Do you put photos in your blog posts?
You should. It's one of the simplest ways to increase engagement and interest in your posts.
I learned this only recently from one of HubSpot's founders, Dharmesh Shah. I used to think that only the words in my posts mattered. I work hard to say exactly what I mean, so why bother with a photo? I made my point in the article, so a photo is superfluous and means extra work.
Plus, I thought, it would be a lot of work to find a photo that had matched all the nuanced points I made in the post itself. Better to just forget about a photo then to spend hours trying to find the perfect one, right?
Wrong, and wronger.
Here's why:
(1) You Don't Need a Perfect Photo to Improve Your Post -- The photos you add to your posts don't need to be museum-quality artifacts that are as deep and thoughtful as your actual posts. They just need to be visually interesting and relevant. Any halfway decent photo will add a positive new dimension to your article. This makes the piece richer, more accessible to your readers, and more likely to be distributed across the web.
(2) It Takes Minutes, Not Hours to Find a Good Photo -- My favorite place to find photos for HubSpot posts is Flickr. Lots of photographers post photos with creative commons licenses that allow bloggers to republish their photos as long you give credit. Just go to Flickr's advanced search, and make sure the "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content" box at the bottom of the page is checked.
Very Important: Make sure you don't forget to include the credit and link back to the photographer's page on flick. The photographer deserves credit for their work, and you'll end up with a lot of angry comments on your blog if you forget to give it to them.
If you're not convinced, think about how you react to photos. I know I gravitate to images. They attract my eye, and draw me into the content around them. Why not aim for that dynamic on every one of your blog posts?
What do you think about adding photos to your blog posts? Any advice? Do you know of good places to find photos, other than Flickr?
Photo by Auzigog.
Are you an Inbound Marketing Pro? Sold Out! Sign up for the live web broadcast!http://www.inboundmarketingsummit.com/ |
Link to original postThe HubSpot Internet Marketing Blog helps businesses leverage inbound marketing practices using the Internet to get found by more prospects and convert more prospects to leads and customers.