How pictures can sell your post (and your product)

Next up in the 12 Days of Christmas Series is a blog tip from Pro Blogger Arieanna Foley – a (blogger who has at last count) involvement in over 16 blogs (actually it’s probably more than that now she’s a channel editor at b5) on a wide range of topics. She blogs for herself at Blogaholics and for b5 at the popular Cooking Gadgets and She Knows Best. She’s also our Entertainment Channel editor. Here’s her tip on using images in posts.

Although I give due credit to the amazing Rhys Alexander on the importance of “Writing Gooder“, but a blog post is not all about what you say or how you say it. Face it, there are hundreds of things that just slip past us, well written or not.

Here’s the problem: your reader has a very very short attention span. You might get just a portion of a second of their attention, in which you need to grab hold of them to keep reading. I have honestly unsubscribed from some blogs not because I was bored of them, but I honestly didn’t have the time to read their posts. They were long and unscannable – I’m sorry – I love them, but I read 400 blogs, and I need shortcuts.

We all know of certain techniques to improve these Attention Techniques. Good blog design, catchy titles, shorter posts, text techniques, and breaking up long paragraphs.

Well, I’m here to tell you another trick that can not only smack your readers across the face to get their attention, but also help you make money.

Let me give you an example. You just saw me above doing a few things. Using fairly short paragraphs, and where not possible, more bolding. Why, because I know you won’t read this. I could be telling you the meaning of life, and you’d probably miss it. Many good pieces of work go unnoticed in the same way.

Now, what if I had given the same chunk of text above as this:

“Well, I’m here to tell you another trick that can not only smack your readers across the face to get their attention, but also help you make money.

Let me give you an example. You just saw me above doing a few things. Using fairly short paragraphs, and where not possible, more bolding. Why, because I know you won’t read this. I could be telling you the meaning of life, and you’d probably miss it. Many good pieces of work go unnoticed in the same way. ”

Does that grab your attention? The point proves itself easily. When you are being scanned at an alarmingly fast rate in an RSS reader you have only one chance to slow that motion down. Images do that for you.

Now, how do images make you money?

Simple! When you grab those images from some sort of affiliate program, like Amazon. Think that’s out of your reach? Never. Whether you write about products or not, Amazon is a treasure trove of information, resources, and images.

There are books on just about any topic – you can just stick one in your post, related or not, to get that attention. If you can find something related, go for it.

Some tricks:

• always use the picture only.
• wrap it in your text, if at all possible.
• sizes can be modified, so do what feels right for the length of your post.
• don’t limit yourself to just books – Amazon.com has great products in almost any range
• think of your market – if you are writing on stocks, what do you think your demographic might be interested in? Think complimentary products

So, remember, images are not just about making your point – images are about making sure someone pays attention to your point. And maybe picking up a few sales here and there.