Adding images to your blog posts is one of the simplest, easiest and most effective things you can do to grab and hold the attention of your readers, make your blog articles easier to read and make your blog look better.
What it means to have photos in your blog posts
It is surprising that many bloggers do not use images. By using them you can differentiate your blog and make your blog articles memorable to your visitors. Images enhance your blog posts in several ways:
- Images can improve the look of a blog post and make it look more professional
- Images capture attention and make your content visually appealing
- Images make your blog content more scannable and easier to read
- Images add to the reading experience and improve usability
- Images get your readers more involved into your blog post
Where to find images to use in your blog articles
You need to find images that you are permitted to use. By using Flickr you can narrow your search results to the Creative Commons license only.
With creative commons license you are free:
- to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to Remix — to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
- Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
This basically means that you can use any of the images you find in creative commons as long as you credit the source with a link. I usually credit the source of my image with “image by” link at the end of my articles.
Styling the images to optimize the look
Flickr gives you several sizes for each image. When you find an image you want to use click on “All Sizes” and this will bring you to the Available Sizes menu. I usually go for the 500 pixels wide option as that fits well with my blog content column.
When you have your image, Wordpress makes it easy to upload it to your server and to align with your content. Use the “Add an Image” option in the menu when writing new post.
Use a filename that includes the keyword phrase. Also make sure the image title tags have relevant keywords in them. You can also use descriptive text near the image by writing an image caption. All this will help you index in Google Image Search and hopefully send you new traffic.
Some of the images you find can be pretty large. And if you use one image per blog post, it can add up and make your blog slow to load. Photoshop has the “Save for web & devices” option which can drastically reduce the size of your images. The two images I used in this post have been reduced to about a third of the original size without losing much quality.
Conclusion
Having images in your blog posts and having an eye-catching blog header can bring your blog to another level. Try it out, your readers will like it!
Image by James Wicks
Join thousands of bloggers and get all my blogging tips for FREE! Subscribe to HowToMakeMyBlog via RSS or via e-mail.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello!
I’ve been using images in my posts – it’s an extremely powerful way to catch attention, as studies have shown it slows down the eye.
I’ve also found it gives a tone to your post, gives it a soul. It’s more than just text. I think images are part of a good post.
Keep it up Marko!
Anthony
@ Anthony Parkes – Thanks for the comment! Do you have any links to these studies? I would be interested in reading about it.
I just started doing this about a month ago and it makes a huge difference!
The image you select is another important creative decision that plays an important role in crafting the message you’re trying to send…
Marko,
I’ve been able to find the results of the study (it’s quite technical), and they’ve also tested how font size and face affect users.
Pictures were divided into 3 sub-categories: white space, ads, and regular pics.
See the results here:
An Eye Tracking Study of How Font Size, Font Type, and Pictures Influence Online Reading (it’s a PDF)
By the way, thanks for following me on twitter
Anthony
Don’t forget the rel”external nofollow” tag to improve link juice, and even just a simple alt=”" tag! Blank! yes! Nothing else.
Adding images definitely is a way to make your blog posts look more appealing.
I have a great Wordpress plugin I use called Photo Dropper
Basically this is a plugin that will allow you to search flickr.com for creative commons photos directly from your Wordpress control panel. The coolest thing is once you find the photo you want to use photo dropper will automatically create all the code for you as well the necessary link back to the author.
Thanks for all comments!
@Gerald Weber – Looks like a great plugin that can save a lot of time and improve productivity. Thanks for the link!
I agree, I totally love to see photos on blogs, especially if they are perfectly integrated with the text.
But personally I have been struggling with that, I never get a photo there where I want it without messing up my text. And I usually end up getting them all out. Maybe I should just keep it with one at the time.
So all the more I like blogposts that do have photos, especially if the colours go well with the theme.
I use Images in my every post!
I think that images might help you to improve overall functionality of your blog. I really hate when I come to an article that includes only text with no images at all!
Images are as mentioned very important on your blog and website. Normally I reccomend to have images of people on websites, as this gives a human face to your business.
I more or less feel the same way about blogs ..
But I like alle well designed blogs .. like this blog.