The Power of Visual Content for Blogs: Enhancing Your Posts with Images
Picture this: you’re scrolling through a blog post, and suddenly, a stunning image catches your eye. You pause, drawn in by the visual story it tells. That’s the power of visual content for blogs. Did you know that articles with images get 94% more views than those without? It’s no wonder savvy bloggers are harnessing this power to create content that not only informs but captivates.
Why Visual Content is the Secret Sauce of Successful Blogs
Did you know that your brain can process images 60,000 times faster than it can process words? That’s not just a little faster, that’s insane faster. They say that people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see.
I’m really hoping you remember more than 2 out of 10 posts on this site.
Visual content rules our lives – just look at the explosion of sites like TikTok and Instagram. Social media platforms just keep getting more and more visual every day.
Your blog is no different. You want to provide valuable content, but if it isn’t visually engaging, your chances of visitors reading it disappear. If you’re old enough to remember the early web, it was all text and pretty boring. Fascinating, but boring.
Now multimedia rich sites rule and the skills of the web designer have been replaced by the skills of the graphic designer.
Don’t worry, though; there are still people (like you and me) who read blog content and visit websites. With a little focus on making thing visually appealing, we’ll make sure we’re not the only ones.
Types of Visual Content to Supercharge Your Blog Posts
Visual content can come in several forms, and you should take advantage of them – not just to keep the viewer’s attention but also to convey valuable information. Great visuals become a part of the content. not just something added because you have to.
High Quality Images
Using high quality images as part of your content marketing strategy is pretty much a no-brainer these days. You want your blog to be pleasing to the eye, and you can use images to break up long sections of text and convey an overall theme to your blog post.
The visual content of the images you choose for your blog post should be high quality and visually appealing. You want to give your readers an image that will make sense and keep their attention so that they will remain on the page and continue reading.
Choose relevant images from stock photos or royalty free images – or if you have the knack, you can use original images that you have photographed. Free stock photos can be overused, so it’s advisable to join a stock photo web site to provide your visual content.
When you make it to the big time, you can hire your own professional photographer to do all of your photos.
Infographics
We talked about infographics in our recent post about repurposing old blog content and they can make great visual content for your blog posts. Infographics take text based content and use visuals to present it in an eye catching manner. Typically, they are simple to read, without a lot of fluff so that they can keep the attention of your reader.
Whether you’re repurposing an old post or creating something new, infographics are a great way to convey information quickly. Just remember, the search engines can’t read the image, so you’ll still want to create written content around it that will boost your SEO.
Custom Graphics
If you are handy with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or even Canva (the first two of those are Amazon affiliate links), you can make your own custom graphics for your posts. I knew a blogger that had a degree in graphic design and all of her visual content was built by hand. Originality does count, so if you can manage it, doing custom work will always be an excellent idea for your content marketing.
Most of us aren’t that talented though, which is why we flock to image sites like Freepik and Shutterstock.
Screenshots
If you’re writing how-to content, one of the best ways to provide visuals for your post is to use screenshots of what you’re trying to explain.
Screenshots are a great way to save time, but still have excellent visuals, because you’re using the look and feel of other websites or apps as part of your post. I use the LightShot screen capture extension for Chrome and I love it, especially when I need to quickly explain something online to someone else.
You also use screen video capture apps like Loom to make videos for your how-to posts.
Creating Eye-Catching Images: Tools and Techniques
There are a lot of tools available to help you create and edit visual content for your web page. While not everyone has the time or skill to be an Adobe Photoshop master, many simple online tools exist now to assist with your content creation.
Online Image Editors
If you need to edit your own photos or you want to design your own original graphics, there are many online editors these days that you can sign up for. Just to name a few:
Additionally, your mobile device probably has advanced photo editing features built-in or available through an app. AI tools are also popping up everywhere to assist with photo editing, graphic creation, and other image tools. I’ve been using Luminar Neo lately and have become pretty fond of it.
Stock Images
In the past, I was a big fan of the user-powered photo site Flickr, which allowed you to search for images licensed under Creative Commons and good for commercial use. Over time, however, I felt that the site became more of a photo storage site for users and the quality of the photos went down.
Since then I have been using Freepik for stock photos (it requires a membership, but it is not terribly expensive). Some other stock photo sites:
Depending on your niche and your personal skill level, one of these image sites should be enough for your website’s visuals. Just remember to check the rules and on each site for attribution and usage rights.
AI Image Generation
These days, AI images are everywhere and just about all of the stock photo and editor sites have a built in AI of some sort. Many writing tools also come with tools to create AI visuals for your post. Every day the images seem to get better and they are becoming more and more common for content creation.
Optimizing Images for SEO and Performance
We could spend hours discussing the optimization of your website’s static images. There are several plugins for WordPress that will automatically optimize your visual content, and I recommend you find one that works best with your setup. Your web host may also have some optimization tools already installed. Currently, I’m using Smush Pro, and I like the output.
