
Startups should use a quality photo editor
Startups should use a quality photo editor
No matter what form of online marketing you pursue you will have to use graphics in some shape or form.
For startups the fun begins when you have to format- edit- resize and optimise that great graphic you found to include in a post or sales page or on your social channels.
For a graphic designer, it’s all in a day’s work but for lots of people its work that has to be done regularly and can make the difference between something sticking out from the crowd as opposed to being dull or just boring. Admittedly, graphics are a matter of taste but getting the basics right matters.
Creating quality graphics is not per se easy and many do not have the luxury or financial resources to hire a graphic designer for daily or regular posting, be it on a website or social channels.
My post is directed at those starting out my advice being to avoid the shiny objects peddled online when it comes to graphics.
You will be bombarded online with all sorts of graphic Tools and Apps all promising to make the creation of graphics a breeze. My tuppence worth is to beware of false promises and shiny objects.
When I started out I fell for many products all because having had a look at Photoshop it seemed to be a nightmare and a complicated platform to use. Yes, I purchased a variety of graphics tools that promised a lot but delivered little were hard to use and never updated so beware of assertions like “photoshop killer” etc. Many of these apps and tools require a learning curve of their own some of which can be as difficult to learn as any of the basics of respected graphics editors. Many are simply rubbish.
Suffice it to say it dawned on me rather quickly that I had to conquer my fear of Photoshop and I dived in. What I can tell you is that the reality of it is that it is as complicated as you make it be, but the basic skills of cropping, resizing, compressing for web use are not in fact difficult at all.
Startups should use a quality photo editor – Which brings me to GIMP:
Rather than just repeat the GIMP official landing pages-features and benefits- I encourage you to visit the official site itself HERE or click the graphic above.
I used Photoshop for years, and made use of it daily, and whilst it cost me 12 euros a month or so it was never an expense I begrudged.
On a holiday abroad for a few weeks, I was using a secondary laptop on which I had installed GIMP but never used it so I decided to see how it compared to photoshop believing in my mind it was inferior because it was FREE.
No, it’s not, I now use Gimp every day and it does for me anything photoshop did for me. And my business monthly expenses are reduced by only a bit yes, but “every little helps” and for startups online it is a great graphics tool to learn and use.
If you would prefer to use photoshop, by all means, go for it as in honesty I cannot say anything bad about it as I used it for years (happily), and my ultimate point is to start out by learning how to use a quality graphics editor for your online needs as opposed to the shiny objects.

I specialise in helping Businesses who provide services , professionals , freelancers, health , wellness, local and Startups. Designing , Creating and Managing WordPress Sites. Presenting online workshops 1 to 1 training on zoom. Creating digital content blog posts , social video , social graphics and much more. The focus of my business is to help business to compete in the online space by creating customer focused content. I really enjoy teaching and helping business understand what to do and how to promote their businesses in the online space
Rosemary O Shaughnessy