If you are trying valiantly to write web content for your own site, do you ever give much consideration to the images that are going to accompany your post? Probably not. For most website owners, the writing comes first, and the pictures are an afterthought. Write a great post, and find some pictures that seem to be relevant and reflect the content on the page. Sometimes this can work well, but let’s face it, people are drawn to images, in fact some people skim read everything and only look at the pictures! What does this tell us? Well, for one thing it tells us that images on a webpage are absolutely critical, and perhaps we should give them more thought that we do. After all, there’s every likelihood that you have spent good money having someone design your web space to look fantastic, so why ruin it by using crumby pictures? Here are some tips to help you make sure your images are every bit as good as your copy.
Write With Pictures in Mind
Is it really such a crazy idea to find a picture before you write your post? Some song writers come up with a tune, and then put words to it. Some do it the other way around, and the same should be said for blog posts, web copy, and any other sort of marriage of pictures and words on the web. It’s not a bad idea, once you have an idea for an article, to research the picture you are going to use, so you can make sure your words will marry up with the images. This doesn’t have to minimalise the quality of the article; in fact the harmony brought about by a good marriage can actually help you to focus more clearly on the article at hand.
Look For Bright Images
There’s nothing wrong with grabbing someone’s attention! Try to find images that are really going to sand out on the page. It’s worthwhile considering the existing design of your webpage, and trying to find colourful images that stand out from your design.
Get Your Wallet Out!
Don’t be afraid to spend a little bit of money on decent images. They are worth their weight in gold if they draw people to your work. There’s nothing more off putting than an ugly webpage with poor quality images. If you want your work to stand out, it’s a no brainer.
Take Your Time!
It’s amazing how any people spend hours poring over their written work, and then quickly find some shabby stock images because they basically can’t be bothered with this part of the process. It’s a mistake to reduce the importance of images in your mind. Take as much time finding images as you do writing good content and you’ll look back at your page when all is said and done, and be glad that you spend a little time on the pictures as well as the words.
Don’t Be Afraid To Be Bold!
You don’t just have to stick to static images either. You could use video as a way to help your article speak, and you can also go for different styles of images, such as drawings, and animated videos too. Get creative, and your site will benefit from it.
The basic rule of thumb of course, is to make sure you spend as much time on your images as you do on your content. Of course, if this all seems too much like hard work, you might be better off sourcing your content… from people like us! Take a look at the Ink Elves article writing page to find out more about what we can do for you.