Blogging 101: Spice Up Your Blog with Imagery
There’s no escaping the fact: We are an ever-increasingly image-based culture. We want our information now, and as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Despite the extreme prevalence of online journals (blogs), websites continue to develop graphics to help retain visitors while conveying the most important and overarching messages to their audience. Consider incorporating images in your posts to add a touch of spice and to attract more readers.
Google Images If you haven’t discovered Google Images yet, you’re missing out. Although it hasn’t reached its full potential due to a lack of effective image labeling, Google Images delivers a score of usable images. Simply go to Google.com as normal, enter in some keywords for the image you want, then click the “Search Images” button found right next to the usual “Search Web” button. Once you find an appropriate image, follow these instructions:
Click on the image you want to use.
Click on the image in the info bar that appears above the website, OR find the image in the post, then right click on the image and choose “View Image.”
Right click on the image and choose “Save Image As…”, then save the image in the folder of your choice.
From there, you should be able to resize or alter the image in whatever manner you wish before including it in your next blog post.
YouTube Inserting a video hits folks on an even deeper level. Videos create a deeper level of engagement, in that they create a level of interaction. Perhaps you have a company that offers a product. Shoot a video of the product in use, or take potential members on a tour of your website or even a tour of your facility. You don’t need a video hosting program, because YouTube will host the videos for you. To post the video on your blog:
Copy the code found in the block titled “embed.”
Paste the code into your blog post using whatever is required to post HTML/Java Script. Such blogging software as blogger.com have made it even easier to add videos to your blog with a one-click button next to the “insert image” icon.
SitePal Although a bit more complicated to install and program, these virtual people will go to work for your site today. You can customize the look, voice and message of these already realistic looking animations to relay whatever message you want. For more details, visit SitePal.com.
The Caveat You need to take care not to use copyrighted material. The trick is in determining whether an image is copyrighted or not. The general rule to follow is to check out the site from where you’re taking the image. If says “copyright” anywhere on the page/site, you don’t want to use that image. If the same image appears on several sites/blogs, it probably isn’t a copyrighted image. If you want to be 100 percent certain that the image you’re using is safe to use, go check out sites like istockphoto.com; If you pay for the image, you’re in the clear…usually.
Watch this YouTube video for more details on the rules of copyrights:
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