It’s Dec 31st and this day brings to close the first year in which I’ve run my own personal blog. I’ve had a lot of fun and I’ve learned that more people enjoy seeing photos of me in a skin suit riding a bear than doing honest reviews of cycling insoles and energy bars.  Truthfully though going around shooting photos of me in a time trial helmet was much more fun that comparing cycling orthotics anyway so I can’t judge.  I’d like to share one thing I’ve learned this year that is applicable to those that own or run blogs (who don’t have easy access to stuffed bears)  everywhere, in all fields and all topics.  That one thing is images, more specifically how easy a blog can be enhanced in a very short amount of time using images.  A properly used image can add depth, professionalism and draw a reader into a blog post unlike words will ever be able to do.  Using a simple point and shoot camera and Picasa for photo organizing and lighting adjustments I’ve found a system that lets me upload photos in less than ten minutes.

Want to Use Images to their Full Extent?

(the quick and simple way):

1. Select an appropriate template for your WordPress Blog:  I prefer simpler templates for blog in which I’m going to use images as an attention grabber.  Templates, especially those in diffused shades, white, black and gray allow the images to stand out and speak for themselves.  This blog is actually a good example of that. For several reasons I prefer fixed width blogs.  Step #2 is a good example of why.
2. Bigger is better: Figure out the maximum width you are allowed to use for an image.  In this blog it’s 588px including the border for a caption.  Crop your images to this and use them proudly at the top of your blog posts.
3. Don’t go stock: With the methods mentioned below it is very very simple to use your own images.
4. Find a process and stick with it: I keep a point and shoot camera on me at all times.  I never know when a photo opportunity is going to sneak up.  With modern cameras it’s easy to keep them in your pocket and shoot away. Next I take a little bit of time to organize them in Picasa so when I’m writing a post I can grab one of my personal “stock” photos. I also use Picasa to quickly edit the photo, adjusting for light balance, sharpness and contrast before I upload.
5. Details!!! This is my philosophy. And it works, again and again and again… and again.  When uploading photos fill in all the fields.  Think them over, write a gripping caption.  Do not use the default for the Title Field.  This value is not visually apparent on the blog so people often times skip over it.  I send emails to my clients all the time reminding them to use it.  So don’t be like some of my problem children, take my advice and use it!  Small things like this will get you better search engine traffic especially from image indexers like images.google.com. If you want to take image indexing a step further you can use the Media Tag plug-in. It’s finicky and sometimes it takes a while for me to get it going but it’s well worth it if your blog is image heavy.

A note on details: They are not the kind of thing that get you a high spike in traffic, they are not the front page of digg.  But if you are careful and detail oriented all your blogging and photography efforts become that much more effective.  Good posts have a better chance of ranking, getting noticed, linked to, etc. If you rank in a relatively unpopular term can get you 5-10 hits a day.  20 of those articles and you have a good base of readers to build on.

With Picasa the sunset becomes just a touch more vibrant.

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