How to Spice Up Your Blog Using Images

blog images

It’s been said that a picture is worth 1,000 words, but there’s a lot more to the science behind using images on your blog than an old saying. When there’s some type of colored visual involved, people are 80% more willing to read a blog post. About 46% of marketers believe the use of photos is a vital part of their marketing strategies.

With cameras in phones being more powerful, and the images that surround us every day, we’ve turned into a more visually driven culture than ever before. It only makes sense to incorporate more images into your blog.

Reasons to Add Images

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, adding images to your blog posts will:

Images create a balance on the page that’s visually pleasing. It also gives you more content without forcing you to write additional words.

Where to Add Images

When you’re just getting started adding images to your blog, it can be difficult to know just where to put them.

Posts with an image placed every 75-100 words garner about 30 more shares on social media than posts without the same number of images.

Position your lead image to the side of your opening paragraph. Readers are more likely to read content with an image that’s about half the width of the page and positioned to the side of the text.

There are also times when you can base your entire blog post off of one image. 12 Keys does this often when they post statistic-heavy infographics that tie in with whatever topic they’re covering.

Where to Find Images

You have a number of options when it comes to using images in your blog posts.

  • Buy images from a royalty-free stock site, such as iStockPhoto or Deposit Photo. Depending upon the size and licensing rights you choose, these photos will cost you a few dollars each.
  • Take photos of your products or projects. You will need a good backdrop and a high-quality camera where you can adjust settings to blur the background or take close-ups.
  • Use an inexpensive service like Fivvr to create unique images, headers, logos, etc.
  • Use free image websites such as Pixabay or use Creative Commons images to enhance your articles.

Great images don’t have to cost a lot of money, but you will also get what you pay for. One idea is to start with free images and then, as you can afford it, purchase higher-quality images for your blog.

Helpful Image Tools

Adding images isn’t always a piece of cake. You may need to resize an image, add text to it or crop it in an unexpected way. There are a few tools that will help you with these tasks:

  • LunaPic: Edit images for free online. Crop, resize, merge two images or add other special features.
  • Soliloquy: This is a slider plugin for WordPress blogs. You can add-on image sliders to any theme you already have in place.
  • Default Featured Image: Set a default image in case you don’t have one, or forget to add a featured image to a post.

Of course, there are many other tools out there, but just these three will give you a great start.

Spice up your blog by adding some images today! You’ll be surprised by how positively it can impact your bounce rate and feedback from site visitors.

Scott Huntington
 

Scott M Huntington is a writer, blogger, and small business owner. He has written for Forbes, Time, Inc, Business Insider, and many other sites. Follow him on Twitter @SMHuntington.