This is one of hundreds of episodes where I answer the most commonly asked questions related to small business web design. Today’s question is: Do I need to hire a professional photographer for all the photos that appear on my website?

Great question! Now first to answer this question I need to start with the cancer of design which is stock photos. Now, let’s be honest, I’ve used stock photos in the past and there are probably a few stock photos on my current website, but they really water-down the personality of your website. You need to be able to feel real, so I strongly encourage small businesses that are starting a website to avoid stock photos. Even if they took out their own personal camera and made these photos real. There is a lot of editing people can do to make these photos look nice.

Ideally, yes, hire a professional photographer that can come in and shoot some headshots and some processes you do. This will make you appear like a real company and it will be worth the investment. If you need a good recommendation for a fantastic professional photographer, not me, call me and I can recommend someone that does a fantastic job.