Sizing and Selecting Photos for your WordPress Website

The photography that is featured on your website is just as important as the content that you share! Photos can tell a story depicting your business’s products, services, and events. They serve to elevate your website and make it stand out among competitors.

Here are some practical tips for maximizing the photos that you select for your website:

Photo Optimization
When you add images to your WordPress site, you’ll want to optimize them for the web. One item that you’ll want to look at is using a JPEG versus a PNG file. JPEGs are usually used for more colorful images while PNG files are best used for drawings, texts, screenshots, and graphics.

Photo Size Guidelines
When it comes to your WordPress site, there are four main images and sizes that you have the option to feature, which are:

Thumbnail size: 150 pixels, which is a square
Medium size: maximum width and height of 300 pixels
Large size: maximum width and height of 1024 pixels
Full size: the original size of your image

We recommend 800K for standard photos on a WordPress site. Header and slider images are all custom sized depending on the slider. Most will be 1920px x 500px, but some could be as large as 600px wide and some smaller. We would rarely use anything under 1920px wide unless the template is made that way. Properly sizing your photos will prevent bandwidth issues and your site will be able to load at a faster speed for your audience on either a desktop or mobile device.

There are several programs that you can use to resize your photos before inputting them into your site. If you don’t have Adobe software products, I recommend using Microsoft Paint to resize your images. After resizing your photo in Paint, you should proceed with uploading it to WordPress as your next step to placing the photo on your site.

Photo Selection
It’s not only important to feature the appropriate file and size photo on your website, but also consider your subject matter and background features as well. Make sure that people in your photos are wearing appropriate clothing, you have their permission to use their photo, and are best representing your company. You certainly don’t want your business’s photo to end up a favorite Internet meme.

Statistics show that over 55 percent of readers recall your website if it is visually stimulating to them. Optimize, size, and select the photos that will make your business shine!

Written by Blog Contributor: Holly Lynn Gibbons