Hello again all! Time for round two of Blogging Tips! I am your hostess, mistress of ceremonies, and all-around AWESOME gal of AWESOMENESS, Angela! ;-) After reading my previous entry about writing, we're now experts, right? (Ahem. Right.) Today, we delve into the complicated world of PICTURES...or images if you prefer!
1. Include Them
I know this seems a little basic, but it's true. Include them. People are more likely to read your post if it includes an image in it. It doesn't have to be a personal image. Any image will do actually. Pictures spice up the continuous droll of text and give readers some eye candy to keep their minds interested. Seriously.
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The quality of the images you include should be decent enough to NOT see the graininess of them. A grainy-ish cell phone pic every ONCE in a while is acceptable, but every image should not be from a cell phone. When selecting images from the Internet to use, make sure you check the resolution...or the number of pixels (# x #) of an image before posting it. If it's 100x100 or smaller and you try to post it as a "medium" sized picture in your blog, it WILL be grainy. Use your eyeballs and ask yourself if it looks grainy. If it does to you, then it probably will to your readers, too.
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The size of the image and the size you post them are directly correlated as stated above in the mention of pixelation and graininess. HOWEVER, you also have to consider which size fits the best in each blog entry AND for your blog. If the blog post area on your blog's homepage is 650 pixels wide and you post an image as "Extra Large," the image will bleed over into the margins, causing your blog to look weird and unprofessional. If you upload them directly to Blogger, (I can't speak for Wordpress or any other blogging site since I use Blogger) you can choose the size of the image by clicking on the image inside of the blog post entry box and choosing from small, medium, large, extra large, or original size. If an image is 1300x1300 as the original size, it is NOT a good idea to choose original size. If the image is 150x150, then it IS a good idea to choose original size. If you're unsure of which size to choose, choose one then click Preview at the top of the entry form and see what it looks like on your blog. Adjust accordingly. (See the difference below!)
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| Original Size (128x128) |
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| Small |
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Where you place images in your blog posts is crucial. It's ok to change it up a bit. They don't ALWAYS have to be centered. They don't always have to be right or left aligned. You can place an image inside of a paragraph on the right side of the text where the text wraps round the image. You can place an image at the end of the post. You can place it at the beginning. It doesn't matter what your preference is, it just matters that it LOOKS good. Again, previewing your post before it is available to the public is a good idea. How something looks in Edit Mode is NOT how it looks in Public Mode.
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This is the BIGGEST pet peeve of mine and the BIGGEST blogging faux pas bloggers make. YOU MUST CREDIT YOUR IMAGE SOURCES!!! Read that 3-25 times...until it truly sinks in. Every time you use a non-personal image (i.e. one you didn't take/make) you are using something that does NOT belong to you. If it is not up for public domain (i.e. created for free use when sourcing is not required) then you must Must MUST give credit to where you found the image. If you do NOT give a link back to where you found the image, you are BREAKING THE LAW. It's called plagiarism. If you look at the image above, I correctly sourced back to the original blog posting. I didn't necessarily need to since it is my OWN image and my OWN posting, but I did it for sourcing's sake. You may also notice that I did NOT source my images displayed in that image. That is one of my first blog entries before I knew any better. Learn from my mistakes!!!
It's easy to source your images. You can do it in multiple ways. I choose to "Add Caption" to my image, type the word "Source," and link the text to the source of where I got the image. Some people use "Via" or "Here" instead of source. Some use a symbol. Regardless, if you choose to go this route, you need to link the caption text back to the image's location. Another way you can source credit is at the end of the post. You simply number your images in the caption text and then create a list at the end of the post linking each image. You may not like either of these ideas, and that's fine. You just need to come up with a way to source EACH image, within the post the image is in, to avoid plagiary.
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