Photos are an essential part of any successful blog. As much as we value long form and in-depth written content, the truth is that most people surfing the web are drawn in primarily with pictures. Some can be lazy when browsing online, and want instant gratification; looking at pictures requires very little effort.
Additionally, for a travel blog, as for a fashion or beauty blog, top-quality photographs are an essential supplement to written content, not simply drawing people in, but enriching the content and giving the reader a more in-depth impression of the subject matter.
After having taken or acquired beautiful pictures, there are a few more things that new bloggers need to consider before uploading, to avoid trouble and to get the most out of each picture. Below, three of the most important are outlined.
Licensing
If you are not uploading your own pictures, you need to keep copyright policy in mind. It is a surprisingly common misconception that because an image can be found on Google Images, then it is free for the taking. This is rarely the case. Using a pool such as Creative Commons will help you find pictures which are clearly marked as to whether one can use it for commercial or non-commercial use, make edits, and if necessary to give credit to the photographer.
A wide-range of free photos can be found on sites like pexels.com. If you are negotiating a license agreement directly with the photographer, ensure that the details surrounding usage, longevity and credit are clearly stated and understood by both parties.
Resolution
When planning to upload photos onto the internet, many people worry trying to find out what is the optimum resolution. It is in actual fact completely irrelevant. Resolution (also known as pixels per inch or pixel density) is only a concern when printing photos. PPI tells a printer how many pixels to print per inch; on a screen a photo will display at a pixel x pixel size – this cannot be altered. When uploading photos, you do need to be concerned with the pixel dimensions. The more megapixels a photograph has, the longer it will take to load – it is at this point that you will want to consider the quality or ‘degree of compression’, if you need the photo to load faster.
Fast-loading photos also depends upon the webspace that you have available. 1&1 is a great example of a host who offer webspace customized for your site’s needs. Note that sites with slow loading photographs are not only a turn-off for visitors, but also for Google. Which brings us on to …
SEO
Any blog that wants to be successful needs to consider Search Engine Optimization, even just a little bit. In regard to pictures, in addition to ensuring that you have found an optimum balance between quality and loading time, you will also want to make sure that you have added ‘alt text’, that is, titles and tags that are readable by Google, Bing, and the others.
Search engines have become adept at comprehending the written word, but are not yet sophisticated enough to identify the subject of pictures. Title a picture simply and clearly. ‘Galapagos Islands Sunset’ for example, will help those searching for sunsets at the Galapagos Islands to find your site.
