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By winniewong on January 1, 2016
Do you know that other than content, images have an impact on your blog posts as well? Although it is said that content is king, but readers do not focus only on your content. As they read, they will also look at the images that you have featured in the blog post.
If your readers see that the title and featured image are not relatable, they wouldn’t click the link. That is why it is important to have images in your content rather than just plain words.
Readers will get bored of the plain black text, they will have the tendency to look at something colorful like images. Blog posts that contain fewer images tend to have lower traffic compared to the blog posts that contain more images. With images, visitors tend to stay longer on your site as well, which reduces the bounce rate.
Readers tend to consume better with images.
This has proven that images can actually affect a website. However, many of us are taking the importance of images in content lightly. In this post, I’ll be sharing with you guys on how you should choose the perfect images for your blog post without affecting your traffic.
Few months back, we used a lot of boring stock photos in our blog posts. Until we realized that our readers are not gaining any valuable information from those boring stock photos, we decided to make a change. We analyzed on what kind of images that the readers really interested in – what images keep the readers engaged?
From there, we have learned our lessons. Instead of just simply inserting random images that we found online, we use images that are relevant to our content. Because other than the headline, the first thing that the readers usually notice is the featured image.
Instead of using boring stock photos like this, why not take pictures of your actual workplace and co-workers, which will feel more intimate and real?
Although the stock photos were widely used last time, but we’re in the 21st century right now. Those boring stock photos are no longer effective.
Because stock photos have been used over and over again, audiences will get bored. Stock images won’t connect your audience with your brand. When I see an image, I will think of something right away. If it’s not your product, service, or business, then chances are that the photo has been used and it won’t be relevant to your content.
Stock photos don’t look authentic as well. Most of the stock photos are usually people sitting at a conference table with a white background smiling while having a conversation, which just looks staged.
Choosing the right images that are related to your content can actually help to gain more traffic to your site. At the same time, you are providing the readers with more information.
Just like how the psychology of colors can affect your marketing and branding, you should totally play with colors in your content and see the amazing results you’ll get.
Of course, there are images that are suitable to be used in your content, but there are also images that you should avoid using. Honestly, I would suggest to avoid stock photos if you can as it brings no value to your content and readers.
You have to choose an image that goes along with your post. Especially when you are trying to be serious, you should choose an image that really represents your content. The more realistic your image is, the better received the content of your post will be.
Sometimes, having a relevant image isn’t enough, you have to also make sure that your images can get the attention of the readers. It should be interesting. Since your featured image is often the first impression the visitors will have, it is important to choose those that are eye-catching and valuable.
Infographics are one of the best examples of images that you should use in your content. It allows you to compile all the information that you have so that readers can read it in just one image.
People understand more with infographics because images tend to leave a better impression compared to words. In this way, readers can also identify the focus of your topic easily rather than reading word by word because some may not have that much time.
Not only that, you are also proving to the readers that you are an expert on that particular topic. You have a well understanding about the topic that you can bring it out to the audiences. With infographics, readers get to absorb your information and it is also detailed enough for the readers to understand.
When you have used any images that you found online, be sure to give credits to your source. If you found a suitable image from the search engine image search, then follow the link to the website and look for the e-mail address. You can always send a quick message to the owner telling them that you have featured their images in your content.
Most website owners will appreciate it when you inform them rather than just using the images without crediting anyone. In this way, you can also earn a link, which helps in ranking.
In my case, I make sure to credit my source whenever I have used their infographics because I think that the creator deserves this credit. We shouldn’t take people’s hard work for granted and it is always ethical to inform your source.
For example, I have used an infographic from MarketDominationMedia in my previous post about 8 signs it’s time to optimize your content. Then, I tagged them on Twitter and informed them that I have used their amazing infographic in my content. After that, I received a reply from the founder and CEO itself.
Giving credits is also another way of building relationships with people who are in the same industry as you.
