Did you know that images help drive engagement and comments on your online content? Most of us understand from our own web experiences that images are great for grabbing reader attention, adding visual context to an otherwise wordy post, and potentially adding comic relief. In short, the advantages are obvious. The practice of actually getting these images, though, might be a little more complicated than you initially imagined. Here are three easy ways you can incorporate pictures into your blog.
1. Find Royalty Free Images for Blogs
Posting someone else’s content without their permission is known as copyright violation, and in many cases you will be issued with a DMCA takedown, fined, and potentially have your entire website taken down, especially if it is hosted through another site. If you don’t have someone’s permission, either in writing or via a “some rights reserved” license, don’t post it. Doesn’t matter who you are, what your website is about, how much publicity they receive from it, or how hard it was to track them down. Luckily, sites like Flickr and Photopin have millions of Creative Commons licensed free images for blogs.
2. Present Visually Striking Data
Did you know that in 2012, searches for infographics were up by 800%? Infographics for blogs can be a great way to showcase knowledge and add a ton of data context for your points. Many sites allow you to repost infographics so long as you cite them, and there are also websites such as http://labs.good.is that allow you to make your own. Even a simple graph can sometimes be very arresting and help show data that would otherwise take a paragraph to explain.
3.The Easiest Method of Obtaining Free Images for Blogs
If you can’t find an image you like, why not just make it yourself? You’d be surprised at how much content you can easily illustrate by simply taking pictures with a camera or phone, or by doodling quick illustrations and uploading them to your blog post. Dmitry Fadeyev of Smashing Magazine points out that users often become blind to anything that resembles an ad or ad copy, and crafting your own, “non-professional” images might actually be more effective at capturing attention than a slick, perfectly lit photograph.
Where do you get your free blog images?