When I first started blogging, I didn’t really pay much attention to visuals. I just stuck to writing. I was used to seeing blogs with just text. Some of my favorite blogs don’t have any images on their actual page and may have many paragraphs of text. But when restarting my blog, I decided to add images. I wanted to create a visually enjoyable experience for the reader, with the theme of my page and the images.
Nowadays, there are many resources for free images. These are completely free to use, and you don’t even need to credit the creator. I think it would be nice to do so anyway, but it makes it easy in case you forget. There are some websites that offer free images and require attribution, but that’s easy and simple to do. I think it’s easier than me trying to create an image on my own for every post I make.
I think if I were to include some of my own images, I’d watermark it with my name, or at least the URL of my website. I also wonder why people are so generous to offer free images. I mean, attribution is one thing. But, what if people have no clue where the image came from? How does it benefit the creator? I think it’s nice, but personally, I’d want people to know it’s from me. That’s why I’d personally watermark my images.
When I select images for my blog post, I try to find something that relates to the topic I’m discussing. Like for my first blog post, I talked about restarting my blog, so I went with an image of a journal. So if someone is coming across my page and sees that image, they’d probably think that it’s related to writing or journaling of some form.
You can use images to invoke a certain feeling. For example, the theme/layout I use is calming to me. I used a header image of a pastel sky and serene blue ocean waves. It gives a sense of peace. It can reflect on the title I gave my website: Conscious Balancing. That’s what I envision when I think of the ideal mindset. It’s calm, peaceful, relaxing, and in a state of contentment.
Another reason why it may be a good idea to add images is because it helps bring in traffic. Well, assuming that you do a few things. One, you have to make sure that you name the image properly when you upload it to your website. If it’s a generic “screenshot.png” or “image.jpeg”, it’s not going to do anything for you. But if you name it something like “meditation-practices.png”, it can help with getting your post ranked in search engines. It might show up in Google Images and link to your blog. And also, you can add alt text.
I haven’t quite figured out how to rename images directly from the WordPress dashboard. I haven’t seen that option when I search in my Media folder and try to edit an image. It’s a little annoying because when I name files on my computer, I sometimes add a number (representing the number of pixels wide) or a size to the end of the file name so I know how big the image is. So when I upload an image, it automatically matches the name. I wish I could add it without the number being attached too. It’s not a big deal. It would just be nice if WordPress asked you what you would like to name your image before it uploads it.
In case you’re interested in adding images to your own blog, here are a few resources I recommend:
– Pixabay
– Pexels
– Unsplash
There’s a bunch more. All you have to do is Google search “free images”. But, make sure that it’s actually free to use. And, make sure if no attribution is needed. Sometimes, you’ll end up on websites where they offer both free to use images and stock images (which means that you usually have to pay a fee to use their images). So, just double check.
2020-10-12
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