Blog posts containing images and photos get up to 70% more traffic than posts without visuals. So why wouldn’t you use them in your posts?
Visual content is an essential component of any successful blog. Adding images, videos, and infographics to your blog posts can make your content more engaging and memorable.
If you plan to include images or photos in your blog posts, there are four essential things to remember. These steps will help ensure your content is engaging and visually appealing while avoiding copyright issues.
1. Use High-Quality Images And Photos.
Always use high-quality images that are relevant to your post. Blurry or low-resolution images can detract from your message and make your blog appear unprofessional.
Additionally, using images that are not directly related to your topic can confuse readers and reduce the effectiveness of your post.
2. Ensure Images And Photos Are Not Copyrighted
Ensure you have permission to use any images and photos you include in your posts. This means sourcing images from websites offering free, non-copyrighted images (such as Pixabay) or purchasing the rights to use images from a stock photo website.
Not all images are free to use. And some that are free may only be free for a limited time. Always check the small print.
Don’t think you’ll ever get fined for using copyrighted images or photos. There are copyright bots continually looking for copyrighted images that have been illegally used and downloaded all over the web.
I know of two bloggers who have been fined for using images/photos on their blog posts that were not free to use.
To avoid copyright issues, use your own images and photos and watermark them before adding them to your blog posts. I use a free app called Photobulk to do this. Seeing a watermark is a great deterrent in persuading some thieves not to copy and use them.
Of course, if you’re not concerned about your photos and images being used by anybody else, you don’t need to watermark them.
3. Ensure Images And Photos Are The Correct Sizes.
Optimize your images for web use by compressing them to reduce file size.
Large images can slow down your website’s loading speed, negatively impacting your blog’s search engine rankings and overall user experience.
If you have limited space in your media library, not reducing the size of your images and photos will soon take up all your media space. When that happens, you won’t be allowed to download additional images to your blog unless you free up space or move to a plan that gives you more storage space.
I recommend reducing image and photo sizes to 900 x 675 pixels.
There are several ways you can reduce the size of images and photos. You can reduce them using photo editing software or your device’s software.
The WordPress media library also has editing software, but please note that if you reduce the size of an image or photo using this tool, the original image is kept in your media library when you reduce the size of the image- thus, you won’t save any storage space.
The newly edited image with the reduced size is added as a new file in your media library. You can always revert back to the original image by clicking on the image in the media library, selecting Edit, and then choosing the “Restore Original” button. If you’ve inserted an edited image into other published posts, reverting an image may break this image on those posts.
I use an Apple iMac and can change the size of photos and images by clicking on Tools – Adjust Size on the menubar of my desktop computer. I do this before adding them to my WordPress media library.
On a Windows computer, you can use Microsoft Paint. Open your image with that program, then click on Resize. You can find this option on the middle-right side of the “Image” section at the top of the Paint window.
However, as I mentioned earlier, you can also reduce the size of images and photos on WordPress. But only do this if your WordPress plan has a large storage space allowance.
- To do this, ensure you view your media library in Classic view.
- Click the edit image button on the image you want to edit.
- Add the new dimensions in the Scale Image box and click the Scale button.
- Click the save or update button to save the changes.
Your photos and images will be reduced in size, but remember that a copy of the original is also kept, so you won’t save any storage space.
If posting to your site using the Jetpack App, the app can optimise images.
In the Jetpack app for iPhone, you can set the Max Image Upload Size so the original file is resized automatically when you upload it. This option can be found by going to My Site and clicking the profile icon in the top right, then choosing App Settings.
In the Jetpack app for Android, click on your profile icon in the top right corner and choose App Settings. There, enable Optimise Images to resize and compress images on upload.
4. Add information to your images and photos.
Don’t forget to include alt text and captions for your images.
Alt text is a description of the image that allows visually-impaired readers to understand what the image is conveying. At the same time, captions can add context and help readers engage with your content. This is especially important when participating in blog challenges such as Wordless Wednesday and Silent Sunday.
Adding a description of the image or photo also helps with SEO searches.
- Click the save or update button to save all the changes.
Following these four essential steps, you can create visually stunning and engaging blog content with images that stand out.
Let’s wrap it up.
- Always use high-quality images and photos on your blog.
- Never use images and photos that are copyrighted. You may be fined for doing so.
- Use your own images and photos. That way, you won’t encounter any copyright issues.
