You don’t need to be a graphic designer or use PhotoShop to be able to handle most image-related tasks with confidence.

Article At a Glance——————————–

Article Summary
– Acquiring Images
– A) The Free Way
– B) The Paid Way
– Editing
– Optimizing
– Geotagging
– Alt Text
Links to Resources

(Note: In as much as you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, don’t judge software or an online service by its logo. You’ll see what we mean.)

1. Acquiring Images 

First, you have to get the images. If you don’t have any photos of your business, you can obtain generic ones related to your business field or industry. Or, it may happen that you have lots of photos, but you are still missing certain ones to complete or enhance your website. In these cases, you can obtain specific photos related to your business field or industry.  

These images would fall into the category of “royalty free,” meaning that once you have acquired them, either for free or by purchasing them, you don’t have to pay a royalty, copyright, or usage fee every time you use them. They are yours to use as you wish, though usually you are restricted from selling them to a third party. 

You can obtain these the “free way” or the “paid way.” 

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As you may know, most search engines also have a function for searching for images. Here are the main ones (order of recommendation): 

However, remember that many of the images they display are subject to copyright. But, there are ways of searching so you can find the ones you are free to use.  

For example, with Google Images: 

1. Before search for an image you, look just below the search box and go to Settings/Advanced Search.  
2. From the “usage rights” dropdown menu, you can select “free to use or share” or “free to use or share, even commercially.” 
3. Even with that setting, you could still have a gut feeling that you really might not be able to use some of them.  
4. The best selection is the most stringent one, “free to use, share, or modify, even commercially.”  
5. Then again, you should really only select the ones that are obviously generic and in the public domain. If you have any doubts, don’t use them. 

The majority of images you find by these means are generally quite usable. However, if you want something very specific, or that has been designed or shot exceptionally well, then you will have to go the paid way. 

Incidentally, if you are ever in need of a logo, button, or similar graphic element (and especially if you need one right away), you can easily create them yourself for free using the following service: 

B) The Paid Way

Some specialize only in paid images, while some like ones above provide images both for free and for purchase at a fairly reasonable price. 

Be sure to read the conditions for using the images you purchase. Just because you paid for them, you might not be able to use them whenever, wherever, and for as long as you wish. 

OK, now that you have acquired your images, here are some things to keep in mind. 

3. Editing 

The images might be too big, too small, may require some adjustments or cropping, or may need the background removed, and so on. For that, you will need image editing software. There are some fairly good software or online services that can be of great help. You can’t do as much as you can do with Photoshop or Illustrator, but they are easy to use and free. Some are free to download to your computer, while others can be used online. 

Here are some (in order of recommendation): 

3. Optimizing 

Once you your image is looking just the way you want, you should “optimize” it. This means reducing the “size” (weight) of the image. Images that are a megabyte or two in size (weight), compared to ones that only several kilobytes, may take much longer to load (display) on your site, and you may be penalized by the search engines for having a slow website. 

Images usually contain a lot of extra “invisible” EXIF or metadata embedded in them making them heavier than they need to be. Optimization eliminates this excess data without any loss in visual quality, at least to the naked eye. A 1 MB image could be reduced to as “light” as 600 KB or 500 KB.

This reduction of weight (and loading time) helps considerably when you have several or dozens of images to display on your website. 

There are several online tools available to optimize images, and here are a few: 

4. Geotagging 

As a small business owner serving a specific location, it is very important that Google and the other search engines know precisely where you are located so they can better associate a certain image with a precise location. 

Yes, you will naturally have your address displaying on your website, but you are conveying your location simply using ordinary numbers and words. You want to make it even easier for the search engines to determine your exact location by putting all your important images through a process called “geotagging.” 

One bit of advice – don’t be a bit taken back with the “military feel” of the interface of these apps. It may seem like you are about to direct a guided missile to your location. But, once you have a look around, you will see that the interface is really quite simple to use. 

The basic steps are generally the same for most geotagging apps. 

