Give each page its own photograph of what that page is about, list the ones still missing, and where no honest picture exists, use a plain band of colour instead of repeating one.

One picture, everywhere

A site goes live with a good photograph at the top of the home page: the shop front, the team, a finished job in good light.

Click through to the services and the same photograph is there. It is on the about page, the prices page and the contact page too, sometimes cropped a little differently, sometimes not at all.

Nobody chose that on purpose. The theme expected a large image at the top of every page, there were only six good photographs, and the best one filled each gap as it came up.

Visitors notice by the second click.

How one photograph spreads

The last is invisible from the site itself. When any page is shared on Facebook, the same picture appears beside it, so ten different links look like one post shared ten times.

What visitors conclude

A page that looks like the last one feels like a click that did not work. People scroll back up, check the menu and wonder whether they are where they meant to be.

The picture also suggests the business has only one thing worth showing. A studio with two rooms appears to have one; a firm with six staff appears to be one person.

And people notice what is missing. If the waiting area, the second room or the vans never appear, a visitor may assume there is a reason.

After the third appearance the photograph stops being looked at. On a phone it is also a screen of scrolling before every page begins.

Give each page a subject

Start with a list of the pages and, beside each, what a newcomer would want to see there. Not a mood but a subject: the room, the equipment, the person, the entrance, the result.

Then mark the pages that already have a photograph of exactly that subject. Most sites find only a few.

The gaps become a shot list, one line for each: what is in frame, from where, and whether people appear.

A list like that turns a vague photo session into a morning of specific pictures, each with a page waiting for it.

A worked example

A pilates studio with two rooms, one for reformer classes and one for mat work, had its site built in its first month, after a single photo session before it opened.

Most of the eleven usable photographs showed the reformer room from the same corner. One of them headed the home page and the pages for reformer, mat, prenatal and private sessions.

It was also the default sharing image, so every class shared on Facebook looked like a reformer class.

New clients kept asking whether the mat classes used the machines. A woman enquiring about prenatal classes asked the same, and said the photograph had nearly put her off.

In October the studio booked a second session during real classes, with written permission from everyone in frame: the mat room, a prenatal class shot from behind, a private session, each instructor, and the entrance from the parking lot.

The teacher training page had no class to photograph yet, so it got a band of the studio's sage green with the course dates set large. Each page now shows what it describes, with its own sharing image.

People in the picture need to agree

Photographs of real classes, customers or staff are better than any stock, but the people in them should agree first, preferably in writing.

Explain where the photographs will appear, let anyone step out of frame, and shoot from behind or the side when faces add nothing.

When someone pictured leaves the business, replace their photographs promptly, since visitors may ask for them by name.

When colour beats a photograph

Some pages have no honest picture: prices, policies, frequently asked questions, a service that has not started yet.

For those, a band of the brand's colour behind a strong heading does the job the photograph was meant to do. It marks the top of the page and tells the visitor they have arrived somewhere new.

Colour can also be used consistently, one shade for each type of service, so that related pages feel related without looking identical.

What colour cannot do is show the place. Use it where a photograph would only be decoration, not where people want to see what they are getting.

Repeated on purpose

Not every repeat is a problem. A narrow strip with the logo or a pattern across the top of every page is part of the design, and nobody reads it as content.

The trouble starts when the repeated image is a photograph of something, presented as if it belonged to each page in turn.

A useful test: if the photograph were removed from a page, would anyone reading that page miss what it showed?

The counter-case

A one-page site, or a site of three short pages, can carry one strong photograph without anyone minding.

A business with little to photograph may be better served by a design built on type and colour than by a long shot list.

And a new business can launch with what it has, as long as the shot list exists and the second session has a date.

Everywhere else, give each page its own subject, photograph it, and use colour rather than a repeat where no picture fits.

Before the next photo session

  1. List every page and the subject it needs.
  2. Mark the pages that share a photograph.
  3. Write one shot for each gap.
  4. Get written permission from people in frame.
  5. Use a colour band where no photograph fits.
  6. Set a sharing image for each page.
  7. Photograph new services before their pages go live.

Step three is the one that changes the outcome. A photographer given specific shots comes back with pictures for specific pages; one asked for some nice photos of the place comes back with eleven of the same corner.

Photographs that change at random on every visit cause the opposite problem, covered in a home page that changes every visit.

Frequently asked questions

Why does one photo end up everywhere?

Usually because the theme expects a large image on every page, there were only a few good photographs, and the best one filled each gap as it came up.

What do visitors think when photos repeat?

That the click did not work, that the business has only one thing worth showing, or that something is being hidden. After a few repeats they stop looking.

How do I plan photos for each page?

List each page and the subject a newcomer wants to see there, mark the pages that already have it, and turn the gaps into a specific shot list.

Do I need permission to photograph customers?

Get it, preferably in writing, before anyone appears on the website. Explain where the photographs will go, let people step out of frame, and shoot from behind when faces add nothing.

When is a colour band better than a photo?

On pages with no honest picture, such as prices, policies or a service not yet running. Colour marks a new page without pretending to show something.

Is any repeated image acceptable?

Yes. A logo strip or pattern across every page is part of the design. The problem is a photograph of something presented as if it belonged to each page.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Same photograph on half your pages?

Share your site address with us. We will mark each repeated photograph and draft a shot list for pages that need their own.

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