Using images will make your blog posts stand out from the crowd and thus grab the reader’s attention. This will enhance their chances of reading through the content, which is likely to increase your followers, subscribers and leads. The good news is that there are numerous sites where you can find free images to use. However, attracting traffic to your blog is not just about grabbing random photos and inserting them in your posts. You need to have a strategy.
Here are some great tips for using images in your blog posts:
One of the things people look for in a site is fast loading times. If your pages take too long to load, many visitors might not be patient enough to wait. One of the main reasons for slow loading sites is large images. Therefore, to speed up your site, be sure to optimize your images. You can use tools such as ImageOptim, KrakenIO and Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT) to resize and compress your images.
In addition, you need to optimize your images for search engines. Be sure to add alt text which contains keywords to your images. This will enhance the ranking of your pages. Don’t forget to change the file name of your image before uploading it.
It would be advisable to be consistent in the way you use images in your blog posts. For example, you can choose to align all your images to the right or left. Alternatively, you could use images which cover the entire width of your content area. Placing images in a consistent manner will make your posts look organized and thus enhance the user experience for your readers.
The human brain processes information much faster when it is presented in form of a picture. Therefore, instead of writing conventional blog posts, you could use infographics instead. This will increase engagement with your audience. Tools such as Venngage, Canva, Piktochart and Visme come with templates which you can use to create amazing infographics within minutes.
Most people use images that are linked to external sites. However, if such external sites decide to remove the images from their servers, they will no longer appear in your blog posts. In addition, if they feel that you are using a lot of their bandwidth, they could prohibit you from linking to their site. To avoid all this, it would be advisable to host the images on your own server.
One of the most effective ways of engaging your audience is by using photos of people in your blog posts. It would be advisable to use photos which focus on the face since this will allow you to connect emotionally. For example, if you are writing about a product, using the image of a person will help prospects not only see it but feel it. As much as possible, it would be advisable to use images of real people rather than generic stock images.
Like this article? Read further on the topic: Six tools for generating perfectly sized images for social media