- Reduce the size of images and photos before loading them to your blog.
- Alternatively, reduce the size of images and photos with WordPress’s tools in the media library, but only if you have a WordPress plan that offers a large amount of storage.
- Always add information about images and photos before adding them to blog posts, as this allows visually-impaired readers to understand what the image conveys.
- Adding a description of the image or photo also helps with SEO searches.
What do you use to resize images and photos for your blog posts? Do you always complete the details of images and photos in the Alt Text box? If you have any questions about adding images and photos to your blog, please leave them in the comments section.
To follow Hugh on social media, click the links below.
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, click the ‘Subscribe’ button to stay up-to-date with my latest content.
Copyright @ 2024 hughsviewsandnews.com – All rights reserved.
Discover more from Hugh's Views & News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Hugh's Views & News 
Congratulations Hugh! Your post won the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party. You’ll be featured on Mostly Blogging on Monday.
Janice
That’s great news. Thanks very much, Janice.
To resize my images, I use Optimizilla (FREE) and then also ShortPixel Image Thank you from your SSPS Team for sharing your various links with us at #265 SSPS Linky.
Thank you for sharing those details, Esme. I’m sure they will come in very handy for others who read this post.
Excellent tips, Hugh. I compress my images using Squoosh and then resize them, even more, using Picmonkey (which I pay for). I use Picmonkey and Lunapic (free) to create images like my logo. I like my images to be 640 x 400.
Thank you for sharing that information for resizing images and photos, Eugi. I’m sure it will be very helpful to other readers.
You’re welcome, Hugh.
As always, great tips for photo use and editing, Hugh! Ever since I read Cee’s post about reducing images to her recommendations of 700 x 700 last year, I began editing mine before dropping them into the WP media library, but more like 800 x 800 ish. Since then, I’ve gone through and sized them down significantly (can you believe I had images that were 5 MB? Egads!
That is interesting that once images are in the WP library, even reducing them doesn’t save space. I don’t see images of two different sizes, so the originals must lurk in the background? In any case, I learned a lot back in the day of Blogging 101, about alt images, etc. I like adding captions to help explain the image. So many bloggers don’t use them and I don’t know where the photo was taken, or what kind of flower I’m looking at.
Good reminders about not using copyrighted images. It is easy to do. Glad WP has the option of using Pexels and Pixabay. thanks again for the good reminders!
Hi Terri, I think we all fall into the trap of not resizing images and photos on our blogs at first. That storage space soon disappears. I often see posts where the blogger is asking for help because the’ve used up all their media storage space – usually because all the images the’ve loaded are too big.
Regarding resizing images and photos in the WordPress media library, when you resize an image or photo, an option becomes available to revert back to the original size, so WordPress keep a copy of the original photo. You are right that you can not see it, but I checked with them and they confirmed that resizing in the media library does not save storage. It only adds to it. So it’s always best to resize images and photos before downloading them to the media library.
Rookie mistakes in blogging, LOL! thanks for confirming the image sizing in the media miles, Hugh. I may have to delete some old posts some day.
Deleting old posts is also another great way of freeing up media library storage space, Terri. Just remember to delete the photos from the posts you’re deleting first and to delete them from the media library too because they’re not deleted just by deleting a post. But I’m sure you know that.
Great tips Hugh. Joey’s input is also helpful. Unless I forget I tend to resize my photos on my phone and download a small size with any images. I tend to use alt text with individual photos, although not my header/title photo (can’t remember the technical term). But I don’t tend to add alt text when I’m sharing ‘tourist’ photos but was thinking I probably should
Adding details to the Alt Text box helps visually-impaired readers or those who use speech software so I’d recommend adding details to all images and photos, Brenda. The same goes for the sharing buttons on our blogs – don’t use the icon only ones. Use the ones that include text.
I’m delighted this post has helped.
Thank you for the great tips, Hugh!
You’re welcome.
Fabulous tips as always, Hugh, thank you.
I use FastStone to resize photos. I think it might watermark them too, but I haven’t got around to doing that. I have been resizing them to 1200 px wide so I can use them as covers, but 900 will undoubtedly save space!
A blog I used to write guest posts for was fined £6o for using a photo of a speed camera, so it does happen! It was a really crappy image, but whoever sent it in hadn’t checked copyright.
