This document provides tips and best practices for optimizing photography for digital strategies and social media. It discusses using high quality images that load quickly to improve user experience and engagement. It recommends sources for stock photography and tips for file formats, sizing, compression and SEO optimization of images. Lastly, it gives suggestions for using images effectively on Instagram to build brands and engage audiences.

1. OPTIMIZING PHOTOGRAPHY
FOR DIGITAL STRATEGY
User Experience, Lead Generation & Social
Jared Beasley - Creative Director, Istoria

2. We operate in an image-driven web.

3. USER
EXPERIENCE
Delight your users.

4. THE BIG PICTURE, WHAT ARE WE AFTER?
The right image served up super fast.
➤ Beautiful imagery adds credibility
➤ Emphasizes post title and text
➤ Triggers reader to view post
➤ Used in OpenGraph tags, helps sharing
➤ Fast loading time saves lives
➤ Retains readers
➤ Makes you feel awesome

5. WHERE TO GET THE RIGHT IMAGE
➤ Premium Stock Websites
➤ istockphoto.com, gettyimages.com, stocksy.com
➤ Free Stock Websites (CC)
➤ photopin.com, pixabay.com, stockvault.net
➤ Google Search
➤ Click usage rights under images / more tools
➤ Take the Photo Yourself

6. WHAT TYPE OF IMAGE TO USE?
➤ File Formats—3 Primary types of images on the web
JPG Unlimited Color Palette*
Offers Most Room For Compression
PNG Offers Transparent Background
Uses Lossless Compression - Larger File Size
GIF Mostly Used for Animated Images
Forces Colors into a 256 Color Palette, Limited Transparency

7. HOW TO OPTIMIZE IMAGES FOR THE WEB
➤ Photoshop - Save for Web and
Devices
➤ Could use GIMP, ImageOptim,
RIOT, Fast Image Resizer
➤ 72dpi, RGB, 60% quality
➤ Shoot for Good Balance
(quality vs. image size)
➤ Tip: Add heavy fade or overlay
to reduce image size
➤ Try tinypng.com for png
compression
BEFORE YOU UPLOAD AFTER YOU UPLOAD
➤ Optimize for SEO: Proper file
name, title, alt tags, caption,
description (lead generation)
➤ Wordpress Plugins
➤ Smush.It
➤ Lazy Load
➤ W3 Total Cache
Photoshop break?

8. HOW IS MY SITE PERFORMING?
➤ Google Pagespeed
➤ developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed
➤ Pingdom Speed Test
➤ tools.pingdom.com/fpt
➤ Yahoo
➤ yslow.org
SPEED OPTIMIZATION PLUGINS
➤ Minit
➤ Remove Query Strings From
Static Resources
➤ WP Optimize

9. LEAD
GENERATION
Capture users, cultivate fans.

10. PHOTOGRAPHY SEO - EXTENDING YOUR REACH
➤ Pick the right file name
➤ Make sure image dimension matches the image size displayed.
➤ Add a caption for easier scanning of the page
➤ Use an image alt text, title is optional (Make sure the alt text includes
your SEO keyword and relates to / describes the image)
➤ Add OpenGraph and Twitter Card tags for the image
➤ Be conscience of your EXIF Data
➤ Use images in your XML sitemap
➤ It all comes down to this: if you want your photo’s to tell a story,
please tell that story to Google in writing.
➤ An image that is surrounded by related text, ranks better for the
keyword it is optimized for.

11. PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG POST OPTIMIZATION
➤ Relevant Title, Including Names and Location
➤ Relevant Featured Image That Is Gorgeous, Hopefully :-)
➤ Use Proper Blog Category and Tags
➤ Text Content Describing Shoot
➤ Display Photos So They Tell A Story
➤ Give Credit To Assistants or Thanks to Vendors
➤ Link To Store
➤ Optimize Post for SEO
➤ Example From My Blog?

12. SOCIAL
PHOTOMEDIA
How to conquer Instagram with
images that tell your brand story.

13. HOW TO CONQUER INSTAGRAM
➤ Should I Insta?
➤ Engage With the Community
➤ Follow, like, comment, respond, hashtag
➤ Be social
➤ When to Post?
➤ Post. Test. Learn.
➤ Iconosquare provides analytics.
➤ Collaborate
➤ Reach out, tag, create with others

14. INSTAGRAM DO’S AND DON’TS
➤ Have a private profile
➤ Post too many personal images
➤ Use multiple images to create a gallery
image
➤ Post too many images per day
➤ Beg for likes and/or followers
➤ Use irrelevant hashtags
➤ Spam people, or hashtags
DO DO NOT
➤ Choose an Account Name tied to your
business
➤ Put your location in your profile
➤ Be consistent, think gallery
➤ Include location on images when possible
➤ Be personable in your captions
➤ Use hashtags like a crazy person, in a
comment immediately after your post
➤ Reward followers (deals, insight, freebies)
➤ Run contests
➤ Include employees
➤ Connect w/ Facebook and your website
➤ Have a content calendar

15. GOOGLE
CHROME
THAT JANK
Some extensions to make your
browsing experience more productive.

16. MY TOP 10 FAVE EXTENSIONS
1. Last Pass
2. StayFocusd
3. Adblock Plus
4. Awesome Screenshot
5. ColorZilla
6. WhatFont
7. Grammarly
8. Sidekick by Hubspot
9. Whisker for Gmail
10.Boomerang for Gmail

17. RESOURCES & LINKAGE
Helpful Articles
elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/optimize-images-for-your-wordpress-website
wpexplorer.com/optimize-images-wordpress-guide/
premium.wpmudev.org/blog/why-trying-to-get-95-on-google-pagespeed-insights-will-drive-you-mad/
premium.wpmudev.org/blog/speeding-up-wordpress/
digitaltrends.com/computing/whats-the-difference-between-a-gif-a-jpg-and-a-png-file/
yoast.com/photography-seo and yoast.com/image-seo
http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-manage-instagram-in-20-minutes-a-day/
Plugins For Improved Image Performance
Image compression - wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/
Lazy load - wordpress.org/plugins/lazy-load/
Caching - wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/ (enable Gzip)
Speed Optimization Plugins
Clean up WP database - wordpress.org/plugins/wp-optimize/
Resources For Instagram
Analytics and desktop functionality - http://iconosquare.com/
Track hashtags across platforms - https://tagboard.com/
Track follower interaction - Followers+ (mobile app)
* My plugin guiding principle: Use as few as possible. Test after each one is installed.

18. HOLLER AT ME:
JARED BEASLEY
Email: jared@istoria.co
Agency: istoria.co
Photo: jaredbeasley.net
Twitter: @jaredbeasley
Insta: @jaredcbeasley
Insta Hub: @757Collective

19. FIN