\”One of things you need to do if you are going to be engaging with readers is sometimes you need to move beyond words. There are so many other ways with content to tell a story you don\’t need to get hung up on words.\” –C.C. Chapman
Sometimes, You Need to go Beyond Words. Using Images in your Blog Posts, Social Media, and Website.
Unless you\’ve been living under a rock, you know that when it comes to social platforms and blogging, images are HOT. Pinterest has spoiled us. Raised the bar. It\’s lasered in on the fact people love looking at pretty pictures. PERIOD.
Why are they such a big deal? Here\’s just a few simple reasons why you should not only CARE, but actively start using vibrant, shareable images in your writing, blogging, and social media efforts.
Compact Impact:Heard the saying \”a picture is worth a thousand words?\” Not only is this true, images are a visual representations of information, ideas and inspirations. What better way to not only catch the attention of readers, but help educate, inform, and inspire in one quick glance.
Images help you stand out: Did you know studies have shown that an update on Facebook with a fun, funny, informative, or inspiring image (with text) is three times more likely to get engagement than an update with no image? There\’s a LOT of noise on the Internet and people\’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Images help take your presence and information \”up a notch.\”
Images can be branded to you: Creating a great text-based image that includes your name or website, one that gets shared again and again, is the equivalent to passing a virtual business card on the WWW.
They Got SEO Juice: No longer is content relegated to the written word. Google and other search engines love images. Plus these images are easily shared, which create more traffic for you on your blog or site.
Simplicity is good: A simple quote on a simple plain background is still more shareable (and will get more Likes and Shares) that just plain text typed in the update box. Using the ultra-reasonable tool ShareAsImage is a quick way to create images if you are lacking in time or creative talent.
What’s the best place on your site for an image?
Blog guru Darren Rowse has this to say:
I think that the best place is the beginning of a post (somewhere near the headline). It’s where the reader looks first, so if we want to help them to memorize anything, this is the placement to use. Of course, you can use more than one image in a blog post. So my recommendation is to use the first image at the beginning, and then spread other images evenly throughout the post so they do their job of breaking the post down visually.
Image 101: Always Credit the Source. There are basically three types of images you can use:
- Your own images
- Free images (MorgueFile, Creative Commons)
- Image you bought (iStock etc. Usually referred to as royalty-free images).
Attribution is a thing you need to have in mind when using free images. It depends on the license a given image is shared with, but what you usually have to do is to somehow attribute the image to its author or creator.
