My process for prepping every client's website photos
Every project gets the same photo optimization before it goes live — here's exactly what image optimization involves.
Every website I build gets the same image optimization before it goes live: photos reviewed, resized, compressed, checked one by one. And it's not an add-on service — it's just how a site gets built right. Here's exactly what that involves behind the scenes.
Photos are one of the first thing I check on every project
Before I touch layout, I go through every photo that's going to be on a site. It's usually the most neglected part of a DIY build: an outdated team photo, a hero image shot on a phone 5 years ago, files so heavy that even the owner will close the page before it finishes loading. 😅
Nielsen Norman Group's research on web trust has found current, high-quality content is one of the enduring signals people use to judge whether a site is trustworthy. Photos are content too, and stale ones send the wrong message before a visitor reads a single word.
What professional photo optimization actually includes
This isn't flashy work, and nobody notices it when it's done right, but skipping it shows immediately. A site with even one out-of-place image, one blurry photo, or one leftover placeholder can undercut everything else on the page, no matter how polished the copy or layout is. I go through every single image with the same checklist, whether it's a homepage hero or the tenth photo in a gallery nobody scrolls to often. Consistency across every image, not just the obvious ones, is what actually makes a site read as finished and cared for.
Replace outdated, poor quality, or missing photos
If a team photo is years old, or a service page has no image at all, that's the first thing I note. Missing visuals are just as damaging as bad ones, since they leave a gap where trust should be building. When a photo is too low-resolution, blurry, or clearly cropped from something else, I flag it for replacement. If a client doesn't have a good replacement on hand yet, I source free, copyright-free (and on brand!) stock options.
Compress every image before upload
This is the step most DIY sites skip entirely. Every photo gets brought down to a web-friendly size before it ever touches the site. Shopify's own research has documented real businesses seeing major conversion gains purely from faster load times after fixing exactly this.
Keep formats consistent across the site
JPEG for photos, PNG only for logos or anything that needs transparency. Mixing formats at random is a small thing that adds up to a site that feels inconsistent, even if a visitor can't say why.
Match images to the brand, not just the page
A photo can be technically fine and still feel off if the lighting, tone, or style clashes with everything else on the site. I check each one against the brand as a whole, not in isolation.
Small habits, repeated on every single photo. But the payoff isn't just a tidier gallery…
Why image optimization matters more than people think
Deloitte's research for Google found that even a 0.1-second improvement in mobile load speed measurably increased conversions across every industry tested. That's from a tenth of a second. Multiply that across a homepage full of properly sized images, and the impact is huge. We've discussed this before: easy SEO win!
This is why photo work is baked into every build I do, not offered as an upsell. It's foundational, the same way solid copy or clean navigation is foundational. If you'd rather handle this piece yourself, an upcoming market product will walk you through the exact process above so you can do it on your own site. 🔜
Frequently asked questions
Do I need professional photos to add to my website, or can I use phone photos?
A modern phone camera is genuinely good enough for most small business sites. The bigger issue is almost never camera quality. It's the uploaded file size, format, and consistency.
How often should I update my website photos?
There's no set schedule if a photo is high-quality, follows image optimization best practices, and still matches your website and brand. The real trigger is change: a rebrand, a website refresh, a new team member, a new space, or new offerings. Update the photo when what it shows is no longer accurate, not on a fixed timeline.
How long does photo prep add to my project timeline?
This step is built into the process, not added on, so it doesn't add extra time. It just happens alongside everything else while your site comes together, on my content prepping phase.
Can I fix my website photos myself without hiring anyone?
Absolutely! The process is straightforward once you know the steps, and it doesn't require paid software or a design background.
Is image optimization something Squarespace does automatically?
Squarespace optimizes how an image displays, but it doesn't shrink the underlying file for you. That part still comes down to what gets uploaded in the first place.
