Because visuals can make or break a blog post, it is crucial that you choose the right images for each post. The photos’ subject, colors, size, and placement can positively impact your post’s success.
Usage
The most important part of any image is logistical over visual. Only choose images that you have the rights to use. For larger blogs, it may be worthwhile to invest in a stock photo site membership, like Shutterstock or iStockPhoto. If you’d rather go with royalty-free or creative commons photos, be sure you are using the right attribution and that you can use them. For example, some creative commons photos only let you use images for non-commercial use. If you use the image for a business blog, which counts as a commercial property, so you technically can’t use non-commercial creative commons images.
In addition, it is crucial that you don’t use any images that belong to someone else, like those found on a Kickstarter store or other sites like Amazon and even Google images.
Subject
Going to ascetic properties, the subject of your photos are the most important aspect. You want your subject to be directly related to the content, without overshadowing it. For example, a post on getting out of debt shouldn’t necessarily have a photo of a bag of gold coins with a leprechauns sitting on top of it. It would be much more useful to have a graph of debt decreasing or an artful representation of a piggybank with coins going in.
Size
The size of the image needs to fit the format of the blog. For images that are on their own line and center-aligned, they can usually be bigger, like 500 to 600 pixels, depending on the blog layout. For images that run alongside content, make sure the content column isn’t too skinny, making it more difficult to read.
Colors
The colors of your image need to be visually appealing and match the emotions of your blog post. For instance, green and gold usually represent money or success, whereas red represents passion and enthusiasm. Blue is also calming, while black is usually reserved for power and mystery, according to Indiana University.
No matter what you choose for images on your blog post, attempt to visually represent what your content is trying to show. This is the best way to ensure that your blog images have an impact.
photo credit: Thomas Leuthard via photopin cc
