So you've written, proof read and completed your final edit of your blog post and your ready to hit post. Oh wait! You almost forgot to add a feature image. After a quick search on your favourite free stock photo site (because you know you can't use just any old google image) you upload a pic and hit publish. This is something a see quite a bit online. Bloggers who write a great post, but the feature image looks like it was a bit of an after thought. I think this is such a shame because this is such a missed opportunity.
We live in a world that is so visually orientated and in which social media is the primary way that most of us consume or are directed to information. It is now so important that we optimise our blog post feature images. Here are my top 5 reasons you should be adding text to your blog post feature images
1. Grabs Your Reader's Interest
Creating a graphic which includes the title of your blog posts is really important. Not only does it look nice, but it grabs people's attention.
People want things to be simple and easy. If your reader can clearly see, straight away, what your post is about just by looking at the feature image of a post, and they don't have to scroll down in search of the title beneath the feature image, their interest is more likely to be sparked.
This is because the eye is naturally drawn to what is most visually interesting.
Which image grabbed your attention first? It was the one on the right wasn't it? Even though we read left to right, the eye went to the left first because it was drawn to what was most interesting.
2. Helps Create Your Brand/Blog Identity
When you add text to your blog post feature images it's important that you find a style that fits in with your blog design/branding and the content you post about. Doing this helps create and reinforce your brand/blog identity so that when your post is shared on social media, it is still easily identifiable as yours (especially if you put a watermark of your website on the image).
Additionally your blog post feature images helps add to the look and feel of your website. As with physical spaces, people want to hang out online in places that inspire and uplift, and where they feel cozy and welcome.
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3. Makes Browsing Your Website Easy
This brings me to the next reason which is that well designed blog post feature images make the browsing experience of your website much easier and therefore more enjoyable. Who doesn't like scrolling through nice pictures? And if those pictures tell you what the post is about even better. Less work for you.
The easier and more enjoyable you make browsing through your blog posts, the more likely your readers are to do so.
4. Increases the Shareability of Your Posts
Adding text to your blog post feature image makes them more shareable on social media, particularly Pinterest.
If I were to pin the image on the left onto my Blogging + Business board, no one would know that the article it was linked to was about motivation and blogging until or unless they read the description of the pin. Based on the image alone, the article could be about anything - writing, design, quotes.
Most people, myself included, often skip over the pin descriptions and browse based on what is eye catching. However the image on the right is both eye catching and it tells you straight away what the post it is linked to is about.
The same goes for other social media platforms. Although other platforms like Facebook and Twitter may rely less on visuals than Pinterest or Instagram, good visual content is still important for grabbing peoples attention and making your posts easy to share.
5. Drives Traffic To Your Website
As a result of increasing the shareability of your posts, you also drive more traffic to your website. A good blog post feature image which includes text, will, as discussed in reasons 1 and 4, grab people's attention on social media news feeds and make them more likely to click through to the post on your blog.
DISCLAIMER: Of course adding text to your blog post feature image doesn't substitute for having useful, interesting content and good blog post headlines. Adding text to a blog post feature image, may attract people's attention initially, but if your content is written poorly and the headlines are boring, readers likely won't click through to the post from social media or if they do, they are less likely to read the whole post or browse around your site.
I hope you are now a born again blogger and will start adding text to your blog post feature images. Not sure how? Find out in this video tutorial (it also comes with free templates!)
P.S. Do you know anyone who'd like this post? I'd so love it if you shared it with your friends.
