When using no stock photo is better

April 7, 2009 · Chris Peters

In some cases, it would be much better to have an empty space than a meaningless stock photo.

I’ve been ripping on other sites lately, but I’ve just been overly amused lately at the poor quality of these scammers’ sites.

Take a look at the primary photo used on the home page of BackLinkPageRank[1], a link exchange service.

Free Link Exchange, Link Swap and Link Trade Directory

What the hell does that photo have to do with their service? Are free link exchanges fun for the whole family? Will your little girl laugh with glee as you gain low-quality links back to your site?

I’m hoping that the designer of this site thought, “Well, it’s better than empty space.” Then they would have at least a little saving grace.

But in this case, a better choice would have been leaving the space empty.

[1]: This site doesn’t exist anymore (thankfully), so I am linking to the Wayback Machine archive.

About Chris Peters

With over 20 years of experience, I help plan, execute, and optimize digital experiences.

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