brand. If the images on your site are of lower quality, people visiting your page many times consider your content as less credible and will leave your page if they are not engaged with your imagery and content.

In Saffire’s many years of designing websites, we have found that the best sites are the ones that utilize the power of simplicity, usually through photos.  Don’t let visual clutter disrupt the flow of your page. Select only the best photos to be displayed. Photos on a website are much like the saying, “It’s better to have four quarters than one hundred pennies”; keep your pages simple, engaging and beautiful.

There are four main elements to consider when it comes to good photography: Image Quality, Effectiveness, Message, User Response. 

 

Image Quality

A good photograph is a large photograph and will have colors that set the tone of the image, have lots of lighting, and a unique style to set the image’s mood.

Poor Quality Photo (2)

 

Effectiveness

The nature of good photography is shown through its composition. It can often be very subjective, but good composition turns ordinary scenes into eye-catching images.

Poor Quality Photo (3)

 

Message

The message behind good photography is the story you want to tell. When a photo’s intention or meaning is clearly presented, the image becomes much more appealing.

Poor Quality Photo (4)

 

User Response

Imagery helps you communicate thousands of words in seconds.  A good photo can potentially communicate all you want to say about your brand and encourage purchases. A recent survey by NewsCred states, “93% of people say that visual imagery is the #1 factor impacting purchasing decisions”.

Poor Quality Photo (6)

The tricky part about good photography is accessing it. Sometimes you do not have the budget to pay for outrageously priced professional photos, but still want the impact of good photography. Don’t fret, there are MANY FREE, high-quality images you can start using on your site today.

Examples of where to source your free and unlicensed images:

In short, when intriguing copy, dynamic design and great photography work together;  your event, venue or destination instantly becomes more credible. The visual sense dominates when it comes to purchasing. You cannot afford to have poor quality photos on your website.

 

In the News – 6/23/17

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY! How many vacation days are you taking off this summer? Did you know 42% of Americans are not taking a vacation this summer? Don’t let content marketing scare you. Here are 5 dead wrong misconceptions … Continue reading “In the News – 6/23/17”

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY!

How many vacation days are you taking off this summer? Did you know 42% of Americans are not taking a vacation this summer? Don’t let content marketing scare you. Here are 5 dead wrong misconceptions about content marketing. Also, read about how big brands can learn from the challenges of marketing a small town.

What’s Your Social Story?

Snapchat! Facebook! Instagram! Other than all being social platforms what do they have in common? “Stories!” Snapchat created the original Stories feature where users could upload snippets of their life and offered fun photo filters that would change your face, voice or background. In the past nine months, both Instagram and Facebook have released their … Continue reading “What’s Your Social Story?”

Snapchat! Facebook! Instagram! Other than all being social platforms what do they have in common? “Stories!” Snapchat created the original Stories feature where users could upload snippets of their life and offered fun photo filters that would change your face, voice or background. In the past nine months, both Instagram and Facebook have released their own Stories feature and it looks almost identical to Snapchat’s version.

Where should you tell your Story?

So now that the three big social media platforms have the same feature, which one should you use to tell your Story? Well first off, Facebook is seeing incredibly slow growth in utilization of the Story feature. Additionally, Facebook isn’t allowing Facebook Pages to create a Story yet, as this is currently only for individual profiles. We imagine this will be rolled out to Pages and advertisers sometime over the next year.

The advantage of Instagram Stories is that if you already have a maintained Instagram profile, you do not need to acquire new followers like with Snapchat – you have instant reach because of your existing followers. Additionally, Instagram Stories has surpassed Snapchat with the most daily users, with 50 million users using Stories!

Not surprisingly, there has been a significant decline in Snapchat usage and downloads since the launch of Instagram Stories. The functionality is just too similar. However, Snapchat has captured a much younger audience than Instagram, which is heavily used by Millennials that are starting to move into their thirties. Snapchat is still the perfect platform to capture this younger audience.

One of the great things about Stories is that you can save the video to your device from any of the three platforms, so there really is no reason to choose just one! Get out and make some great content and post it to Snapchat, save it and then upload it to Instagram Stories and finally head over to Facebook and upload your video to your Page’s timeline! Someday you should be able to upload directly to Facebook stories, but in the meantime, newsfeed videos are still very attention grabbing and successful.

As you know, video content is king, so get out that phone and start creating content!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the News – 6/9/17

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY! Been keeping up with the Visit Florida funding debate? Then check out this interesting column warning Florida to not repeat Colorado’s tourism marketing mistake. Remember when your organization would get exposure on … Continue reading “In the News – 6/9/17”

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY!

Been keeping up with the Visit Florida funding debate? Then check out this interesting column warning Florida to not repeat Colorado’s tourism marketing mistake. Remember when your organization would get exposure on Facebook for free? Those days are long gone, so be sure and read how Paid Ads Are Key to Making the Most Out of Facebook. Finally, check out the newest features coming out of Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.