Best Practices For Choosing A Blog Hero Image

25
Oct 2018

Choosing-the-best-Blog-image-best-practicesWhen sharing your blog online, the image you choose makes a big difference in the performance of that blog. In general, adding an image to your blog post can help generate 2.3x more social engagement than your usual plain-text updates. Choosing the right hero image will massively boost the traffic you see on your blog.

 

At KWSM: a digital marketing agency, we blog daily.  We have developed a list of best practices that our team follows to ensure our blogs are getting the most traffic without overstepping any copyright regulations and staying within our brand.

 

Best Practices For Choosing a Blog Hero Image

1. Pick an Image That Grabs Attention

If you are new to blogging, you may have a difficult time choosing the right image. We always recommend spending some time looking at your competitors online and determine what they are doing that is working. You can also spend some time on your own social media channels, and see what catches your eye. It is essential that the image you choose is a “thumb stopper” – getting people to stop their passive scrolling to look at what text is tied to your hero image.

2. Don’t Be Too Literal

When you are looking for a photo, try not to be too literal. Take our company for example – KWSM: a digital marketing agency is an online service. When we are writing blogs, everything is about things you do online. Our blog would look very boring if every single photo were of a girl on her phone, or a group of people gathered around a laptop. We think outside of the box to come up with images that speak to the blog topic more subtly.

3. Avoid Stock Photos

It is very common for companies to resort to stock photos for their blog hero image. The crisp, bright photos look fantastic and are easily bought in a couple of clicks. But that being said, MANY companies are doing this. These stock photos have been used hundreds of times and will, as a result, grab less attention. Even if you have not seen the stock photo before, companies like Facebook are caching images and know you are using stock. If they see you are using a stock image, they will actually punish you by giving you less reach in the Newsfeed.

4. Watch Out For Copyright Laws

We highly recommend you err on the side of caution when it comes to copyright laws. Anytime you are using a photo of a landmark, celebrity or royal, sports team or a brand you are most likely using a picture you do not own. Large photography companies will come after you if you do not have a license to use the image. To avoid having to pay a fine, we always recommend choosing a photo you know you own and attribute your original source wherever you can.  If you absolutely love a photo owned by someone, we recommend you discuss purchasing the rights.

5. Keep it Within Your Brand

Keeping your hero image consistent with the look and feel of your company branding is also important. If you have a look-and-feel, you will usually come across as more professional and more credible. We recommend setting some basic guidelines for your hero images, so they all match up. At KWSM we try always to pick photos that are bright colors and are of high quality,

Bonus: Uploading Your Hero Image

Now that you have all the tips to choose the best image, we want to provide you with some bonus advice to upload your blog image using best practices. To keep your website load time to a minimum, we recommend keeping your image file size under 65KB. Another thing to remember is to add an alt-tag and description to your image. Google holds websites to a higher standard that do this SEO practice and will reward you with higher ranks in organic search.

If you have any other questions about choosing the right blog hero image, please contact us.

 

Adding Images To Facebook Posts Increases Engagement 2.3x

Do you know how your social media channels measure up in your industry? At KWSM: a digital marketing agency, we have built out best practices for generating content on each social media channel and have industry best practices to improve your overall engagement.

CONTACT US for a free 30-minute social media marketing audit.

 

 

 

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