Take a look at any blog and you’ll see that images are everywhere. Whether they’re stock photos, screenshots, or something else entirely, images can help improve your content’s readability and engagement levels. They also give you the opportunity to show off your skills as a designer (if you’re working on your own site).
Popular Tips
The right image could make or break a post – here are some tips on making sure you find the right ones every time.
High quality
The image should be clear and easy to see. If you’re trying to share an idea or explain something, then a blurry or pixelated image won’t help with that.
Visually Interesting
You want your readers’ eyes on your post — not off in the distance somewhere else entirely (or worse yet, at their phone). Make sure that whatever you choose will catch their attention and keep them engaged with what’s happening on the page.
Relevant
This one goes without saying! It doesn’t matter how gorgeous an image is if it doesn’t fit into what you’re discussing (or vice versa). If there’s even a hint of disconnect between what’s going on in the picture and what comes next in your post or article — keep searching until you find something better suited!
Crop the Image Right
Nothing is more irritating than a cropped image that doesn’t make sense or doesn’t show what you want your readers to see. For example, if you take a photo of a bird in flight, don’t crop the photo so that all we can see is part of its wing — crop it so that the bird fills most (if not all) of our viewfinder with its body visible and in focus.
We understand this might seem obvious but there are many photographers whose images appear crooked because their camera was tilted at an angle when they took them or they didn’t rotate their phone properly before snapping their shot! We know how frustrating it can be when you’re trying to share something awesome with people who don’t care about how good your photography skills are – they just want to see what cool thing happened last weekend.
Keep Your Images Consistent with One Another
Don’t use a different image style for each post, section of your blog, for each article, and even section of your website.
Add a Logo
- If you have a logo, adding it to your images is a great way to increase brand recognition.
- As part of an overall branding strategy, any time you can incorporate your logo into a new medium (like blog images) it’s worth doing so.
- A consistent look across all platforms will help build trust in your audience, which will ultimately lead to more sales down the line.
- Search engines use logos as part of their algorithm when determining rankings for certain websites, so incorporating an image with your logo will also help increase traffic from search engines like Google and Bing.
Try Using Animated Gifs
Animated gifs are a great way to add a bit of fun to your blog post. They can be used for a variety of purposes, from simple transitions to full-on videos!
Add Unique Illustrations
Instead of using generic stock photos, consider investing in an original illustration by a talented artist. This not only elevates the quality of your blog posts, but it also gives you more freedom to tell your story in a way that resonates with your audience. With an illustration, you can better match the tone of both the piece and its medium (text versus video versus audio).
When in Doubt, Upload Fewer Images
Use fewer images. “Fewer images, but make them really good.” This is a quote from the book Content Strategy for the Web, and I think it applies to blogs as well. When you have too many images in your blog post, they can become distracting and take away from your content. But when you only use one or two images per blog post (or even none at all), then you make them count — and if you get that balance just right, even high-quality photographs won’t distract readers from your message!
If you’re not sure how many images are enough for a given post, follow these guidelines:
- Make sure each one is relevant to its context (e.g., don’t use an image of pies if there’s no pie baking happening).
- Think about what kind of photos would resonate most with your audience.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article has given you a few ideas on how to use images in your blog posts. If you need more inspiration, check out our full library of free stock photos and illustrations on the Internet. People are constantly adding new images every day so it’s bound to be something fresh for all kinds of projects — from branding materials to social media graphics!