You are visual. I am visual. They are visual.
You are visual. I am visual. Those reading your blog are visual and those you want to read your blog are visual. Basically, I am telling you that people want something beyond words. We want to see pictures, graphics, and images. Add some life to your blog posts by tastefully placing images within your blog posts and pages.
You will best be able to deliver the message of your blog post if you stimulate the readers senses beyond just your words. As you are explaining your message drop in a graphic here and a photo there. If possible, don’t just stick an image randomly in the middle of the post. It looks completely out of place and…honestly…tacky. Confused? Let me give you an example.
Don’t do this…
Instead do this…
Here is how…
This instruction is theme specific so if your results aren’t working, your theme may not easily support this ability. Consider upgrading your theme to a Premium WordPress Theme. Place the cursor within the post editor inline with the text where you want the image to go. The image will always float left or right of the text. So it doesn’t matter whether you want the image on the left or the right on your paragraph, place the cursor before the first character of the paragraph that will be next to the image.
Ok, now you have your cursor set so click on the square icon 
right next to Upload/Insert above the post editor. The Add an Image lightbox will open on top of your post editor where you can upload a new image. Once the image is uploaded you will be able to select its Alignment. Choosing None will leave the image inline with the text. Left will float the image to the left of the text. Right will float the image to the right of the text.
If that doesn’t work or you aren’t seeing the results you expected there could be a couple of reasons. The first reason may be that the theme you are using just doesn’t support that ability and you may want to consider upgrading to a better theme. You may also want to try clicking on the alignment icons within your post editor toolbar to see if that helps any. If not, more advanced users can click on the HTML tab of the post editor and add the align attribute (e.g. align=”left”) to the <img> tag. The other reason may be just the lack of practice. You may not be able to figure it out the first time so just keep messing with it until you get the image exactly the way you like it.
Why is this even important again?
Well, like I said before that this just looks better and gives the reader a better visual of your message. It also helps the reader during their journey down your page of box-looking paragraphs….which is B.O.R.I.N.G. to say the least. I am NOT saying that your article is boring! I am saying that people who see paragraph after paragraph…after paragraph of text usually run for the hills. For example, why is it that we never read Privacy Policies or Terms of Service Agreements? Because despite the fact they are very important to review, they are visually boring and no one wants to be bored, especially not me. :)
As soon as the page loads, your readers may perform a quick scan of the content they will be reading and during that quick scan they will pick up on the images you’ve placed throughout your article. An image may look interesting to them which will encourage them to continue reading your post so that they can better understand the reason you’ve chosen that particular image.
Google L.O.V.E.S. Images
One of the highest ranked search terms on one of my blogs is for a blog post wrote about Albert Einstein. Every month thousands of visitors come to that post because they discover the image of Albert Einstein from Google’s Image Search Results. Now getting traffic isn’t just about how many people are coming to your blog but about how effective you are once they are there. I spotted this increase and took action in order to better capture those visitor beyond just coming here for the image.
How to Search Engine Optimize your images
Before uploading the image, rename the image file with your keywords e.g. blog-post-images.jpg. Then, immediately after the image upload completes you will be able to add an image title (the text that displays when a cursor hovers over the image). Add your keywords to the title too e.g. Blog Post Images. The alternate text is used by people with disabilities or text browsers. If an image doesn’t load for any reason, the alternate text is displayed within its place. Use this opportunity to add some keywords there as well.
What about videos? They are visual.
True. Videos are very visual but they are different than having images or photos within your articles. The reason is because videos deliver a message usually a spoken message and it doesn’t have the same kind of effect as an image. Don’t get me wrong though. Videos are great but images are more for visual aids to the message and not there to directly deliver the message.
Videos also won’t have the same SEO capabilities as images so I wouldn’t rely solely on video for visuals. It is always a good idea to write very descriptive text that covers everything that is covered in your video. Not everyone wants to watch your video and Google will do a better job indexing your content with text to crawl.
Where do I find images & photos?
The easiest thing to do is take the photos yourself. Writing an article about health or fitness? Have your photo taken while you’re on the treadmill. Another option is to purchase stock photos or graphics using sites like iStock.com, or PhotoDune.com. If you want to be really creative then you can purchase your own image/photo editing software to create your own graphics.
Final Thoughts
Don’t be boring. When you are blogging in a world where everyone and their mom has a blog too, the competition to draw the attention of readers and keep them coming back can be difficult. Difficult, unless you are ready to do what it takes to stand out from the rest. Attention to detail like choosing the right images or photos then placing them in the right spot can make a drastic difference. It may take some practice or asking your friends for their opinion but don’t give up because soon you’ll be creating articles that would be fit for a magazine!