If you can’t get the images that you wanted, then create the images by yourself. Other than using Photoshop, there are also online tools that you can use. The free online tools that I use the most are PicMonkey and Canva. If you don’t need anything too complicated, even the simplest Paint can help to edit the images.
It is alright if your content didn’t get to be ranked on Google because you still have images. Who knows if you’re creative in designing images? Then people will find your images interesting and they will use it on their websites. When more and more people are using your image, Google will find your image relevant and reliable, and your image will automatically get ranked on Google image.
You can also compile your content and make it into:
Graph allows readers to visualize the information, which helps them understand it better.
Readers tend to trust you better when you backup your content with data. The most used data in content are mostly statistics, charts, and graphs, which you should try using it. It wouldn’t bore the readers at all because they believe in data. Give them a proof and they will believe that it is the truth.
If it’s not, then why do charts and graphs usually appeared in thesis and research papers? That’s because people only believe it when they see the results. If you have done any experiments before, note it down. The before and after, the results. People like to see the real thing.
Screenshots are another good way to help readers gaining more insightful information.
Having screenshots of your content is one of the best ways to present your content as well. Most people like screenshots because they can learn things by searching for tutorials such as how-tos.
Screenshots are like charts and graphs. When you have genuine results to be shown to the readers, they will find you reliable. Screenshot is also one way of showing the readers that you actually researched for that particular topic. In this way, you are also being resourceful for being able to present the information that the readers couldn’t find it by themselves.
Meme is entertaining even if it is just a simple image with a few words of text printed on it.
If you want to present your content in a fun and entertaining way, you can use memes. Memes are entertaining and almost everyone loves memes. Therefore, it is alright to include one or two memes in your content as long as it is not too much. Readers will feel like you’re not serious if you are adding too many memes in your content.
Internet memes have the potential to make the visual go viral easily. People find memes easy to consume as it is related to them.
You can also try to create your own meme by using the Meme Generator.
When you have done looking for the images that you wanted, it’s time to optimize the images. By optimizing, it means resizing your images, but still keep it in the best quality you can. It’s best to keep your images in less than 100KB so your website can load faster. There are also free tools on the Internet that can be used to resize your images such as PicResize (other than PicResize, there are also many alternatives to optimize your images.)
Resizing your images can help to speed up your website performance. To check how well your website is performing, you can check it out at PageSpeed Insights by Google.
You have to also make sure that you have inserted the ALT text in every single image that you have featured in your content. This is because images are not only important to avoid boring the readers, it is also important for your website optimization.
ALT text doesn’t only help in ranking, but it also allows the readers to know what your image is about when the image doesn’t load on a website.
Many people tend to ignore the ALT text because they think that it’s not important. But do you know that ALT text can help your images to rank in the search engines?
The purpose of ALT text is to let the search engines read our images. Human can see what the image is about, but search engines can’t. The only way for search engines to see your images is to fill up the ALT text so that search engines can scan it.
Therefore, you should always remember to insert the ALT text for Google bots to crawl your image in order to be ranked. Additionally, choose the right images to give extra information to your readers so that they will always gain something from your content.
One thing you need to know about ALT text is that, there is such thing as spammy ALT text. That could really affect your SEO and discount all your efforts poured into choosing that perfect image for you content.
There are thousands and millions of images online that we can use. However, which one is really the best to get more traffic to your website? You want to make sure that readers will be attracted and come back for more.
This is why we should never underestimate the effects of images have on our blog posts because images can really help to add value to our content. Insert the images sparingly in your content because too much or too less wouldn’t help. In SEOPressor, we usually do it in the ratio of 1 image per 100 words. If you are interested to know how to optimize your website, you can read up my blog post about 9 ways to optimize your on-page SEO.
Remember to always ask yourself, can the readers benefit from my images? With this question in mind, you will get the right idea on choosing the best images for your content and keep the readers coming back for more.
What other images that you would insert into your content so that readers can gain value from it? Do share it with me at the comment box down below.
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Updated: 17 November 2024
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