5 Ways to Use Photos When Blogging

As experienced bloggers know, only commercially available photos without any restrictions are available for use on blogs (or in some cases, photos that require you to get permissions from the owner). However, this is no reason to avoid using photographs on your blog. Images can generate immediate user interest, fueling engagement and making it easy for new readers to engage with your style. Here are several suggestions for using photos – your own or others – to help make your blog a better place and win some extra fans.

1. Offer Up A Little Artistic Merit: When in doubt, try creating your own photos to post on your blog. If you have aspirations as photographer, use the opportunity to experiment with local scenery and events and offer up your work along with stories about your day to see what gets the most reaction. If you have no artist talents in photography at all and are little embarrassed about your ability to take pictures, then exploit it. Take zany, ridiculous pictures through your typical day and show photos based on humor and your own lack of skill to help win readers over.

2. Link Newsworthy Photos with SEO: If you like to talk about current events on your blog, find related, available photos (even generic versions that somehow tie in with the story) and post them. Then use these images with a keyword file name designed to draw in users searching for specific terms and SEO phrases. This provides one more part of your blog that can draw in viewers, in addition to typical text. This means that the more unique and applicable the photo, the better, but even basic photos can help out your blog if it is posted with the right optimization.

3. Create a User-Generated Contest: If you have plenty of active fans and are looking for new ways to engage them, then consider creating a contest where your fans can offer up their own images in a particular genre (say, funny cat poses, most ridiculous kid faces, or best homemade bracelet). You can then post the winners on your blog in follow-up posts. If you want to make the contest even more dynamic, you can pit photos against one another and ask fans to vote for the best picture. These contests can drive plenty of traffic to your blog and connect you with your readers.

4. Form a Gallery: A gallery post can provide a refreshing alternative to your typical blog post by showing a collection of photos, either as a slideshow or with thumbnails. This works great if you have personally collected a series of photos on a particular topic, especially an entertaining topic. It is also a handy way to showcase a particular event, such as a trip or a major life event like a wedding or buying a new house. People will be very willing to view a gallery when each photo is interesting and has some witty captions or explanations, so put effort into creating the gallery.

5. Explain, Inform, and Show Off: The latest integration makes it very easy to link pictures from Pinterest to your blog. This is a handy way to show off your latest projects in a craft or DIY blog where pictures can provide both explanations and inspiration. In this case, you are offering viewers something of real value.

Jason Bayless is a professional blogger that gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice. He writes for BestSEOCompanies.com, a nationally recognized comparison website of the best SEO companies in the United States.