When everyone starts a blog they realize they will have to produce written content. This means people should already be able to write, and if not they will need to develop their ability before they do anything else. Then they might move onto podcasting where they can record themselves speaking, which shouldn’t be too hard when you consider that speaking is something we do every day of our lives. Finally they move onto video and it can make anyone nervous, but we all have the ability to do it.
Adding lovely pictures to your blog is a different matter altogether. Most people can’t draw, or even take photos professional looking enough to pass as excellent content. This doesn’t look too good when you realize a blog needs pictures of some sort. It’s what stops it from looking boring and without them our design looks off. There are ways to get around this and we can look at them now because I know they can take your blog up to a level where you can compete with anyone.
Use your rubbish drawings
There is a difference between using rubbish drawings and bringing attention to the fact you know they are rubbish which gives them a very personal touch. It could be something like using a certain kind of stick figure in various poses that highlights certain things. You thought you couldn’t draw, but now you’re the person who uses those silly little pictures and people think you are human. This isn’t something you would use on a professional website, but for personal blogs they can work great.
Swap skills with a friend
You could know someone who is amazing at using Photoshop, drawing cartoon pictures, or just taking professional looking photos. You are amazing at writing sales pages, so you could swap skills and he would design for you while you wrote all his sales pages. The obvious benefit to this is that there would be no money exchanging hands and your bank balance will stay the exact same. You could also find more copywriting work coming your way because of recommendations.
Hire someone to do it
If you are desperately in need of someone who can produce great graphics all the time you might want to think about hiring someone full-time. Not everyone will have that sort of money to spend, so instead you could hire someone on a freelance basis to design you stuff whenever you need it. They could even produce one picture per week for you that will go in your latest article and they might only need to work for a few hours. It’s an easy way to give people what they want while still saving money.
Creative commons photos
If you search on website like Deviant Art, Flickr, and Compfight you will see the term creative commons getting thrown around a lot. This basically means other people have uploaded pictures that you can use on your blog. They almost always come with stipulations and the biggest one is that you link back to the source, which is fair considering you are getting something for free. You’re not always allowed to use them specifically to earn money so watch out for those ones.
Stock photos
The last place you can find some great graphics for your site is stock photo websites, the most famous being iStock Photo. These are like the creative commons ones except you need to pay for them. The good news is that they are really cheap and are easily affordable unless you’re updating your blog more than a few times per week. The selection you have to choose from is great and you will always find the exact thing you were looking for.
About the Author: Today’s guest post is written by George Kent of PenTech Consulting. It is one of the leading SEO companies in CT. You can read more about the company and their services on their website.
That;s great to know. I was looking for high quality pictures. Thanks for the tips!