JWilsonPix Business Spotlight: Meet Sadie Patton of The Brand Barn
JWilsonPix Business Spotlight: Meet Sadie Patton of The Brand Barn
Beautiful photos are just the beginning. Learn how to put your branding images to work on your website with our newest business spotlight!
I'm a big believer that small businesses are better when we support one another. Behind every small business is a real person, a whole lot of hard work, and usually a few cups of coffee keeping everything moving. 😂
That's one of the things I love about connecting with other women in business.
Today, I'm excited to introduce you to a new online business friend of mine, Sadie Patton, owner of The Brand Barn!
Sadie and I recently connected, and we're already cooking up some fun opportunities to collaborate and introduce our communities to one another.
And honestly, our businesses complement each other beautifully.
I help business owners get professional, personality-filled photographs that make showing up online a little less intimidating. Sadie helps business owners bring their brand, website, and social media presence together so their online presence actually works for them.
Because getting the photos is one thing. Knowing where to put them and how to use them? That's another!
I'm handing the microphone over to Sadie for today's guest feature. She's sharing some practical advice about getting those beautiful branding photos out of your downloads folder and onto your website, where they can actually do their job.
Take it away, Sadie!
How to Use Your Branding Photos on Your Website
By Sadie Patton | The Brand Barn
Your gallery just landed in your inbox, and there you are looking like the business owner you've worked SO hard to become. You scroll through it twice (okay, maybe three times), send a few to your mom, and open your website editor and think which one goes where?
Not knowing where to put your branding photos on your website usually means they end up sitting in a downloads folder. So let's get yours where they belong before they get buried.
Hi, I'm Sadie, and I run The Brand Barn. I handle the brand, website, and social for business owners, so their online presence works FOR them while they focus on what they do best.
Thanks to Jess for allowing me to guest on her blog! If you've worked with her, you already have some amazing photos, and now we need to make sure that the right people actually see them.
Each photo has a different job.
Each page of your website answers a different question for the person reading it. Your homepage answers am I in the right place?, your About page answers do I like this person?, and your services pages answer what is it actually like to work with them?
The right photo for each page is whichever one helps answer that page's question (even if it isn't your personal favorite from the shoot). Once you look at it that way, picking photos gets much easier.
You do NOT have to show your face.
If being on camera makes you want to hide under a blanket, SAME, and less has a whole post on what to do when you feel like you're not photogenic too.
Even if you'd rather not show your face, you still need photos, and you have SO many options. I don't show my face on The Brand Barn's website at all, so you'll find the back of my head, my desk, things around the farm, and my dog Walter instead.
What you show depends on you and what you do, and photos like these still tell people a real human is running the show:
- Your desk or workspace
- Your hands doing the work
- Your tools, products, or finished projects
- Your pet (in the right spot, like your About page)
- Your hobbies, or the place where you work
Your homepage doesn't need one giant photo.
A lot of people think the top of their homepage (the hero section, if you want the fancy term) has to be one big photo with words floating on top of it. You can do that, but it isn't your only option.
On my own website and on my client Ohana Farms of Georgia's site, the photo sits on one side and the text sits on the other, over a background in one of the brand colors.
I almost always put the text on the left (because we read left to right naturally), so people see who you are and what you do FIRST and the photo backs it up. Your headline never gets lost on a busy photo either, and your face (or your desk) never ends up hiding behind a button.
That said, a full background photo works too. Just make sure it's horizontal for desktop and doesn't crop oddly on mobile.
Spread your photos out, and don't repeat them.
Every page of your website needs its own photos for different purposes, and I wouldn't use the same one twice on a page (or ideally anywhere on the site).
I spread mine out so each page has a couple of pictures, and the page decides which ones fit. Here's what I mean by that:
- Your About page is where people decide if they like you, so it's a great spot for your warmest, most natural photo (or your dog, in my case).
- Your service pages are where the work shots shine.
- Your Contact page needs one approachable (not intimidating) photo.
And if you're not sure whether you need headshots or a full set of branding photos for all of this, Jess breaks it down in her post about branding photos vs. headshots.
Your website is NOT a photo gallery.
It's SO tempting to use every photo from your session, because you love them and you paid for them (and that's fair).
But people don't want to scroll through your website like the gallery you just got delivered to your inbox, and stacking photo after photo makes it hard to find the information they came for.
Unless the point of a section is showing off your work (think a baker's cakes or a builder's finished projects), you don't need a full gallery.
I mix my photos with little icons and shapes in my brand colors, so the site feels like The Brand Barn without looking like a whole photography deck.
Pick a handful of your strongest photos for your website and save the rest for social media (where you need fresh content all the time anyway).
A few boring (but important) things before you upload.
- Resize your photos before they go on your site, because full-resolution files are huge and can make your website slow to load (Wix especially can already run a little slow).
- Rename each file with what's actually in it, like "florist-arranging-wedding-bouquet.jpg" instead of "IMG_4827.jpg," so it's easier for you.
- Add a short alt text to each image (the hidden description that tells Google and screen readers what's in the photo), so people can find you and your site works for everyone.
So, where do your photos go from here?
Your branding photos are one of the best ways to show people the real business behind the logo, so let's get them out of that folder.
Remember to keep (most of) the stock photos out, give every page its own few favorites, and let your words and your photos work together instead of competing for attention.
If you want someone to handle the placing, the layout, and the words around them, that's exactly what my Website Build is for. I'll make your branding, messaging, and photos work together, so your website attracts the right people and makes it easy for them to reach out.
Ready to make your website work for you?
Visit The Brand Barn and start an inquiry!
A Little More About Sadie & The Brand Barn
Sadie Patton is the owner of The Brand Barn, where she helps business owners with their branding, websites, and social media so they can spend more time doing what they do best.
I love connecting with other business owners who understand that running a business is about more than simply having a logo or posting on social media. It's about creating an online presence that tells your story, connects with the right people, and makes it easier for potential clients to take that next step.
I'm so glad our paths crossed, Sadie, and I'm looking forward to what we create together!
Want to get to know her, too?
- Website: www.thebrandbarn.co
- Newsletter: Inside the Barn
And if you haven't checked out her newsletter yet, go take a peek!
A little reminder from JWilsonPix: Your professional photos aren't meant to sit in a folder collecting digital dust. They're tools to help people recognize you, connect with you, and remember your business.
And if you need help getting those photos in the first place, that's where I come in!
Until next time, keep showing up, keep connecting, and remember: you don't have to figure it all out alone. 💜
— Jess
JWilsonPix | Remote Headshots & Portraits
