{"id":4912,"date":"2014-05-13T08:21:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T08:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dental-media.co.uk\/marketing\/?p=4912"},"modified":"2015-12-09T11:14:34","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T11:14:34","slug":"photography-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dental-media.co.uk\/marketing\/website\/photography-services\/","title":{"rendered":"What sort of photographs are best for your website?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lift your dental practice website above the norm by choosing your images carefully<\/h2>\n

There are lots of nice looking dental websites these days (alongside plenty of shockers!) but how often do you see one that really makes you want to stop, look further and actually engage with the services on offer? I suspect that it’s actually not too many.<\/p>\n

One of the main reasons why people are indifferent about websites and chose not to engage is down to the type of images that the site uses. A fancy modern website<\/a> is all well and good but do you ever feel that you’ve seen the same thing before but perhaps presented in a slightly different way? The same type of “smiley face” stock images rolled out over and over again, all looking somewhat artificial and unattainably beautiful? After a while it can all start to get a little bit samey and unrealistic.<\/p>\n

What does a dental shopper prefer to see?<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

We recently conducted a survey of patients for a dentist whose website we were asked to re-design. The aim of the survey was to gain third party insight into what website factors encourage a user to stop and engage and equally, what factors out them off.<\/p>\n

One of the key features that came out of the survey was that stock images, whilst obviously looking professional, are actually quite impersonal and perhaps not as attractive as we might imagine. For many of those surveyed, the preference was for actual photographs of the practice, team members and treatments rather than the de-facto “Hollywood smile” shots that you so often see.<\/p>\n

Of course, when designing you need to consider the target market and some stock images may work extremely well, but on the whole, users are expecting to see images that are more akin to real-life so they can really understand what the practice is all about before choosing to visit.<\/p>\n

Recommended website images<\/h3>\n

First off it should be said that any image presented on a website needs to be professional. This usually means using the services of a professional photographer or someone from within the team who can do more than just “point and shoot”. Whilst designers can enhance images to a certain degree, this only goes so far, so it really does pay to have a decent suite of photographs taken which will represent the practice appropriately and professionally. Our marketing project manager<\/a> will liaise with the photographer to discuss exactly what style of photographs are required. To give an idea of what you should expect to pay for the services of a professional photographer, budget in the range of \u00a3400 to \u00a3700 depending on scope.<\/p>\n

That established, what sort of images should you consider?<\/p>\n