The Importance of Images

So no matter who your audience is or what you're going to focus your blog on, 0:00 you need to have images. 0:03 Images power the web. We're humans. 0:06 We see things before we read them. 0:08 We click on things when an image gets our attention. 0:10 And it doesn't matter if you're focusing on writing, video, photography, whatever it is. 0:14 You have to have images in your post. 0:18 Now, how are you going to find those images? Are you taking them yourselves? 0:20 Are there creative common searches you're going to do? 0:25 It's really up to you in what you want to focus on. 0:28 Whenever possible, it's easier to create the images yourselves. 0:30 Take screen captures of the code you're writing 0:33 or do a screencast walk into the design of a site you just did. 0:36 It's really up to you. But if you create it, it's going to get a lot easier. 0:40 It's going to have that personal feel, and plus, 0:44 when they know that you're creating the images that go with your post, 0:47 it adds a certain authenticity to the post and to the content you're creating. 0:50 And again, keep in mind that every post you write, 0:56 no matter what it is, should have an image attached. 0:59 And the reason for that is that you hope 1:02 when people come and consume that content, they're going to share it, 1:05 and every social network out there is going to pull an image and share. 1:08 If you have an image in the post, usually that is the one that would go. 1:13 Otherwise, it's going to scroll your site looking for another image, 1:15 and you don't know what that will be so think about that ahead of time. 1:19 Also, want to get a little adventuresome? Break out a little bit. 1:23 Maybe share photos that are going with your post on other networks. 1:27 Instagram is getting a huge boost lately. 1:30 Think. Is there a way that you can create content and push it out on that channel 1:33 that might be unique and different and thus get you more readership. 1:36 Also, one final thing, by having images in your post, 1:40 it helps drive people to your website through good old fashioned SCO. 1:43 People are going to go out to Google or Beam or whatever search engines 1:48 they want to use and search for things. 1:50 If the images you've put in your posts are tagged appropriately, 1:52 have descriptions to them, it will help in your search results. 1:55 People will think about that very often as well as little things 2:00 that can bring your blog above the others. 2:02