A study conducted by Microsoft in 2015 revealed that the already-meagre average attention span of consumers has plummeted down to eight seconds – one second less than that of a goldfish. Although later studies did concede that the human attention span still remains a mystery. If you’re an Entrepreneur and willing to launch your business website, you need to understand the prowess of mesmerizing backgrounds to keep your customers entranced and compel their flickering gaze to focus.

In an era of simplicity and minimalism– the epitome of a modern web design, as some may call it – the background is often a key feature of design that conveys any sense of branding. A background image forms the first impression that your customer has of your website, and dictates their attention spans. Here, high-resolution backgrounds serve to grab the attention of your users and keep them glued to the website. The right image can fascinate the user to stick to your website and know more about your brand.

You might be wondering, how much is there really to it? So we challenge you to go through this list of possibilities for your background images and see what ticks with you. Here are some tips that can help you create beautiful backgrounds and leave your customers in awe!

Create a Link With Your Audience

What do the top 10 most watched ads of the year 2017 all have in common?

They know how to evoke the right emotions in their audience. Emotional branding has been, and will always be, used to create an emotional appeal for the users, but one more thing that is subliminally affecting the user is the high-resolution wallpaper on your website.

Choose an image that establishes a connection between your website and the user at a glance, by creating a positive association with your brand. If you have a real estate website, you can choose a stunning landmark in your city to represent the locality. Furthermore, a moving image can create an interesting perspective and make your background stand out. If you are confused between various beautiful wallpapers, you can run a slideshow in the background to keep the user long enough on your website to know what you are all about.

Find Free High-Resolution Background Images Online

Regardless of how low your website budget is, if you can spare a few pennies on procuring striking and pertinent background images, you can make your website pop. No need to hire a professional photographer to garner high-resolution backgrounds. There are plenty of online tools that can get the job done in a hassle-free manner. Run a rampant Google search, and you will get various free HD stock photos that you can leverage as high-resolution wallpapers.If you want a product photo on your background, you can do that as well by using free online image editors.

Pro Tip: Use tools such as TinyPNG or TinyJPG to optimize HD images without impacting the image quality.

Choosing the Right Size for the Image

This is one of the most overlooked factors which makes all the difference and lends a more professional look and feel to your website. You can try to crop off the extra space in the background in order to turn the focus on your product. Since the minimum resolution of laptops is 1024×768 pixels, it is recommended to use an image size of around 2,000 pixels. Uploading an image that is lower than the minimum resolution can result in that 80’s style pixelated look.

The Much-Appreciated Video Backgrounds

Ditto Residential – a property development company- took the liberty to strike the right balance between breathtaking background and the product being sold. If you’re starting a website design agency, you can show images in a slideshow, displaying your products in a movie reel. Or you can show your work in progress or behind-the-scenes happenings of your brand.

To incorporate a video to your website, you’ll need to choose a clip from either YouTube or Vimeo. You can also grab some royalty-free video clips from sites such as Pond5 or AllTheFreeStock.

If you’re a UAE based website design agency, why not flaunt the different exotic travel spots in our city. You can compile a video out of those images and we can display it on your website.

Use a Solid Color Background Image

If you’re still confused as to what images you want to use on your website, you can always play it safe. You can use colors that match your industry and the impression that you’re willing to create for your business. Even better, accompany Those beautiful backgrounds with some light music in the backdrop.

However, beware that a solid background may also impact the visibility of your text, so if you really want visitors to just focus on your content, a plain white background can suffice. The added white space gives your website a clean and more elegant look to reflect a more traditional or serious business.

To Wrap it all Up

Never over estimate the power of a striking background. Use your background imaginatively and your visitors will go away with a positive impression of your business. So try to see what works best for you and have fun experimenting with different options!