Warning: Using stock photos on my firm's site backfired hard

I switched from real team photos to generic stock images 6 months ago to save time. A potential client told me they almost didn't call because they thought we were a fake outfit. Has anyone else had trust issues with stock photography in Edmonton?

3 comments

3 Comments

victorh8127d ago

Did the stock photo people show up to the meeting wearing suits and fake smiles too? Sounds like your website was cosplaying as a legit business.

murphy.mason27d agoMost Upvoted

so I had a buddy who runs a small plumbing company out in Sherwood Park and he tried the same thing. threw some generic stock photos of "plumbers" on his site and a customer actually showed up to his shop looking for the guy in the picture. turned out it was a stock photo of an actor from some old TV commercial. my buddy had to explain that no, that guy doesn't work here, sorry. and definitely what @avery_ross said up there, swap that stuff out asap. it just screams "we're hiding something" even if you're not. people in Edmonton especially notice that kind of thing, we're a pretty skeptical bunch. losing a client over a stock photo is way worse than the effort of snapping a few real pics on your phone.

avery_ross27d ago

Cosplaying as a legit business" is exactly it. Swap one photo for a real team shot asap.