Pictures for your Web site

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words

It should be said the right picture is worth 1,000 words, but some are not worth much! Let’s find out what the difference is.

Look at the picture of the kid kissing the dad, with grandma smiling and watching it happen. What do you think is the origin of this picture? What web page is it from? What are the 1,000 words?

Study the picture for a minute and guess what it’s about before you read any further. We’ll cover what exactly a good picture is – then reveal the answers.

Pictures should show and inspire emotions

But it has to be the emotions of the customer, not your emotions. We frequently see people putting up pictures of their paintball field because they are proud of it.  And they should be!  They spent hours of work, building  barricades and stacking tires. But to someone who did not have that time and sweat in the project, it looks like a bunch of old tires. It tells the story of hundreds of hours of work to the owner, but that message does not translate to the customer.

And the same is true in axe facilities

Yes, you are proud of your place, but boards on a wall with a lot of splinters does not scream “I’m fun.”

Normally axes are associated with… well.. Axe Murderers.

So, how do we make it fun?

Don't Show Empty Spaces

The two spaces below are of the same facility. And both are nice, but there is something about having people that helps. It shows that other people go there. They must think it’s fun. An empty location might convey to a customer that it’s so boring no one shows up! So, get some pictures that include people! Compare these pics below with and without people.

Let's See those Smiles!

There is a part of the brain that is reserved for recognizing faces and facial expressions.  If you see a smile, it’s almost natural to smile back! Smiling people make you feel happy! So, if you are showing paintball people, have them lift their masks. If showing axe throwers, don’t show the back of their heads, show their faces and smiles.

Size and Quality

Most web pages are built with a resolution width of 1,920 pixels.  If you right click on an image, and check the image info, it will give you the sizing. If it’s a picture you want to go all the way across the page, it should be  about 2,000 pixels.  If the picture covers about half the page, around 1,000 pixels wide will work.  For a 1/4 size image, then 500 pixels will suffice.

When in doubt, send us a larger image, and we can size it down.

Remember that picture from above?

We asked you to guess what they are selling. It’s actually a picture from the Disney web page promoting Disney Cruises.  Think again about your pictures of a tire field, or even a castle. Disney has a friggin’ cruise ship!! In fact, in that picture, they are actually on a cruise ship (see the stack behind them) and another ship is out in the distance.  Even through they have multiple $400 million dollar cruise ships – what is their focus to sell it?? People and smiles.

Keep that in mind when looking at your pictures.

Don't use pictures of what you have.
Use Pictures of
How people feel because of what you have.