But most contractors are nowhere near giving consumers the experience they are looking for. Here are a few tips on how you can use images to make your website’s visitors convert into sales leads.

Not every image must be shot by a professional photographer, but every image must look great. While a great image can make your phone ring, a bad image can actually do harm.

Some phones take great images, but a typical point-and-shoot camera will beat it every time. The optical zoom of a standard point-and-shoot camera will give you more flexibility to compose great images.

A good image gallery for an outdoor project needs between nine and 16 images to demonstrate enough details to the visitor. To get 16 good images of an in-ground pool, plan to shoot at least 100 pictures onsite. Take before, during and after shots of all the work you do. Take photos at wide angles and zoomed in; the perspective of each shot can create dramatically different images. Don’t post them all; choose only the best images to share with your visitors.

If you sell it, there is somebody looking to buy it. Don’t make visitors ask if you offer a particular service. Show them all that you do in bright, beautiful images.

Depending on your type of work, you may only need to do this for your biggest and best projects. Contractors specializing in large custom jobs should factor the cost of professional images into every project they complete. Professional photography can run from $100 to $1500 per shoot; choose the price range that is most appropriate for the work you are doing. There are a lot of great local photographers that can be found on Craigslist.

Search engines still cannot understand the content of an image on your website. Renaming files and adding relevant titles, metas and captions will help search engines lead more customers to your website.