Images Matter a Lot On the Web

Why Your Content Needs Images

We all want to be remembered. That’s human nature. So when you want to convey a valuable piece of information to your audience, you want the info to be memorable, too. Images can help you do that.

Elephants are supposed to have good memories. Therefore, a photo of an elephant connects the idea of remembering a concrete (and in this case a very large) object.

Why Images Are Sticky

A photo or a graphic that is relative to your content will give your viewer’s minds something to remember. That’s what mean by “sticky”. Images help your brain by associating an idea with a visual.

Words are abstract, so they need a visual to help our brains have something to hold onto. All alone, words are good, and images are good. Put the two together and you can get something great.

Watch the Video To See A Screencast of Why and How to Imbed Images

How to Best Use Images in WordPress

Remember these 3 things, and you will be good to go.

• Pick Something Relative to Your Content
• Resize images before uploading
• Put images near the very top of your posts

Pick Something Relative to Your Content

Remember what I said about remembering? Images help us remember, but the words need to match up with the graphic somehow.

Resize Pics for the Web Before You Upload

Your pages will load faster if you make the images the right size BEFORE you upload. This helps keep your site lean and makes it more efficient. It’s also easier to back up and easier to manage, overall.

This one is a pretty big deal, folks, so resize before uploading! A great web-based resource for resizing file sizes is the awesome TinyPNG.com site.

Put Images at the Top of Your Post

As a rule, the image should be one of the first things your web viewer sees. Otherwise, they might miss it.

Stories are Sticky Too

Never forget the importance of storytelling. The mental images that stories create are very powerful connectors within our brains.

I took this picture of the angry elephant in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe during a trip I took down the Zambezi River. I’ll never forget thinking that this lone bull might get mad enough to charge.

We saw several elephants on that 10-day trip, but none were this close, and none seemed this aggravated that we were nearby.

I’ll never forget that elephant. And, hopefully, you will make a memorable connection, as well.