Are you on the Worn Out Web?
What is the worn out web?
It’s the place where everything looks the same.
No-one stands out.
You might have the most important thing to say or offer in the world but no-one notices because you get lost in a fog where everything is indistinguishable.
Who is on the worn out web?
So in all honesty the people on the worn out web could be there for any number of reasons. The one I’m referring to here is the over-use of stock images.
The need for visual content these days in your marketing is SO voracious that absolutely there is a place for using stock images. These are of increasingly good quality, and depending on what you need to illustrate could be all you have to hand. The example above is a point in case. I didn’t have a picture of fog to hand and so using stock seemed like a good option.
However, people on the worn out web use stock photographs all the time – on their websites to demonstrate the ethos of their company (the most ironic is “We are different from everyone else…”). Some even use them to show ‘the face of the company’.
Try this game out and see how much your company is fading away on the worn out web:
How did you get on?
All I’m really saying is to use stock images with caution.
Not only are you potentially under-selling yourself, but:
You may be using images without the necessary copyright – even some stock sites are not what they seem, see HERE for some free downloads about this.
It takes AGES to find the right image, so they do already cost you resource.
Stock images do not necessarily afford you the SEO that you should be getting with your own images, which are fantastic at boosting your SEO in comparison.
