Fresh content is king in today’s Internet world. It’s a never-ending challenge to stay at the top of online search results. New before and after pictures can boost search engine optimization (SEO) for your plastic surgery practice. New content and before and after pictures also come with a price—thievery.
It’s said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. While that may be true in some situations, it isn’t true in others. It’s definitely not true for before and after pictures. You don’t want another surgeon to use your before and after pictures. Nor do you want to see them on other websites, etc. without appropriate attribution.
Take some precautions to protect your before and after pictures as well as other images. While there’s never a 100% foolproof way to protect online content, here are some techniques that can help you.
Watermark Before and After Pictures
Create a watermark with the name of the surgeon or plastic surgery practice. Then, apply it as a layer to your photos. You can do a small watermark in the middle or a series of watermarks that cover the picture. It doesn’t interfere with viewing the image, but it does create an artistic challenge for picture thieves.
Turn off Image Copying
Most people download images via right clicking on the picture and saving it to their computer. You can turn off the right click in your HTML code to deter image thievery. It’s not foolproof because there are other ways to download images, but this technique will stop many people.
Add a Transparent Layer
Want to drive some image thieves crazy? Try adding a transparent layer over your images. When the image is right-clicked to save, thieves get the transparent image – not your image. Of course, they can get the image, but it takes a little ingenuity on their part.
Why doesn’t everyone protect his/her website and social media images? It takes extra time. Again, no method is foolproof. Many would-be thieves will go on to easier prey, but a few may still spend the time to swipe your images. Be vigilant of this so that you can request a “cease and desist” from anyone who steals your images.
If you or your staff aren’t familiar or don’t have the software to work with images, ask your marketing agency for assistance. Here at PUMC, we’ll be glad to help you set up protection for your before and after pictures and other marketing images that you may be use. Give us a call if you need more information on protecting your images.