Blogging Tips

For many bloggers an image is just a way to “make the blog look nicer.”  I know that on more than one occasion that’s all I have done.  I looked at the blog and said “too much text, I need a picture.”  However, I have noticed more blogs using an image as another way to communicate the theme of an article.

When Google announced Google Voice I read two blogs about this news – one loved the product and the other was a negative analysis of the existing Google GrandCentral.  However, both blogs had the same simple visual – a Google Voice Logo.  The image told you about the topic – but gave you no hint about the opinions that would be expressed in the blog.  Compare that to the image shown at the right where you immediately get a  feel for the author’s opinion.

Consider this image as a partner for an article on how blogs can make money.  The visual image adds to the blog and now the blog title, the image and hopefully your introductory paragraph can all work in unison to sell your theme and rope in the reader.  Now I took the quick and cheap approach and used a sign maker from a free site and if you look real close you can see the ad on the lower right.  But if you have access to a program to edit graphics or photos you can customize your own image.

Now, this approach will not work for all blogs.  Just like the newspapers separate the obituaries and the comics – you need to make sure that the image you use fits the theme of your article.  Cute signs or images could be a distraction to some blogs.

For your next blog, before you just insert a company logo, a product logo or some stock clip-art, think about how you could use that same space to include a visual that will give the reader some immediate insights into what your blog is all about.