We live in a world of visual rhapsody, where most businesses have created a dimension of expressive storytelling. Within the bridge of ‘written content and imagery’ lies the sweet spot of success in content selling. The stronger an image relates to your content, the more engagement it creates.
Remember the lines you read from your favorite children’s book? You probably don’t. But what about the cover picture of that book? Still clicks huh?! Yeah, I know.
Our brain is wired to respond more when viewing visual content rather than written. When was the last time you read an online article without a picture attached? Yes, it’s hard to remember. This phenomenon clearly shows how important imagery has become in content selling.
This article is all about it. It incorporates at all the necessary steps you must consider, under 5 following guidelines to select the best image for your superb content.
Make it relevant. I mean come on, it’s so obvious!
Anytime and every time your content shows itself online, the picture that drags along are your primary show. It goes without saying that the very picture is your consumer’s first connection point. When a content places itself with a crunchy picture, your readers instantly get a reason to click through and increase site traffic.
There are several ways to connect a picture to a content. First of all think about what your story is, then if you’re find a picture directly related, it’s a hit. In cases you can’t find a picture perfectly relative, find words in your content title that relate to an image. For example: Suppose an article is titled “What color to choose for your business?”, and the image it comes with:
In this example, the picture doesn’t necessarily depict websites with creativity but a message that gives the reader an essence of eloquent design that a website can take advantage of and make it more than a business entity.
Never settle for low quality
Top quality should always be of top priority once you have found a picture of your choice. Remember that low pixelated pictures drive away traffic even when the content is great. It is in the nature of us readers to assume the quality of a content based on its picture. Hence, with low-quality pictures your content is under the risk of negative judgment and, in turn, negative results.
To deal with this matter, there are a few paths you can choose. It really depends on how far you want to go. If you are looking for a high-quality premium picture for the job, then you can go for a premium stock image service and own the rights to the picture bought. There are several image stock services available online, with assorted photos for your requirement.
If your niches cater to a local market try to use photos with a local touch. Use Mulpix to discover out photos and videos in Instagram to get ideas.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a free picture to use, make sure it is out of any legal entities or copyrights. There are several free stock photo websites out there, besides image search engines of course!
Resize and optimize your picture to fit all screen sizes
Resizing a picture doesn’t make your content look better, but the size determines a lot when it comes to site traffic. Pictures come with different pixels and different sizes. This means that a picture of high quality doesn’t necessary have to be massive in size. With image resizing tools, you can alter an image and still preserve high quality. The downside to having large sized images on your content is that it increases loading time. And this increases the possibility of your content being abandoned by a reader. Once you have taken care of the lightness of your picture, consider it’s optimization to fit several screen sizes.
Who doesn’t go online on a phone today? Everyone does! Which means a majority of your site’s traffic is coming from devices beyond computers. Hence, it’s of great importance that your picture is optimized to fit on the screen of a cell phone to large LCDs and everything in between. Also, don’t forget to optimize your picture according to social media platforms.
Consider the power of text+picture
The whole combination of text and picture takes your message to the next level. You can overlay a written message on a picture that embraces it, like the one below:
Think of the above text without this background, it not half as interactive is it? Yes, the incorporation of great text with great imagery can bring you massive success and change the outlook of your business. Hence, never hesitate to go on and type over you picture; it creates a greater meaning and enhances the whole visual experience.
Determine your source
This is where you consider the source of your image. Remember, not each and every image you find on Google is free for you to use. While some have to be credited for, others have to be paid for. On the brighter side, there are pictures online for anyone to use free of cost. This means that you can still find quality images without having to spend a cent.
However, the best way to acquiring perfected images is registering with a premium stock photo service. This makes sure your images are satisfying your quality requirements as well as keeping you within legal boundaries.
Okay, so we have covered a variety of factors to realize while browsing for new pictures, but in the end, it all lies on your perception and creative flair in connecting a picture to your contents, modifying it for maximum usage and signifying it as the stepping stone to successful consumer engagement.
Web developer and SEO specialist with 20+ years of experience in open-source web development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions (RSWEBSOLS)".
