For the month of August and our very first guest blog post check out Chris Hill’s (Clever Mutt Website Design) article in the post just below this one. Its his take on do it yourself photography and websites and why trying to save a little money now may cost you much more in the end. Thanks Chris for your well written article!

Stay tuned for next month’s guest blog topic : Destination Weddings by Jusy Esslinger of It’s Your Time Travel.

Nice website, shame about the photos

Let me ask you a question – What the heck were you thinking?  You went through the time and effort to get a great website and you then go and put THAT photo on it?  Don’t give me that innocent look, you know the photo I mean – the one you took with the camera you bought from Best Buy and enhanced savaged for a few minutes in Photoshop. Where a website is concerned ‘do-it-yourself’ only ever makes your business look cheap – this is particularly true of your choice of photographs.

As all new business owners know, when you go into business you spend a lot of time, energy and resources working out how to attract and keep customers.  Be it a smart and attractive street sign, noticeable billboard advertising, carefully planned storefront and interior or enticing brochure you take the time to get everything just right to attract those customers.

It should be no surprise that in today’s world your website is just as important as these items.  Why take the time to hire a great web designer only to use poor photography and drastically reduce its effectiveness?

Think you’re saving money – you’re throwing it away!

Let me tell you, it is going to cost you more money by adopting the DIY approach for website photography.  Saving a few dollars now will lead to money lost the moment you launch your website – it’s a false economy.  DIY photography presents your business as ‘cheap’ and says that you are prepared to cut corners.  Not exactly the image you want to project, is it?  A website covered in DIY photography gives all the wrong signals.

It’s true, amateur photography has come along in leaps and bounds in recent years, especially with the advent of DSLR cameras (mines a Nikon D5000).  Yes, even accomplished amateur snappers can take poorly framed, out-of-focus, and improperly exposed images however. With a pro this simply doesn’t happen.

Think your DSLR is nice?  Trust me, you ‘aint seen nothing yet.  Professional photographers have far more gear than you can ever hope to collect – they have the right tools for every possible job.   Your point and shoot camera or DSLR simply isn’t going to be sufficient for every job and cannot achieve the results an experienced professional photographer can with the right equipment.

Forget all the impressive equipment for a moment though and realize that by hiring a professional photographer you get the benefits of someone who has the creativity, knowledge and insight to light and frame your subject in the best possible way. Your photographer has years of direct experience that you don’t possess and they know how to use and blend f-stops and shutter speeds to great effect bringing the lighting, exposure, colors and depth of field together in perfect harmony.

There’s an overwhelming list of reasons why you should use professional photography instead of DIY photography on your website, here are just a few of them:

• A professional image gets an instant connection with customer
• A professional image is a very powerful way to generate desire – the ‘I want that’  factor
• Professional images can be proudly shown over and over again – not something you can always say about DIY photos
• Professional photography tells potential customers that you care about the products and services you sell
• Your investment in a website, even a budget option, will pay far greater dividends in the long run with professional photography

Photoshop will save me!

So, you think you know Photoshop huh?  Been on a training course & bought a few books? You’ve invested a few hours here and there to play about with it when you’ve got the time?

You may have even put together leaflets for a school, event or charity or tried your hand at a bit of photo manipulation.

Guess what, you STILL don’t know Photoshop – not like a pro like photographer such as Jamye does.  Taking excellent quality photos is just one (granted, major) part of the whole process.  It is a fact of digital life that photos sometimes need editing, manipulating and a little bit of post-shoot care.  The thousands of combinations of techniques on offer in Photoshop, Lightroom and other applications are not something you learn from putting together a flyer.  Your skills with digital photography editing software may be admirable, but they pale in comparison to what a true professional can achieve.

But I can get professional photography cheaply online!

Why do I have a hunch you’re thinking that iStock or Getty Images is going to be a good way to get cheap pro photography?  It’s true there are a lot of image libraries online with many professional photographs available (sometimes) at reasonable prices.  So what’s the problem you’re probably thinking, right?

Well, stop and think about this critically for a moment.  What is it about photos on stock library sites that let visitors to your website become familiar with your business? What about each of those photos shows your business, your products and your people?  The answer is absolutely nothing.

Stock photography libraries are excellent resources for professional graphic designers needing source components (you’re not one of these) and for glorified clip-art (ask your web developer why this is a bad idea).  Stock image libraries are not even remotely close to being adequate substitutes for the unique images a professional photographer will give you.

But I need to get my photos done quickly to launch my website!

Over the years I’ve been responsible the development of hundreds of websites in many dozens of different industries in multiple countries. I can tell you from direct experience that professional photographs – even if you have just a few on your website promoting key products, services or people – make all the difference.  I’ve seen websites fail because photography was done ‘on the cheap’ and done quickly.  Yes, spring for professional photographs of all the products you have in your store if you can budget for it, but for those of you without that budget at the minimum you should arrange a few quality shots to promote your business and your people.

Plan in advance what kind of photos you’ll need – long before your developer starts on your website. Speak to a professional like Jamye for a bit of expert advice about what kind of photos will work well for your business online.  You won’t regret it.

My advice is simple – choose the DIY option and you’re infinitely more likely to get poor results with your website, or fail entirely.  Hire a pro.

Bio: Chris Hill is a Brit living in Texas (howdy!).  He has been working in the Internet industry since the early 1990′s in England back when this ‘web thing’ was new.  He has, on rare occasion, been accused of being an ‘expert’ in his field, whatever that means. Chris is a founder and co-owner of clever mutt LLC, a web application programming, website design and Internet marketing company he co-founded after relocating from the United Kingdom to East Texas. Chris spends his time adapting to the Texas heat, practicing his pronunciation of the word ‘aint’ while wondering if his pasty white legs will ever tan.  He can be found giving away lots of free advice about web apps, web design and search marketing when not hugging the nearest air conditioning unit. Chris contributes to the Clever Mutt blog here: http://blog.clevermutt.com/ and you can find Chris on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/clevermuttchris

A related note from Jamye Perelli Photography: Most of our clients are aware of our wedding/event and portrait services but are not aware we have a great deal of product and commercial photography experience under our belt as well. To drive home the statements Chris outlined above we have included the example below. We offered this company a cost effective option to provide professional images to their website visitors to view. The images on the right are what they were using prior to contracting us. These are typical DIY results. Which do you think makes the product more appealing?

We will be offering quick, fun and very inexpensive individual portraits designed to be used for your social networking and dating profiles! Jazz up your Facebook and other network profile pages with a current, professional image that shows off your personality in the best way possible!

 Please come join us for Facebook Friday on Friday March 12^th at Jamye Perelli Photography’s studio located in Gun Barrel City, Texas. We will have some cold drinks on hand so come by and have a drink, mingle with some friends and get your networking profiles looking snazzy!

Details:
Date: Friday March 12, 2010
Time: 3pm – 7pm
Phone: 903-887-3830
Location: Jamye Perelli Photography – 544 Jolly Circle GBC, Texas 75156
Cost: $15 per person or bring a friend and you will each only pay $10
What do I get for my $15: A web ready version of all of the images taken during our FB party will be posted to an album on Facebook and you will be tagged making the image automatically appear on your Facebook page. You can then save it to your hard drive and use it on other networking and dating websites!
Reservations: No appointments are necessary just come on by and join the fun!