Photo by Maria Shanina on Unsplash
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin – What do all of these have in common? They all want your picture. They want other people to see who you are and what you look like and finally match a face to that name. Why? It helps people understand. Just like your profile picture can help people understand who you are, pictures in your blog help readers have a deeper understanding of what you are talking about.
We live in a visual culture where people need images to gain interest. That’s exactly what your blog can provide. Pictures can help break up large groups of text to keep readers interested which leads to a higher level of traffic on your site. If you use pictures effectively, you can stir up a sense of emotion in your readers and engage them in the story you are telling. Take a look at these quick tips to help your blog gain the attention it deserves by effectively using pictures to draw in readers.
Make your pictures relevant to your story.
The purpose of adding pictures to your blog is to make the story more interesting for readers. In order to do that, you have to make sure your pictures are relevant to the topic! Let’s say you’re writing about why people should be thankful during thanksgiving… you wouldn’t add pictures of the summer Olympics or kids sitting with the Easter bunny. You want to have pictures that add value to the content. Things like family, turkey, and football may be things that people think of when they think of Thanksgiving.
Pictures can sometimes be the first and last things readers see – don’t you want them to make a lasting impact? Intentional and carefully selected photos can persuade readers read through the whole piece, not just skim and look at a couple of words. Having relevant pictures will only serve as an advantage for gaining more attention while also encouraging readers to come back for more.
Quality and Resolution
There aren’t many things worse than clicking on a link to find a website or blog with terrible picture quality. When we refer to resolution, we are talking about the pixels per inch. If you try and take a photo from the internet and blow it up to fit into that perfect space in your blog, there is a good chance that it is going to be disappointingly low quality photo and turn readers off. How do you keep from doing this? Sometimes you have to make a choice.
Pictures with higher resolution (more pixels per inch) will look better blown up to size, but they will also be a larger file. If you are short on space, adding an extra large picture to be the centerpiece of your blog might not be the best option. However, if you can find a picture that is good quality and isn’t too big of a file, more power to you. The best option is always to find a high resolution picture and draw it down a bit rather than doing the opposite, downloading a small picture to try and blow it up.
Whenever people come to your website, they want to see pictures that represent what they are reading and are also easy on the eyes. If you can follow both of these guidelines, you will be on your way to building a loyal audience that will continue coming back for more.
Some final advice
Pictures are an extension of you; therefore, make them something that will have a lasting impact on the reader. Good, quality images will make your content more refreshing and interesting to readers which will eventually lead to more traffic on your website. So, if you find yourself adding pictures on your site just to add them – take a step back and think of the value you could be adding. A little extra effort might just be worth it now, huh? Let your readers see a little piece of your personality whenever they see the pictures on your website and help them become more interested in the story you are telling.