It’s usually a game of compromises, any benefits have their trade-offs. Let’s explore the top pros and cons of watermarking images.

Let’s dive in!

QUICK TIPS

1. Always include an email address on your Contact page

And make sure it’s an email link, so people can click on it to write directly in their default email client. Don’t make it text-only (without a link), that forces people to manually copy-paste it.

And worst of all, don’t make it just an image, making people type it in manually. I suspect a good portion of people won’t go through this hustle.

If you’re concerned with spam, looking into email obfuscation strategies you can implement. Still getting some spam? Think about it this way: it’s a small price to pay for making things easier for your visitors.

And make it professional: firstname AT yourdomain DOT com or contact AT yourdomain DOT com

It looks a lot more amateurish to see personal Gmail/Yahoo/etc. addresses, so consider creating an email account with your hosting provider (and then add it to your favorite email clients of course).

While we’re on this topic, don’t forget to follow the best practices for email signatures.

2. Never upload high-res images to your site

I’m going to try to do a video exclusive, I’ll try to act as an image thief, sort of a hacker if you want, just to prove the point. 🕵️

Nothing fancy, I’ll just be trying to find larger images in the source code of websites, just to see how quickly you can get access to original files on some popular platforms.

Check out the video to see me do this for WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix:

The exception is when you’re running an eCommerce site where you do need high-res images for prints and downloads, in which case your platform should provide the security and not expose the full-res images.