You are a writer and not an artist, so why do you need to add pictures to your blog post? According to stats by MOVABLE INK, our brains were built for visual information.
HOW?
- The brain processes visual information at a staggering rate, with 90% of all information processed by the brain being visual. In fact, it takes a mere 13 milliseconds for the human brain to process an image, which is 60,000 times faster than text.
- Studies show that people remember 80% of what they see, compared to only 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read.
- In a recent survey, 95% of B2B buyers preferred shorter and more visually appealing content.
- Publishers that incorporate visual content into their platforms see a 12-fold increase in traffic growth compared to those that don’t.
- Furthermore, research suggests that most people only read between 20-28% of the words on a page, with 55% of website visitors spending less than 15 seconds actively reading.
So, it’s safe to say that most people don’t read text.
However, surprisingly most writers don’t understand the importance of adding images.
Is it you? then this post is your perfect match
Let’s begin!
Table of Contents
10 KEY POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE ADDING IMAGES TO YOUR BLOG
1. BREAK YOUR MONOTONY
Text becomes hard to read if written without any pictures. Readers will try to find another resource if your content contains text and no pictures. Let’s have a look at the following example:
Picture 1
Picture 2
The text displayed in Pictures 1 and 2 is the same, yet Picture 2 is immeasurably more readable.
Why?
The simple answer is: only because of pictures! This is the power of using images in your blog post over a wall of text. Nobody likes to read black-and-white walls of text!
2. DON” T USE BLURRY PICTURES
Be very careful with the quality of the images that you use! Just like quality content, your readers want to see quality images too. Look at the image below-
Which image do you like?
The right one!
Clearly, including poor-quality images is just as bad as including no ones. So, always use Good, Quality HD images for a seamless reader experience!
3. USE COPYRIGHT-FREE IMAGES
Writers, bloggers, and students are often penalized for using others’ images without giving them any credit. You need to be very careful while using any image from the internet. Mentioned below are different kinds of legal images that you need to know:
- Royalty-free: Royalty-free images aren’t free, as the name suggests. With a royalty-free image, you can use it as you choose, but you are not allowed to edit or resell it.
- Rights Managed: Normally, with these images, you purchase a single-user license for the particular image in question. You have to decide before you use it just how you plan to use it. For example, if you use one of these images in your blog post, you can’t use an image in a video. You would need to purchase an additional license.
- Public domain: Public domain images have no restrictions. There is no requirement for seeking permission before using these images, and while it is typically recommended to provide attribution, it is not obligatory in any way.
- Creative Commons: Images While creators often grant access to images, providing credits to the creator is typically necessary.
You can buy or use good-quality images referring to the owner to save yourself from any enigma.
4. KNOW YOUR RESOURCES
You can be easily spoiled for choice these days! Therefore, you need to know your resources clearly. Here are a few choices that you may want to consider:
- Unsplash is where you can copy free images without referring to the owner
- Pixabay is similar to Unsplash and gives you free images for use
- Shutterstock is a hub of over 200 million royalty-free images to buy from.
- Pexels has a wide variety of royalty-free images licensed under Pixel.
- iStockphoto has a variety of affordable HD images at affordable prices.
5. COMPRESS YOUR IMAGES
Don’t use heavy images in your article; optimize them for your page. This will not only increase your page speed but also boost SEO. Google doesn’t like slow websites.
Ideally, the image size should be lesser than 300. Below is a list of tools that will help you resize your images:
- resizepixel.com
- birme.net
- befunky.com
- simpleimageresizer.com
- iloveimg.com
- adobe.com
- picresize.com
- biteable.com
- promo.com
6. USE INFOGRAPHICS
Infographics are a visual representation of information. Examples include a chart or a diagram. They are probably the best way to explain your content. Statistically, infographics are 3 times more shareable than text on social media platforms.
They are not only easy to read but also attractive. Apart from other visual marketing sources, infographics are the cheapest. You don’t require a professional to create infographics for you. Consequently, infographics are very versatile. You can put them in your blog or even share them on social media as a separate post.
Here is an example for you!
7. PUT ALT TEXT
Google doesn’t understand pictures but text! It’s very critical to put ALT text for the image. Here are 3 main reasons to support the argument:
- Google interprets the image by the alt text used for the image. If you forget to put it, Google cannot crawl it.
- Most browsers display the ALT text when your images fail to show up.
- If your image is about “blog writing” and your ALT text is also “blog writing,.” Chances are, when someone does a Google Image search about blog writing, your image will appear. Hence, high visibility chances.
8. MAINTAIN THE ASPECT RATIO
The aspect ratio is the width-to-height ratio on the displaying screen. When you add an image, you don’t want to be too big; it becomes your blog’s showstopper and takes away all the attention. On the other hand, you don’t want the images to be too small to be noticeable.
Remember to maintain the aspect ratio of your images. The width of your images should not exceed your content width. Additionally, align your images to the right or center of your page. This will not disturb the reader’s natural point of observation, which is left to right; hence, the tent remains easily consumable.
9. USE HAND-DRAWN IMAGES
It’s always advisable to use hand-drawn images wherever possible. The Oatmeal is a great example website that uses hand-drawn images to convey its message beautifully. Hand-drawn images are probably the most difficult images with the highest probability of being shared.
It not only makes your content look very personalized but also very eye-catchy.
Since not all writers use hand-drawn images, it is a great way to stand out. Not only this, you can make your message more impactful and memorable using hand-drawn images. A great example of a hand-drawn image is one below:
10. KNOW THE CORRECT NUMBER
An obvious question that might pop up after reading the above points is:
“How many images to use per blog?”
The simple answer to this is as many as you can!
But for those who would like to know it more precisely: One image per 150 words should be good. However, the number of images should vary from one post to another. Overstuffing images just for decoration without any relevance looks very unprofessional. So, ensure you put images to support your content and not randomly. Ultimately, it’s your blog post and not an Instagram feed!
CONCLUSION
The human brain understands visual representation faster rather than a textual block.
Images are a great way to communicate with your readers. It can make your blog post look more attractive, shareable, and engaging if done correctly.
But remember to include sensible pictures in your blog and not random pictures just for decoration. You can even add hand-drawn images to make them more personal and memorable.
Additionally, infographics are a great way to represent useful information.
Most importantly, resize your images whenever needed, and don’t put heavy pictures in blog posts to slow down the loading speed.
Neither readers nor Google likes to wait for the website!
Think of your images the same way you think of your content. Don’t be lazy!
Do you agree with us? Let us know why adding images is vital for you. Comment down your most loved tip shared above or what you want to read next? Stay tuned for more content!
