The right image can grab attention and create intrigue, mystery, curiosity, and other emotions that wrap their tendrils around your visitor and glue them to your writing. As an added benefit, the better your image captures attention, the less critical your headline becomes. A great idea with a mediocre headline will almost always lure visitors into reading your content, while a subpar headline seldom will.
What can you do to maximize the effect images have on your visitor? Here are ten keys:
1. Use at least one image per post. Every post should have an idea of its own above the fold. And if your post is long, consider adding images into the middle to break up your position. These will provide welcome breaks to your readers and entice scanners to stop and read your content.
2. Look for images that work on a gut level. If your post is about preventing a house fire, you might be tempted to post a picture of a building on fire. But how much more captivating would it be to imagine someone experiencing loss – even without a single charred remain in the background? Look for pictures that reflect emotions rather than illustrate your story.
3. Use faces. Studies show that readers pause longer on an image that shows at least one face. If you don’t use faces, look for something provocative or downright spectacular – something that makes the viewer stop and wants to know more.
4. Use images in your RSS feed. Like blog posts, an image can distinguish between your writing being read or ignored. Think of the idea combined with the headline as your book cover and your post as the contents. People judge books by their covers and do the same when looking through their feeds.
5. Take the time to get it right. Grabbing the first exciting image you see is seldom a recipe for stopping Internet traffic. If you need to spend as much time sourcing an idea as you write the post, then do it. It’s worth the extra effort.
Consider purchasing your images. You can almost always find far better ideas when you’re willing to pay a little bit to use them, and the selection is far more vast and exciting. Remember that a bland-as-toast image could hurt your chance of reading your post. Spend a buck or two and get something that leaps off the page and into your reader’s imagination.
If money is tight, there is a third option. You are using creative commons photos. They’re free to use, but you MUST give the proper attribution to the photographer. For example, you can start a search for creative commons images here: https://search.creativecommons.org……….
6. do it. Adding images might sound too simple, but the fact is that it will almost certainly increase the time visitors spend on your site.
7. Consider taking and using your photos. If you’re a shutterbug, by all means, get busy. Using your images will personalize your website and build a connection with your audience.
8. Build an entire post around pictures. With the advent of social media, you can now get traffic simply for having fantastic images. So why not try a position that’s image dense, such as the most romantic places in your country or the funniest photos ever, etc.?
9. Don’t forget to add alt tags to your images. This can help you to rank higher in the search engines, bringing you more traffic.
10. Have fun. Not only is reading an article that contains images more interesting for the reader – it’s also more fun for the author to put together.
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