You should also check with your web host to see if they have any CDN (Content Delivery Network) for serving images. You can get pretty geeky with this stuff and we’ll talk about the technical part of your blog in later posts.
Be sure to use file names for your visual content that help with your SEO. Naming files based on what they are and keeping in mind keywords is very helpful. Everyone develops their own system and style for file naming conventions. I have always used what-is-the-image.jpg as my format.
Use effective alt text and title tags to further enhance the SEO power of your visual content.
Integrating Visual Content Seamlessly into Your Blog Posts
Usually, when writing a new post, I will write all of the text, add links, review, and edit, before I go back and start adding images. Because of the theme I use for this site, I always set a featured image first, knowing it will be the main photo in the article. Check how your theme functions – I have used other themes that only use the featured image in specific ways, like a list of your articles, but don’t post it as the initial image. Your featured image should be something that ties into the theme of your article and gives the reader a sense of what they’re about to read.
Make sure your social media platforms are set up correctly so that the featured image is shown whenever you post links to an article.
How many visuals should you use in a post? There is no hard and fast rules for the use of visuals in your posts, but you should try to make it so that there is always an image viewable in some fashion no matter where you scroll to. These can be small graphics in sidebars or main photos in the article – you just want to keep things visually pleasing for your readers at all times.
Use pictures and graphics to break up large blocks of text – I usually scroll through and find spots where I feel there has been too long of a block of text and then find visuals that make sense for where I want to place it.
Once you have a “style,” stick with it. I tend to try and create a common look and feel through out my site so that everything feels like it belongs together.
Leveraging Visual Content for Increased Engagement
Because research shows that visual content is known to have a deep rooted effect on your brain, it would foolish not to use it as part of your content marketing strategy. Not only will it help keep long blocks of text from becoming too much for your visitors, but it will also be better remembered. The more interesting your visual content, the better. Make it memorable so that visitors are more likely to remember you – and visit again.
Those visuals will also help reinforce the points your making in your blog post. Whether you’re using screenshots to illustrate a step by step or an interesting photo as a break point in your content, the visual content you choose will help make your blog post more impactful.
If you’re really talented and artistic (or at least have a good eye), you can make emotional connections through imagery and take your content marketing to new heights.
All this talk of pictures and graphics – we should mention that videos, flip books, infographics, your latest SlideShare presentation – they all count as part of your marketing strategy. Just remember not to overload resource heavy items in your post as it can slow down your load times and send viewers packing.
Legal Considerations and Best Practices for Blog Images
Let’s talk copyright for a moment. It’s important to know that not everything on the internet is there for you to use. At least not for free.
Even items that you can use and share, might have limitations. Be sure you read the usage and attribution rules for any particular site. Some don’t require attribution if you’re a paid member, some do. Some allow free use of their content, but not for commercial use (and if you plan on making money on your site, you are a commercial enterprise).
Whatever you do, don’t google the visual you need and just right click and save as. This will land you in hot water – fast. I actually made the mistake of forgetting to attribute a photo I used and it took a few weeks, but I received a cease and desist letter. Lucky for me, the author was very understanding and allowed my use once I properly attributed it to him.
Just remember, someone worked hard making great visuals and they own the rights to those things. Don’t steal, don’t break copyright law, and give credit where credit is due.
PS “Fair use” is often incorrectly cited by people who take items to use from random sources on the internet. “Fair use” does not cover outright theft of photos from other sites and you won’t win that argument should you find yourself in court.
Making Your Web Site Visually Engaging Can Improve Retention
Don’t be afraid to make your site look good – jazz it up with some photos, videos, and other visual content and give readers something to look at. Don’t let them go cross-eyed reading page after page of text – leave that to the world of novelists.
Your online content marketing should always look interesting and pleasing to the eye. Pay attention to the details and give it a little dose of color by using photos and graphics throughout your writing. Use it to break up long pieces of text so you don’t lose readers’ interest. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try knew ideas for your content marketing, but try to keep things consistent throughout. Build a style guide to keep yourself on track so you don’t wind up with 50 different fonts, in 4 different sizes, in a rainbow of colors – don’t be that site.
Remember, your visual content can be used to convey information, easily explain concepts, show viewers exact steps you take – they are tools that should be used often and will help your content marketing go from blah to wow!
The power of visual content in enhancing your blog posts is undeniable. From boosting engagement to improving SEO, visual content is a vital tool in any blogger’s arsenal and should be a permanent part of your blog content strategy. By implementing the strategies we’ve discussed, you’ll be well on your way to creating a visually stunning blog that keeps readers coming back for more. Remember, a picture isn’t just worth a thousand words – it’s worth countless engaged readers, shares on social media, and a stronger online presence. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to unleash your creativity and watch your blog transform before your eyes.