Secret To Standing Out
It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. As a blogger, I can relate to that point. When coming up with a post, often times I find that my post would be enhanced and taken to another level if I could only find the right image to add to my article. Sometimes a visual can really carry a point across to the audience in order to help them really understand what is being said. Other times, a picture can help readers quickly grasp your main concept without actually reading every single word of an article.When it comes to writing for a certain audience, especially when it comes to getting new users to like your site and stay a while, a image is crucial. Coppyblogger suggests that a blogger should
“Start with a striking visual cue: A picture is worth a thousand words, and Stumblers really take that to heart. Nothing grabs their attention more than a striking image. StumbleUpon users seem more likely to be drawn in by the smart use of images, and there’s no better placement for a great image than at the top of your article.”
Although the Coppyblogger article is written specifically for grabbing the attention of StumbleUpon users, I think that guests coming your site from other blogs are likely to treat your blog the same way as a SU user. That is, within 2-3 seconds they will judge your site on looks and aesthetic appeal. If that fails, they will move on. However, if your site grabs their attention with an image or its design, they will stick around and listen to what you have to say.
Daily Blog Tips states that
“yes, you can overcome a bad first impression with great content, but why not take advantage of the first impression? An attractive, professional-looking blog design will give you the look of a blog that’s on its way to success, and visitors are more likely to want to be a part of that. “
While they are not necessarily talking about only a catchy image, what they say rings true. If you want your users to associate your blog with being “good”, you may as well make it look like it belongs with the likes of the pros, right?
Most blogs that I see fall in to one of two categories: Those that will be here in 2 years and those that won’t be here in 2 years. I think that it’s easy to categorize a blog after reading it and looking at the blog for a few days. Right now, blogging about making money online is the “in” thing to do. Most bloggers want to get lucky and be the next John Chow. I’m sure that the 80/20 rule will apply to this niche as well; 80% of those bloggers won’t be around in 2 years.
If you are a blogger that wants to be around in 2 years, make sure to grab new readers any way you can! Add a good pictures to your post from places like stock.xchng, the Creative Commons image search, or the FreePhotoBank. These sites are free and offer you images that you can legally use on your blog without restrictions.
It’s not easy to compete in this flooded market of “make money online” blogs. Give yourself any advantage you can find and a good place to start is by commanding your reader’s attention with a high quality contextual image. The closer your blog appears to success, the more likely you’ll work hard to make your blog succeed!
Tags: attention, design, graphics, images, Marketing, pizzaz