Images are processed faster than text, and interestingly, people remember about 65% of what they see compared to what they read. That’s why using visuals effectively—what we can call ‘strategic image writing’—is key to making your content more memorable.
Creating great content isn’t just about the words; it’s also about making it visually appealing. Images do more than decorate; they give your readers a break from the text, help explain complex ideas, and make your message stick. Strategic image writing means picking the right visuals that align with your message and engage your readers.
Including infographics, images, and videos can turn good content into great content. It’s not just about making things look pretty; it’s about enhancing understanding, making it easier for your audience to remember your points, and encouraging them to interact. Strategic image writing done right can transform how your content is perceived and experienced.
Importance of Image in Content Creation
Link building agency use images as an essential search engine optimization tool for content in marketing businesses. Currently, Google has a way of crawling images for greater outreach, which is why the importance of images in content can’t be over-emphasized.
- Image appeals to Human Sight: Viewers are attracted to images in your content and can remember what captivates them
- It Provides Clear Details of the Content: People understand a context better when illustrated with visuals. It connects them to the content easily with detailed pictorial representation.
- Images are Shared Easily: With the trending social media network, It is easy for viewers to share publicly what attracts them to any social platform of their choice without any limitations. It boosts social networks and established sites such as Facebook. Instagram, Linkedln.
- It Aids Sales: Most e-commerce brands use visuals to sell their products with ease, using various content strategies such as ads, landing pages, etc. Customers get an insight about products with an image illustration and text to describe the product.
- Images Help to Break Lengthy Copies: Most people get lazy while reading lengthy copies on websites and are prone to leave if it gets boring. Images help to break content and appeal to the viewer’s sight to keep them engaged.
How To Use Images to Transform Your Content
Start With an Objective
In marketing content strategies for business, what you want and how you want to accomplish your content should be the goal. Categorizing your images in a different form to understand better how you implant these images in your piece. Types of Images grouped into four categories:
- Inspire: This category of image expresses emotions and lifts the viewer’s feelings.
- Educate: For some images, it serves as informational tips and builds the authority of the content.
- Entertainment: These images provoke happiness and give positive energy.
- Provoke: These images prompt viewers to take action.
Understanding the different categories will help you channel your images to communicate your intent.
Choose High-Quality Images
Choosing the right stock photos can boost your brand’s credibility. High-resolution images make your business appear more professional and can help increase awareness. It’s important to select an image size that fits your brand’s needs.
Customizing Your Photo
Adding custom images to your blog posts makes them more memorable for your audience. To differentiate from competitors, use appealing visuals that boost engagement.
When creating your images there are factors to consider
- Contrast such as light and shadow contrast, size or texture contrast
- Face and emotions to capture emotions and expressions.
- Angles by positioning your camera such that it brings a sense of life
You do not need to be a designer to customize images for your content, you can design visuals with a user-friendly beginner’s guide. Tools like Canva are an example of software that creates customized images and text for your content.
You can download your customized image after creating then apply it to your content for reference purposes. That way viewers identify your brand image.
Optimize Image for SEO
SEO images will help enhance user experience, including the quality of content displayed. Image associated with an action, alt text is used to describe the content rather than using a plain description of the action.
Compress Image For Easy Upload
Viewers tend to leave a site that takes time to load an image. It is necessary to use an image size that will be accessible to anyone. High-speed image loading makes it easy for people to visit your page and get the information needed.
Selecting the appropriate file size like JPEG, or PNG will help you optimize the image before adding it to your content. A desired image type will enable you to know how to compress it to your preferred size.
Avoid Generic Image
Generic stock images are photos used commonly on the internet. Most people use that for different topics across various niches, thus having no relevance in content writing. It is advisable to avoid generic images for your brand.
Ensure Image Relevance
User generated content for images should impact the viewer with the authentic information needed. Adding a Random image without value can ruin the essence of creating the piece. Implementing these strategies in content gives a brand authority.
Acknowledge Legal Right
You can’t take any image on the internet for use because of copyright infringement. It is necessary to know how to sort images. Most images found online are attributed to a brand web page.
It is now left for the owners of photos online to give access to the use of visuals. These rights are differentiated in different form that includes:
- Public Domain. It is reserved for anyone with no rights reserved.
- Creative Commons. It is limited to some reserved rights, although permission granted is conditioned to re-use.
- Copyright. Here all right are reserved and require access from the owner before it is used.
It is necessary to know you should only use an image that is certain to be copyright-free and accessible.
Use Free Stock Photo Sites
Free image stock websites are platforms to source unique images with high resolution. These images are free and can be changed to suit your preference.
Simply search the content of a brand to find images that complement your piece. Websites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay can be used for designing visuals for your content.
Before using free stock photography, make sure to check the license of the images, to know how to credit the owner. Some free stock website images are vetted by a team of editors and may not require you to credit an example is Pixabay.
Add Screenshots to Your Content
Original images taken on camera or screenshots are visual aids to illustrate and get across information. It is beneficial at times to incorporate screenshots by using the chrome extension to capture the entire browser.
There are many tools and free browser extensions available to take screenshots on your device for reference. This photo you take becomes your original property and would not require copyright infringement.
Include Pictures of People
People can relate easily to your content when a human face is included in the content. Using images of humans to convince readers makes them emotionally connected to the reader’s point of view of doubt. People trust people and by engaging them they trust your brand easily.
Brands Consistency
Using a particular set of colors, fonts, and templates on your image will help the brand build uniqueness and authority to stand out from competitors. Visual style consistency impacts a brand’s identity and viewers can identify the brand when it portrays a consistent image.
Graphis form a memorable part of our brain and one can remember visuals more than a text read.
Use Explainer Images
Exemplifying content with explainer video clips, and images in your blog post to add value to your piece will help viewers understand better. These explainer images can be diagrams, charts, and infographics to point out data and interpret them accordingly.
For data that requires statistics, it will be difficult to illustrate with just text and will be unable to be digested by your readers. So if you can showcase data with a metric that is not overwhelming, it can captivate the reader’s attention.
Frequently Add Image
I know you are tempted to ask how many images you can use for your article or blog post.
Simply as many as your article requires, however overboard pictures can dismiss readers and your article will look like a stock image website.
Imagery supports your written article, so use images for purpose and to make a valid point addressing your text. For example, writing a blog post on “How to Make Grilled Chicken” will need more images than a blog post explaining ‘Content marketing trends”.
For the former, your readers can understand better a step-by-step pictorial representation of the grilled chicken compared to the latter which requires a less supporting image.
Conclusion
If you are seeking effective content strategies in transforming your content performance, Incorporating images into your copy is the best practice to engage. This article highlights the importance of engaging your readers with eye-catching visuals to drive conversion.
Kick off with your objectives and structure how your content will impact your readers in taking the right steps. Also knowing how to source these images helps you stand out from your competitors.
Images are powerful tools that strengthen your content, your brand’s authority is interpreted by what readers see and how it impacts them.
