A very important part of any blog or website are the images selected for use. It’s recommended that every page/post has at least one image, whenever possible. This means you really need to understand how to upload, format and use images within WordPress. Here are some tips to help you include the best possible images with every post or page.
Five Tips for Better Images in WordPress
1. Size
Within the “add media files” section, you can upload your images and choose the right size. It’s always best to upload in the original size and make adjustments once the image is uploaded. Trying to make an image to large, when uploading, can distort the quality. Once you’ve uploaded your image, you can change the size, as necessary.
2. Title
Titling your image will provide many traffic benefit. The title needs to accurately represent the image, but also include a keyword phrase. For example, if you’re using an image of a “yellow bird” and your main keyword phrase is “little yellow bird”, you can just use “little yellow bird” as your title.
3. “ALT” Tag
Another section you can add your keyword phrase to, when uploading an image, is the “ALT” tag section. This is the content that will show up whenever someone places the mouse arrow on top of the image. It provides search engine optimization benefits and the easiest way to ensure this section includes your keyword phrase is by copying and pasting the title into the “ALT” tag section.
4. Link to a Page
You can change the URL the image links to and make it actually link to a page on your site or an external site. WordPress is set up to default images to a page of just the image or a larger image. This is just fine if you don’t need to link it, but visitors like to click on pictures. By linking your pictures to a relevant page or an affiliate site, you can increase the SEO of your blog.
5. Alignment
As you upload your images, you will see a section allowing you to choose “Left”, “Center”, “Right” or “None”. This is the image alignment and when you choose to align the image, the text will wrap around it. Play with this feature as you preview every post or page to see which alignment fits best.
Why Should You Always Use Images?
Using images in WordPress provides a number or benefits. It’s true, a picture is really worth 1,000 words and people love to see pictures, as long as they’re relevant to the content. It wouldn’t make sense to use a picture of a yellow bird if your site is about kitchen faucets.
The main benefit you get from using an image with each page or post is a boost in the SEO of that page or post. By using a title and an “ALT” tag with your main keyword, you will gain SEO benefits, which may help your site rank higher in the search engine lists.
Another benefit you get from images is the “image search” feature of Google. When someone searches for an image with your keyword phrase, your image will come up in the results. If they click on the image from Google, it will lead them to your website. Some very smart marketers have taken full advantage of this to create large incomes just from traffic from images.
Finally, if you link your images, you will provide an easy way for your visitors to find the page you want them to find. For example, if you sell an ebook, you can use images within your blog posts and link them to the sales page for your ebook. People love to click images, especially if they don’t look like advertisement. Take advantage of this benefit with every post you can.
It may not make sense to use an image with every post or page, but use them as often as possible. If you can use two or three images, do so. It will only increase your benefits and add value to the content you’re posting to your blog.
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