Why you should never use stock photos on your website

There are some beautiful stock photos out there. You can license them for your website at very reasonable prices.

Don’t do it.

For humanity’s sake, do not use this photo

Stock photos are OK for background images, but they’re terrible at representing you and what you do, because they don’t show  you or what you do.

If I see one more stock photo of happy, professional, ethnically-diverse people smiling at each other in an office, I can’t say what I’ll do. These photos tell me nothing about the organization whose website I’m on, other than that they couldn’t be bothered to take real  photos of what they really  do.

There’s plenty of evidence that, at best, your visitors will completely ignore any stock photos. At worst, your visitors will be frustrated that these images are getting in the way of the information they’re looking for.

So where should  you get photos for your website?

Simple answer: take your own.

This is your  website; these should be your  photos.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to publish tips on how to take photos that’ll make your website look amazing, even if you’re no photographer.

October 3,  2018