As agents, we can all agree on this one thing when it comes to marketing:
Content is STILL king.
No matter what.
In order to turn visitors into leads, you’ve got to be able to keep their attention on your page.
A sure way to do this is through valuable content and captivating real estate website images.
We’ve covered A LOT of ground when it comes to how you use images and where you get them from.
Check out Real estate photography tips: 4 ways to get free leads from your MLS photos
But an ongoing concern we at Easy Agent Pro continue to hear from agents is more about formatting and resizing images on their real estate websites and blogs.
I can clear this up for you right now, but you aren’t going to like it…
The truth is THERE ARE NO RULES when it comes to your creativity!
The hard and fast guidelines that dictate writing and grammar just don’t apply here.
You can crop, filter, and size your pictures and graphics to your liking – though, of course, there are optimal dimensions for each web platform to take into consideration.
To clear things up, I’ve created a full breakdown of image file types, a size and shape guide, and lots of other fun tidbits you probably didn’t even think you needed to know about.
Ready to have your site loading fast and looking great?
Let’s do it!
Adding Media to Your Blog Posts
To get started with adding media to your Blog Post, hover your mouse in between paragraphs.
A “plus” button will appear to the left which gives you the options of:
a) Photo: Insert a photo/image/picture to your post.
b) Video: Add a YouTube URL to embed a video.
c) Listings: Insert the shortcode of your IDX Listing you’d like to showcase.
Click on the type of Media you’d like to add, then select what you’d like added to your post!
Blogging at Easy Agent Pro just got a lot more exciting!
We’ve got 5 new blog templates for you to use!
An Overview Of Online Image File Types + Preferred Formats
There are a ton of file types you can spend your time getting acquainted with, but for today we’re going to break down the 4 major types of real estate website images to see how they work and when you should be using them.
JPG/JPEG
You’ve heard of this before and probably use this digital image file type for almost all photos. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group and these files are saved as .jpg.
When you save an image as JPG some of the details of the photo will be removed because of compression.
This can be a good thing though because you can compress high-quality images into more manageable sizes without totally compromising the integrity of the the picture.
JPG files that are under 100kb should be your go-to for image files and sizes. Especially when considering how they’ll look and load on mobile devices.
We’ll talk a bit more about this in a second.
PNG
One challenge with JPG images is that the quality can diminish over time after the photos are saved and re-saved. Each time, more detail will be removed and this can cause the image to degrade and become blurry.
However, they’re still great to use for your real estate website images as long as you’re not using an image that you pulled from Facebook that has been saved, re-saved, compressed for social media…etc.
PNG or Portable Network Graphics are good for pictures as well as graphics. It compresses images without removing details and retains color qualities. However, the photo files will be larger, but most all current browsers will support these files.
GIF
GIF stands for Graphics Interchangeable Formats.
When you think of a GIF, you’re probably picturing something like this –
GIFs are lower quality than JPGs and are best suited for decorative images or simple icons.
Of course, they also support animation is perhaps most useful for this purpose.
SVG
Of these 4 file types, this is the least of your worries. Though we’d definitely still suggest familiarizing yourself with Scaleable Vector Graphics.
Vector files are becoming a popular choice among both designers and marketers.
Vector images can be sized up or down to virtually any size without altering or distorting the quality.
Optimizing Your Real Estate Website Images
Name Your Images
Of course, finding the perfect picture or graphic and file format is just the first step for publishing the best real estate website images.
Just as you use keywords throughout your blog posts and pages, creating keyword-rich file names can also greatly help to optimize your images and get you higher up in search engine rankings.
So, if the keyword phrase you’re using is Downtown Delano Homes, save or rename your file under this as well.
Take this image, for example.
I downloaded it from Bigstock.
If I were to upload directly to WordPress without changing any details, here’s what information I would be presenting.
None of these words or subjects likely have anything to do with the post.
So, at the very least you want to make sure that your image has a descriptive title that includes your keyword or phrase.
You can then move on to further optimizing the image by filling in the other sections.
Adjust The Size And Shape
The resolution of an image dictates its overall quality and clarity.
You may have to make a few compromises here though to get the best results.
Why?
The higher the resolution, the bigger the file size.
Have you ever visited a website that seemed like it was taking FOREVER to load?
Consider this:
- On average, viewers will wait 1-3 seconds for a website to load on a laptop or desktop.
- This jumps up to 5 seconds for mobile devices
- Amazon recently discovered that if their pages are slowed by even 1 second, they lose $1.6 billion a year.
- Google takes page load time into account when ranking sites and search results.
Cropping
We pulled this side-by-side screenshot from blogger and avid WordPress user Tom Ewer.
Read the full article here:
https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/image-optimization-guide/?utm_expid=3606929-106.UePdqd0XSL687behGg-9FA.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
We’ve got the same subject being depicted in both images, but what a difference the crop makes!
You want your subject to really POP and grab the attention of your leads.
Aspect Ratio
This one’s pretty simple. The aspect ratio refers to the relationship between the image’s width and height.
The aspect ratio really comes into play more with video.
The most common aspect ratios for still-camera photos are 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9.
If you’re a LeadSite user, your real estate website images and the site itself are mobile responsive so your images will be scaled to fit perfectly across a variety of screens and devices.
Social Media Best Practices
You may also be wondering what you need to know to get the most out of the images you share and advertise across social media.
Save this cheat sheet as a quick reference!
You can also use already-made free templates on Canva for just about any social, digital, or print format.
This will stop you from ever having to second-guess your real estate website images again!
I hope this was helpful for you!
Leave any questions in the comments and we’ll get right back with you!