I use Pixabay, Unsplash, Pexels, and Rawpixel for royalty free images, as well as Wikimedia Commons. The first three don’t require attribution, although I think it’s always nice to attribute. Pixabay is my favourite – it is really well indexed and it’s rare I can’t find an image I need.
Thanks for sharing those details with us, Jacqueline.
And thank you for confirming that the blog you used to write for was fined for using an image that copyrighted. I know of many bloggers who think it’ll never happen to them, so hearing it has will help educated them that nobody is safe if they use copyrighted images.
It definitely can happen. It was months after the post went out and as I said, it wasn’t even a great photo!
Another blogger who was fined informed me that it was a post she published 7 years previously before she got fined. It goes to show that those copyright-bots don’t miss anything.
Thanks for the tips Hugh, particularly about reducing the size of the image and the alt text. I always reference where I obtain a photo, but wasn’t aware the free option sometimes was limited.
It’s rare, but it’s always worth checking the small print, Paul.
I’m glad these tips helped.
Very informative for the digitally ignorant (me)!
Thank you. I’m glad it all helps.
There’s a fine line (and a contradiction) between using high-quality photos and having to resize them so the blog posts don’t use forever (and a lot of data) to load. I use A LOT of photos to go with my travel stories on Roaming About, so can’t use full-size images. Uploading them would chew through my own data or be impossible with bad internet and the pages would be difficult to load for readers.
Therefore, I always bulk resize my photos in a free program called Fotor before uploading them into WordPress. When resizing them further there, at times, the quality becomes poor and grainy. The positive about the smaller sized photos is that nobody would probably steal them. :)
I had no idea that writing alternative text with the photos can be beneficial. Thanks for that tip, Hugh!
I’ve seen a few blogs where they have used full-sized images, Liesbet. Not only did it take ages for the post to download, but I didn’t have the time to wait. So I moved on.
In most cases, I think it’s a case of not knowing. I’ve seen many blogs posts from bloggers asking for help because they’ve used up all the media space in their media library, usually with large images.
Thanks for sharing what software you use to resize images. That’ll be helpful to other readers.
Yes, completing the information in the Alt Text box is so important and helps visually-impaired readers to understand what the image is conveying. Adding a caption also helps.
Nice post! The photo’s ideal dimension is a difficult topic. It depends on the theme one uses. If your main column width is 900px, and upload a photo with 900px width, it looks blurry on MacBook Pro with “Retina display”. That said, nowadays many people see websites on Jetpack app on their phones, then 900 px is certainly fine. For my website, the main column width is 500px, and I’m uploading photos using 1280 to 1480px width so that they don’t look pixelated on MacBook Pro. 😅
Thanks for that in information on the perfect dimensions, Joey.
You’re right about the majority of bloggers now viewing and reading posts on devices such as phones and tablets. However, all the WordPress themes (apart from the old ones they no longer support) are mobile friendly.
I’ve found that 900 X 675 pixels doesn’t affect the quality of images and photos. I’ve gone with this size on the majority of images for a long time. And, of course, they don’t take up much media space.
No problem! Yes, if the website is viewed on phones, 900px width is certainly enough, even for iPhones that use Retina display. I’m a photographer, so always want to make sure that photos are displayed without looking pixelated on any device including desktop PC and Mac. 😅
That’s good to hear, Joey. I often see blog posts with awful quality pictures and images. It does not look good and makes it look as if the blogger does not care about their blog.
This is a very useful post.
I have saved it for future reference.
I’m glad it’s helpful. I enjoy sharing these tips and information with readers.
That is very kind.
Thank you Hugh
You’re welcome.
Loved it.
This is what I see in your post
Great post! I always try to follow the mentioned steps when adding images to my blog posts. I usually resize my images using the editing software on my computer. However, I’m interested in knowing if there are any online tools you recommend for image resizing? Also, I always complete the details in the Alt Text box for all my images, but I was wondering if adding captions is just as important? Thank you for sharing this informative post.
Thanks, Ely Shemer
There are lots of photo editing tool available, but be careful when choosing one because there may be a charge. I’m not sure what device you use, but do a search via Google or Bing (or one of the other SEO tools). They’ll bring back lots of results.
At the very least, the device you use to download images and photos to your blog will come with some editing software, so I’d check that out first. If you have a WordPress.Com blog, use the tools they have available in the media library of your blog.
I’d recommend adding captions to your images and photos because this will help visually-impaired readers.
I hope that all helps, Ely?