7 Things You Should Know If You Use Images On Your Blog

Table of Contents

1. Learn how to edit photos
2. Take care of your SEO with the images
3. Choose the places where you place the images based on the effect you are looking for
4. Even if you are not creative, take care of the aesthetics
5. Use a safe source
6. Beware of free image sources
7. Take advantage of the security of professional image banks

Numerous studies show that using images in the content on the Internet; you manage to connect your audience much more. For this reason, you should not conceive a blog without images.

Let’s see some actual data: content with images opens 47% more, and once opened, the reader spends 51% more time on those articles with images.

The same happens on social networks, using photos allows you to get 53% more likes on Facebook, etc., etc., etc.

But using images is not as easy as it seems: it is advisable to take advantage of trends, optimize images for search engines, for site speed, for multiple uses, and to improve the reader experience.

Furthermore, you should be aware of the legal problems related to the use of images on the Internet and protect yourself from any problem using legally valid sources to obtain the images, such as professional image banks.

1. Learn how to edit photos

You need to optimize the size of your images so that they do not weigh too much on your blog, and also if you want to cut them for uses on social networks (a Facebook header measures 851 × 315 pixels ).

Although systems like WordPress include tools to edit the photos you upload, it is advisable to crop and resize the images earlier, keep the dimensions between 320 and 1280 pixels and use the JPEG format.

If you do not have Photoshop to edit your images, there are other programs such as GIMP (free and with many functions) or Pixlr, which is also completely online and therefore does not even require the installation of an application.

For basic things like cropping a photo, MS Office usually includes a free program, Microsoft Office Picture Manager, very easy to use.

2. Take care of your SEO with the images

Images are a source of traffic that many people continue to ignore. Always fill in the title, ALT, and caption fields ( Title, Alternate Text, and Caption in WordPress) for images with relevant keywords.

Look at the semantics; it must correspond to the topics of your blog, and use the Keyword Planner that Google makes available to you to know which words are most searched by Internet users.

Include the words “image” or “photo” within your descriptions; many Google searches include them. Make sentences, write expressions, avoid loose keywords to move in niches with fair competition. Surround your images with text related to the topic; Google does not work based on single words but favors logical global contexts.

And do not hesitate to use the same image several times in different content, that favors its positioning in Google Images, something good for SEO.

3. Choose the places where you place the images based on the effect you are looking for

There are many theories about the trajectory of the eye when viewing a web page. The truth is that the guidelines that the eye follows depend on the type of page that is being displayed.

Maintained left-to-right reading only occurs with highly interesting text articles. For most articles, the eye follows a path from left to right during the first paragraph, and then away from top to bottom.

For this reason, images are essential in text content; they allow the eye to rest and lengthen the time of detailed reading.

In the case of a home page, the gaze follows a zigzag path that goes globally from top left to bottom right. This creates two lesser-viewed areas: top right and bottom left, if you’re going to use images to fill in, take advantage of these areas.

A good search engine that allows you to quickly and easily locate exactly the image you need brings a lot of value. In this example, you can see how the Fotolia search engine has located photos of people in which a specific part of the body appears.

For pages of search results, pages that of lists, a reading “in a triangle” is observed, which favors the upper left part of the web page. This is because it is the area where we expect the most relevant information to be found. Reserve this space for key data.

It is also recommended to use images to reinforce some messages. For example, in image banks, there are many photos with a person pointing to white space. These photos are handy to insist on an idea; the presence of the model catches the reader’s attention.

4. Even if you are not creative, take care of the aesthetics

A web page must follow a clear graphic line, with one, two, or maximum of three colors that are often repeated. If you are adding very colorful photos to these colors, be careful that it is not too much.

Web pages with a white background or a single discreet color background are better for that; it is easier to integrate photos. For both texts and pictures, choose the color tones according to your themes. Blue, for example, is a cold color that is more suitable for websites related to technology.

If you make some quotes, the famous quotes with photos that are very successful in social networks, choose the typefaces you use well, better to keep unity with your website.

5. Use a safe source

Taking photos from Google Images is easy, but illegal if you are going to publish them, even if it is for a blog with few visits.

If you are going to use an image, you always need some use license, transfer of rights by the author, or a company that represents it. Having free or very cheap solutions is not worth the risk of a complaint that could cost you a lot of money.

6. Beware of free image sources

Whether it is through a collaboration with another blogger, free web pages, or otherwise, make sure of the legality and the absence of risk when using the images.

Even when you find images from websites like Flickr, with a Creative Commons license, remember that these licenses only give you the authorization of the person who uploaded the image. Make sure that this person is the author and that there are no models or designs or architectures protected by image rights.

Another problem of free images is their quality, professional pictures with sufficient quality and resolution are not free.

7. Take advantage of the security of professional image banks

There are many platforms, such as ours, Fotolia, where you can find millions of images to illustrate any subject and at a high price. Today, with digital photography and the Internet, image banks are very cheap and are the only ones that guarantee the legal use of images.

With these web pages, you have many search tools that will allow you to save time. We even have a color filter that helps you to find images that correspond precisely to the graphic line of your blog.