When you think of a blog post, you’re probably picturing a page with lots of written text on it. Which isn’t wrong. In the early days of blogging, most blog posts were just that. Lots of written text. Without too much design to it or images to break the text up. Nowadays, most of us can’t imagine publishing a new post without any images in it. Certainly, from an SEO perspective, the text in your blog will always play an important part. But the use of images will help your post attract more attention on Facebook, Twitter and even Google. Here, we’ll explain why you should use images in your blog posts and where you can get them from!
Why you should use images in your blog posts
Let’s start by saying that using images doesn’t mean 4 friends group dp that we want you “dress up” your post with cute pictures that take away from the message you’re trying to get across. When used right, images can help readers better understand your content. Like it’s been said a few times before, a picture is worth a thousand words. And although this probably doesn’t apply to Google, it can apply to your readers. If a visitor has to choose which site to visit on Pinterest or Facebook, they will choose one with an image that’s compelling to them. Sure, your call to action or social text will have to persuade them as well, but if you don’t use high-quality images, they very well might skip your blog post.
There’s another reason why you should use proper images in your blog posts. Google’s visual search is getting increasingly important and can no longer be ignored if you want to stay visible in the search results. When you have high-quality and optimized images, your images could rank first when people perform a Google (image) search. This helps you bring more visitors to your site and you don’t have to have a photography site to appear in these results!
Tips on how to find images for blogs
If you choose an image for your post, make sure that it actually fits the topic of your blog post. Is your blog about cooking and do you love taking pictures of the meals you’ve made? Great! If these pictures are suitable for your site, make sure to use them. Or if it suits your brand, you could also think about hiring an illustrator. Original images are always a great option when it comes to adding images to your blog post. But if shooting your own photos or hiring an illustrator both aren’t possible right now, don’t fret. You can also use stock photos. You won’t have to invest in photography courses, hire a professional photographer or worry about creating the right images yourself.
Option 1: Shoot your own photos
If you really want to use original pictures, consider creating your own photos. Taking your own photos ensures that you’ll show an original picture, one that can never be found on another blog. On top of that, this allows you to shoot a photo that truly fits the content of your post. If you’re blogging about your day-to-day life, taking your own pictures is definitely the way to go. That also goes for food blogs. For a company blog or a technical blog, or for Yoast.com for that matter, it’s can be much harder to take pictures that actually fit the content of the posts you’re writing.
Option 2: Hire an illustrator
If you have specific ideas about what illustrations for your blog should look like, but you’re not able to create or buy them yourself, you could also work with a professional illustrator or team of illustrators (as we do at Yoast). We would like to emphasize that you really need a budget for that, but that it could pay off. Working with a professional illustrator will get you original and on-topic images. Above that, if you work with the same illustrator for multiple blogs, you will also get some continuity between posts and within your blog. People will recognize your posts just by looking at the illustration. Which works great for branding.
Option 3: Use stock photos
If you cannot create your own photo for whatever reason, there are a lot of stock photo websites you can grab images from. However, you cannot just use any photo you find on the internet. These belong to someone else and you need to have the photographer’s permission. The same goes for illustrations. These images have copyrights and should not be used without the consent of the creator. You don’t want to see your blog post on someone else’s blog. A photographer does not like it when their photo is published on your site without permission, and this could lead to getting a claim.
