Images are a crucial element of any blog or social media post. It is also commonplace for blogs and social media platforms to require its users the use of images, graphics, and interactive content to produce engaging and valuable entries. Online users typically look at the layout, design, and images before they decide to fully commit in learning more about your content and the rest of your site. With this in mind, it’s important to learn how to create and pick good images for your blog and social media platform.
Why should you place high priority on images, you ask? Apart from high-quality articles, you can’t ignore the importance of having images that are of excellent quality, too. Great images and graphics truly go a long way, especially if your goal is to gain traction or amass a solid following in the long run.
Images are responsible for creating emotional connection between a blogger and the target audience. Graphics activate the part of the brain that handles feelings and memories. No matter of how compelling an article is, it’s easier for the brain to retrieve good images. A blog with well-produced images can increase traffic to your blog or social media site by up to 12%. For instance, Facebook posts that incorporate images receive 100% more comments, as well as an increase in engagement rate up to 93% and 60% more likes. Furthermore, studies reveal that posts with quality images is a key determinant for consumers before purchase any product or service online.
So, what should be inside your toolkit?
1. Good Photos
Obviously, you need to have good images for your blog or social media platform. There are millions, if not billions of images online to choose from. Your selection is narrowed down by a few criteria. Apart from your chosen topic or industry, bloggers need to determine if they are willing to invest on images to make them site more attractive.
You can choose from free, premium or paid, and if you have the skills and tools, you may create them yourself, too.
Free Images
If you are a beginner, it’s quite understandable if you opt to choose from free sites. We will concentrate on three sites when you can download and upload images without spending a penny.
- FREEIMAGES.COM
- UNPLASH
- FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
These sites never run of great quality images to download. You can choose from abstract images to amazing photos of everything and anything under the sun. The infinite selection of images on these sites can be sorted easily. Simply type in the image you need and then will generate a series of images for you to choose from. Most often, you are required to attribute the images you’ve chosen to its photographer by simply copying the text link that comes with the images.
Paid Images
There are sites that provides access to high-resolution images for a price. Most of these websites require its users to pay subscription on a monthly basis. Typically, there are no lock-in periods for these sites, so you can cancel anytime.
- 123RF
- BigStock
- Corbis Image
- DepositPhotos
- Dreamstime
- Fotolia
- Getty Images
- iStock
- Shutterstock
Creating Your Own Images
If you want to use pictures that you took, drew, or created online, you may use tools and software programs that will help you optimize them for blogs and social media sites. You can also make the necessary changes and enhancements on images, too.
- Canva
- Fotojet
- GIMP
- PicMonkey
- Snappa
- Visme
2. Understand the Function of Each File Format
Images can be saved in different file formats, with majority of them optimized for blogging purposes. Despite this, it should also be noted that each of these file formats has their own specifications. Here are some of them:
JPG or JPEG
The most common format used for digital images and is ideal for small-sized graphics and photos. The only drawback is that smaller-sized photos usually means poor file quality.
GIF
This is the best format used to save animated images and memes. If you have the tools to properly organize and generate a series of frames to create basic animation, you’ll need to save in this file format.
PNG
Photos saved on PNG format maintains good image quality, transparency, and other vital details. You save files on PNG format if you want to integrate more elements into an original image.
TIF
This is the preferred file format among professional photographers and graphic designers as it stores high-pixel intensity and quality images.
BMP
This file format is a great option for printed images as it upholds the vibrant color and quality of images.
You will most likely be using the JPG for your blog or social media platform. But if you want to create images from scratch, we highly recommend using PNG and TIF file format as they offer more flexibility while giving you all the creative tools you need to polish and refine your work.
3. Add Color and Detail
If you want your image to stand out, you need to perform a few more steps. You can use plugins and themes that you can access on your blogging platform to add much-needed detail to your images. Adding more color or adjusting some of the specs of the images will make them more attractive to visitors.
4. Icons
Icons need to complement or match the theme of your blog entry or social media post. If you’re not keen on adding images, you may use icons to make your platform unique. There are also bloggers who refer to use icons as they are more abstract, neater, and cleaner to look at. They grab your attention in the same way as images, do.
5. Typeface
Making the typeface or fond interesting is yet another way of boosting your blog’s overall image. You may use one font or a combination of fonts to make your title stand out from the rest of the article. You may also place your chosen typeface on top of an image that you downloaded or created.
6. Digital Graphics and Image Creation
There is something special about creating images for your own blog or social media post instead of depending on free image sites. If this is the case, you may download drawing apps online and doodle away. If you have digital pen or your iPad to be your virtual paper and brush, you may consider purchasing software programs such as Paper53. You can replicate traditional drawing experience without getting your hands dirty.
Lastly, when creating images to upload to your blog or social media platform such as Facebook, make sure to choose images that are relevant or connected to your entry. High-resolution images are a waste especially if it does not connect well with your topic. This may also lead to some confusion among your visitors. Matching the images based on your blog’s written entries are imperative if you want to rank higher in SERPs. Quality content is a combination of relevant written content and images. To increase traffic, authority, and profitability, make sure to remember the tips we enumerated above.