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Picture editing

Why do you pay for editing pictures for your website?

Four Levels of preparation
1. Use as the picture as it was shot = no preparation.
2. Crop, adjust color, brightness & contrast to showcase the desired elements and overall attractiveness.
3. Brand the picture for you so when they like it they can buy from you.
4. Include descriptive descriptions, tags and text to help the picture be found.

Preparation of images for a website.

Set up a folder for each group of pictures.

1. Choose the portion of the image you want to use.
2. Name the image using search word content
3. Title the image when a title will display.
4. Provide an alternate description (key word rich and descriptive) for the image in case the viewer has an upload problem
5. Add tags with key word content
6. Write a 250 - 300 character description for each one.
7. Sequence them in the order you want them.
8. Provide the geographic location for geo tagging.
9. Crop the portion you want
10. Size it to the dimensions that will be used - generally 800 px wide for a landscape style image works well
Use one set of dimensions for all pictures. 800 px by 600 px or 800 px by 450 px
11. Adjustment brightness, contrast and color
12. Brand the image so it is tied to you (logo, website, phone number etc) with emboss, embed or overlay (example below)

The client needs to be involved with steps 1-8. Choosing customer oriented words and higher used search terms improves performance over time.
A graphic artist does steps 9-12. Choose a graphic artist whose work you like because these steps involve balancing a number of variables (often conflicting) to get to a tasteful and productive finished product. There is a significant artistic component to this.

The picture below is the original as I received it. It was shot under florescent light so it has a slightly blueish (cold) tint.

Adjusting the color makes both the service man and room feel warmer (friendlier). More important in a residential setting, subtle changes result in sales increases when a customer just "feels more comfortable with" or "trusts" one company over another. The brightness was reduced slightly and the contrast increased to bring out the appearance of the man, the colors and the room. No cropping was needed and these were relatively easy adjustments. The better the original picture (focus, color, composition) the quicker and better your final product and less you'll pay in editing. Please note that the number of pixels in the camera is less important than the skill of the photographer. Cost is about $20 to $40 per picture. There are programs for free and for purchase that let you do this yourself. Be aware of the value of your time and the significant financial impact small improvements can have.

Periodically I get a call from a business that wants to "protect" their pictures (most often from being used by their competition). I receive many questions about using a copy right or other options to do this. I haven't found that to be especially productive and it involves some time and cost to implement. An alternate strategy is to insert your logo and message into the jpg file. This does make it harder (certainly not impossible) for someone else to use. More importantly, when I'm early in my search for information in my buying process, I'll sometimes do a search on images rather than websites to see what I get. The vast majority of images are either tagged in an unattractive manner or not at all. When your images come up as in this example, they make it way easier to save and contact you when I'm ready to do business. There is tremendous room for creativity (also spelled cost) here but a simple example like this the cost is likely to run $50 to $60 a picture including both the original corrections and the labeling.

In the next example, the picture is tagged with key words and descriptions so that it comes up higher and in more searches hence getting in front of more prospects.The picture appearance doesn't change but the value it has to bring you business multiplies. This is detail work that doesn't visibly change the website. It is often the difference in price between two bids to build a website. More marketing people have identified and focused on this step. While I don't disagree, I suggest you want to do the others first. Make sure your pictures look their best and are tied back to you, then tag them to so your prospects find them. You will be exceptional.

Sacramento Commercial Electrician

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