images-on-websites | Pebble Design

Judging a book by its cover... photographs

A large amount of hotel reservations result from online channels. Before making their reservation, travellers search and compare hotels and resorts online. The main factors on which they base their decisions are reviews and photos.

The age of visual culture

We have all heard the expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words” and in the case of hotel websites, it couldn’t be more true. Over the years as the web has matured, so have the tastes of its users. Consequently, most of us have come to prefer the clarity and beauty of images over words. The use of interesting and inviting imagery can convey key messages to your prospective guests. Imagine people looking at your website and thinking, “Wow that’s a fantastic place, I want to go there”, or “That looks like a great resort, I want to stay there”… you get the idea. Social media like Pinterest has dramatically risen in users because of this visual experience. Trends prove the better photos you have, the greater the engagement and the more reservations that are made through online channels.

Google loves images too

While text is important, the image is what sells a page in most cases. There is no doubt that search engines are constantly getting more sophisticated, and although they still can’t see images as we do, well placed and properly optimised imagery seems to be increasingly significant when it comes to search engine rankings. Also, let’s not overlook the fact that the use of images can increase traffic through image search as well, and can be a real asset for organic search results.

Images on newsletters

Sending out EDMs (Electronic Direct Mail) is a great form of online communication and marketing, but let’s not forget that EDMs are not websites and are definitely not posters. Often, we have clients who want to send out a newsletter based on a single image that was designed for print media. Although technically it is possible, we don’t recommend it. Most email programs don’t allow images to load by default. This can result in making your email unreadable if not formatted properly. What we do recommend is a healthy balance of text to images. As a rule of thumb, try to stay below 40% of image coverage. Also, use relevant, descriptive alt text (alternative text) for each image.

Did you know that we take photos for the websites we build?

If you don’t already have a variety of good quality images for your property, we are more than happy to help you out. Here at Pebble, apart from building functional and attractive websites, we offer professional hotel and resort photogaphy with an eye for detail.


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