Use Pictures to Support Your Text
Describe your subject or business first, then accompany your description with a photo
You may find that you have the tendency to do the opposite.
We all like to put pictures on our website and then use a few words to justify their presence. But this is exactly what we need to avoid.
Don't let photos detract from what is truly important:
The answers to your readers questions. Pictures can lead to misunderstanding when not used appropriately.
Let your text decide your choice of image
Too often we begin with a picture, and build our text around the photo.
Avoid building the content of your site around images.
It can be better to shoot, organize and place photos on your site only after you have finished writing the text, so that you know what content they will be illustrating.
For more information on how to use photos:
Visit our page on blocks in our Tools Guide
There are of course times when the image is the subject
- When you want to show the detail of a hotel room.
- On a product oriented page.
- If your site is about photography.
When they say a picture is worth a thousand words,
these are your reader's words, not your words.
Attractive pictures placed near important information can distract readers from your message
Consider this: You have five pictures of beautiful flowers in your garden next to a very small piece of text. Your visitors see the flowers, appreciate their beauty, and perhaps decide to visit your garden. They will have missed the text warning them that the flowers in your photo are highly poisonous.
This is an extreme example, but it gets across the idea that readers can place far more importance on photos than you would sometimes like them to.
The lesson is to use photos sparingly, to accurately illustrate your subject.
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Now that you have clearly organized and well illustrated pages, it is time to
think about how your reader will move from one page to another.
How to Add Images to Your Site
