Blogging Tips: Best Practices for Pictures in Posts

If you're a blogger, you already know that there are a lot of behind-the-scenes details that go into creating a post. You probably use pictures in your posts — but are you uploading them, naming them, sizing them, etc. correctly? Here's my list of best practices for using pictures in posts. If you implement the things on this list, you'll have better SEO, look more professional, avoid annoying your readers, and set yourself up for success! You could even, if you wanted to avoid stressing yourself out, get someone to help your out with your SEO if you think that you would struggle to do it by yourself. You can do this by using a professional company such as from Web Presence to help you out. It's not just blogging that uses SEO services though, large corporations use them as well. If you have a large corporation company that you like to improve, then it might be a good idea to check out this expert-level SEO for blue chip brands to help you out. Everyone can benefit from SEO then.

1. Re-Size Your Pictures BEFORE you upload them!

   You want your picture files to only be as big as you need them, in order to reduce site-load time and avoid any color distortion by letting WordPress {or whatever platform you use} re-size them. Figure out the width of you content column, in pixels {for example, mine is 680px}, and then export your photos at a width of 680px {or whatever yours is} before uploading.

2. Don't Link to the Media File!

   This looks unprofessional, and serves no purpose UNLESS you're posting something detailed that you actually want your readers to be able to enlarge and see outside of your post. In most situations, though, you should have your media file set to link to "none."

3. Be Consistent with Sizing!

   If you have a post with one picture after another, make sure they are the same width. This creates a much nicer visual flow for your audience, and a more cohesive look on your site. If your pictures are different aspect ratios, you can still export to be the same width before uploading.

4. Be Consistent with White Balance!

   Take the time to figure out white balance on your camera and in your editing! Within your posts, and between your posts, you want a consistent white balance. There's nothing worse than seeing an over-yellow post of what would otherwise be a great photo!

5. Label Your Pictures Correctly!

   This is super important for SEO and Pinterest, and has a couple of different parts:

   1. Change your filename from IMG_1234.jpg to your post title {e.g. Green_Papaya_Salad.jpg}. I click on the file name, which then highlights the name. You can also right click, or press enter. Next, re-name the file! I usually name it whatever my post is titled, or a shortened (but still descriptive) version if the post title is long.

      

      Next, re-name the rest of the files you plan to upload. You’ll have to add a number (green-papaya-salad-2.jpg) to differentiate the files.

   2. Then, upload your photo to WordPress and label it there.

      Before inserting each photo, you’ll need to go through and again re-name and add alt text. The contents of the “title” box will automatically have whatever your file is named — this one said “green_papaya_salad.jpg” before I changed it. Change it to your post title: this is what will show up when someone hovers over the image and a pop-up shows them what it is. It also tells search engines what the picture is!

      The alt text is the most important for SEO, and is what will automatically show up in Pinterest when someone pins that image. For the alt text, I like to add my site address, too! I put “Green Papaya Salad | thekitchenpaper.com.” If you want to include hashtags here, you can. They won’t really do anything for SEO, but they’ll show up on Pinterest. Using alt text on your images is a great way for people to find your website through platforms such as google images or Pinterest, therefore this is one of the SEO Services that companies don't tend to spend time focusing on as you can do this yourself!

      The description is optional — most themes don’t actually utilize it, and if you’ve edited your theme to use it you know what it’s good for! I just filled this in so you could see the text I have in the Alt Text in full.

Hopefully those tips will help you improve your blog and use of photos! If you need help with the actual photography part of it, check out Tasty Food Photography eBook — you can learn SO much and improve your photography immediately. If you want more helpful tips on improving your blog and using Pinterest, check out my eBook Pinterest for Food Bloggers!