Using stock photos online is something a lot of small businesses are guilty of – myself included (well, a few, anyway. I have a weakness for stock lightboard diagrams). They’re cheap. They’re easy to get. And they look FANTASTIC on your website. But let’s get one thing straight:
you’re not fooling anyone. Everyone notices your stock photos, and not in a good way.
Customers know that this chick:
is not actually on the other end of the phone. Neither is this guy (much as we might like him to be).
They know so because a) they’ve most likely seen the same stock image on another (possibly a competitor’s) website, and b) because, let’s face it, people this pretty generally don’t work in customer service – not over the phone, anyway.
Similarly, website visitors, leads and customers have a pretty good suspicion that the people in stock “our team” photos don’t actually represent your business either.
- corresponding stock company slogan: We’re the Charlie’s Angels of Biznez.
So what? you ask. So my website has photos of people who are prettier than the people who actually work here. Shouldn’t that be a good thing?
Unless your business sells clothing or makeup, then no. It’s not.
5 reasons why stock images are just plain tacky
1) They’re not authentic/personal. Customers and potential customers visiting your website want to know about your products/services, sure, but they also want to know you, your company’s people, what you’re about. Stock images don’t give visitors any sense of who your company or your people are. They just take up space.
2) They’re unoriginal (i.e. you = your competitors). If your website is using stock images, chances are it has some of the same images your competitors are using – or very similar. Good marketing is all about standing out from the competition, so using the same images your competition is using to represent your brand is kind of shooting yourself in the foot.
3) They make it look like you’re not trying very hard. Putting stock images into your website requires the minimal amount of effort, which doesn’t send a great message about your brand.
4) They lack transparency. Failure to disclose company information – like authentic photos of you, your staff and/or your facility – can also send the wrong message: that you have something to hide. Or, at the very least, that you’re not proud of your staff and/or facility.
5) They’re not as interesting/appealing as they could be. Sure, the models in stock images are pretty, but they also tend to have that cookie-cutter look. With the help of a good photographer, photos of your real-life business and workers in action have the potential to be far more vibrant and full of life than the prettiest stock image.
Real photos of your real-life business = better branding
Photos that you have gone to the effort of hiring a photographer to take can make a world of difference in how you represent yourself online. Rather than rehashing the last five points, take a look at a few small businesses that, despite having limited marketing funds, have gone above and beyond in the creating-unique-content department (in addition to having me write their web content, of course):
616 Lofts (an urban property management company)
Muskegon Brake (an ASE certified auto repair shop)
616 Lofts gets compliments on its website (which is actually a simple WP template – ha!) all the time, and it has a lot to do with its images. Even the images of the city are original – and don’t they just pop?
Similarly, I love how Muskegon Brake’s photos capture the personality of their staff and brand as a whole. The images really depict how personable and playful the company is, which is important, since customer service is one of their key selling points.
Authentic website photos and SEO
While not always the case, I feel it’s important to point out that original photos also open up linking opportunities you wouldn’t have with stock images. 616 Lofts, for example, asked one of their tenants and her friends to pose in a photoshoot for them. She was happy to do so, and when photos of her and her friends were posted on their website, she blogged and tweeted about it – links to their website included. Booyah!
Additionally, photographers will often link to live samples of their work within their online portfolios.
Notably, I’m linking to their websites right now just to point out how cool their images are. Case in point: great content attracts links.
Don’t you want your website to be the kind of site people link to as an example of how to do things right?
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