As you may have noticed, I’ve started putting at least one picture in every blog post. I started doing this at first, simply to add some flair to my posts, but now, I’ve realized how many benefits this really gives me. Now, I never do a post without it.
First, it gives my site some color. Especially with my black and white theme, it really needs some color to brighten it up some. I try to pick very bright, eye-grabbing photos, to snatch people’s attention, and then direct it to the posts.
Second, it helps as a navigation tool for your blog. When people are looking through your site, having large pictures can help people remember where they are on your blog. It sounds stupid, but they can count the pictures and realize what post they’re on. This helps people who are looking for a particular article, to find it, as opposed to just skipping your site all together.
Third, it also helps as a navigation tool within the actual post. When people are reading a post, especially when it’s one just large block of text, it’s easy to lose where you are in it. You look up for just a second, and look down and you’ve lost your place, then you have to spend precious seconds finding it again. With a picture in the post, you subconsciously affiliate where you’re reading, in relation to the picture. This give you the ability to look away from the screen, and back, and easily find where you are.
Fourth, when you first visit a website, you instinctively scan it once, just giving it a “look over.” If you have some really interesting pictures, this will cause the people to look again. This also really helps for visitors from social-media sites. Vistitors from sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, and Entrecard, often don’t stay very long. With them, every picture helps. It keeps them on the site longer, and hopefully will be persuasive enough to get them to read the content.
Fifth, pictures help individualize posts. People mentally begin to affiliate your posts, with certain pictures. They’ll remember which post had the waves, which had Britney Spears, and which had a stack of books. So when people want to find specific things, they’ll know right where to look on the page.
Sixth, it takes up text space. Now, before you laugh at this, this is a very legitimate way to help loosen your blog writing load. A few pictures in your post, can make a 600 word article, look like a 1000+ word article. That is a Huge Victory for you! Nobody wants to read 1000+ words, but everybody wants to think that they just read one. If you’re a good writer, you should be able to say what you want in 600-1000 words, but with the added pictures, it gives the allusion of much more researched, and intelligent looking articles. You look good, your site looks good, and your reader feels good. Everybody wins.
Seventh, it breaks up long blocks of text. Reading an article can get boring very quickly, when it’s just one large block of black on white. You get distracted, you get annoyed, you get lost in the page. Lots of different things can happen, that can be solved with a simple picture in the center, to break up the post, make you smile, and then return to reading. It’s truly amazing how much a great picture can do to our perspectives of something.
Eighth, it brings humor to your site. Your goal is to make the visitors stay on your blog enjoyable. Pictures are a great way to get people to laugh. When people laugh, they are enjoying your content, which means you win!
Ninth, pictures are a great way to say “this is important!” Or “read this again!” You can use pictures to get emotion from your readers, in ways that pictures can’t. Whether you want sympathy, laughter, acknowledgment, joy… Pictures can help you draw in your readers, and hammer in the “prompt,” or “hint,” you were trying to get them to understand.
Tenth, pictures can also get you extra traffic. A while ago, I wrote a post about “What Barack Obama can teach us about Blogging,” and it still gets me traffic to this day. I ranked on the first page for “Barack Obama” in images. I’ve gotten lots of traffic for different keywords. At this point, it’s one of my biggest traffic getters. And that’s without any effort as all. By merely posting a picture, I gain all these benefits.
Eleventh, pictures say a thousand words. No, even more than that. Pictures say what words can’t, no matter how many words you might use. If you’ve ever tried to explain something over chat, you’ll understand how difficult it can be. But with a simple picture, you can easily say what you want. Pictures serve avery wide assortment of uses, elaborating a point, drawing in a reader, advertising a product, making the visitors stay enjoyable, drawing emotion from readers, helping them navigate your site, there are tons of valuable things you gain. All of that, from only posting a picture.
If you liked this post please consider sharing it through sites like twitter, stumbleupon, digg… so that others can benefit from it as well. I publish articles several times a week, so if you like, you can subscribe to my blog through email or feeder to stay updated. Thanks for reading!