1. Use Google Maps to get your latitude and longitude. (Some geotagging apps may help you with this.) 
2. Upload your image into a geotagging app. 
3. Check to make sure the interface displays your correct location. (You might even be able to see a satellite view of it.) 
4. Engage the geotagging process. 
5. Download your image with the embedded geotagged metadata. 

(Note: You must optimize before geotagging. Otherwise, you will lose all your geotagged data.) 

 5. Alt Text 

Make sure you use alt text. If you are not familiar with “alt text,” it stands for “alternative text,” in other words, alternative information for an image. (Sometimes, it is called an “alternative attribute.”) To fill in the alt text for an uploaded image, access the image from the Media Library and a screen will appear with a blank field for the alt text.  (Click to enlarge)

(Note: This discussion is about basic SEO techniques, and as such, you do not have to concern yourself with the “Caption” or “Description” box, or if you encounter a “Title” box. If you want go to a higher level of SEO, they you will have to deal with these.) 

Enter a brief phrase describing the image, such as “clinic building nearing completion.” Simply convey what it is in direct terms, but be somewhat descriptive. For example, if the image is a trophy, you can write something like, “trophy for outstanding bowler in large trophy case.” You should also add your primary keyword for your entire site or the page the image appears on. If your primary keyword is “best dentist in New Haven,” then you could write something like, “clinic building nearing completion soon to house best dentist in New Haven.” Don’t worry if your phrasing sounds slightly stilted or awkward. If you find it difficult to “work in” the keyword into the alt text so it is a single phrase, you can write it first, add a dash (-), and then your alt text, I.e., “best dentist in New Haven – your alt text.”  

Alt text was first developed for the visually impaired who use a device to read out loud the text on a page. These devices have the ability to access the alt text embedded on the page and then use text-to-speech technology to say it says.   

But, alt text serves other purposes: 

• If for some reason, the image does not display properly on the screen, the alt text would appear so at least the reader has an idea of what was supposed to be there. 
• It helps search engines to understand better exactly what the image is, which in turn works toward better indexabilty of the image. 
• It saves you from getting penalized by some search engines for having too many images without alt text. 

(Note: You do not have to bother with alt text if the image is merely for decoration, such as a large star or arrow.) 

So, we hope that this post has been useful and you keep the information in mind when dealing with images for your site. 

Please let us know in the comment section below any thoughts you may have. And, be sure to share with us if you have found an image-related online service or software which is particularly useful for you. 

As always, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns. Just use our Contact Us page or our Support Center. 

Links to Resources

Here are the direct links to the resources mentioned in the article. Click on the “up” arrow to jump to the section in the article where the resource is mentioned or click the link to go directly to the corresponding webpage.

1) ↑ Pixabay:  https://pixabay.com/
2) ↑ Unsplash:  https://unsplash.com/
3) ↑ Pexels:  https://www.pexels.com/
4) ↑ Google Images:  https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en
5) ↑ Bing Images:  https://www.bing.com/images/details/%7B0%7D
6) ↑ Yahoo Images:  https://images.search.yahoo.com/?guccounter=1
7) ↑ CoolText Graphics Generator:  https://cooltext.com/
8) ↑ CanStockPhoto:  https://www.canstockphoto.com/
9) ↑ ShutterStock: https://www.shutterstock.com/
10) ↑ Adobe Stock:  https://stock.adobe.com/
11) ↑ Paint.net:  https://www.getpaint.net/download.html
12) ↑ GIMP:  https://www.gimp.org/
13) ↑ Pixlr Online Photo Editor:  https://pixlr.com/x/
14) ↑ TinyPng:  https://tinypng.com/
15) ↑ Kraken Image Optimizer:  https://kraken.io/web-interface
16) ↑ Imagine Optimizer:  http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx
17) ↑ Geosetter:  https://geosetter.de/en/main-en/
18) ↑ EasyTrails GPS:  http://www.easytrailsgps.com/
19) ↑ Geolmgr:  https://www.geoimgr.com/