Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Blogging

Including videos and graphics in blog posts is nothing new, but with the increased popularity of social media sites such as Pinterest, they are becoming even more popular online. Some people argue that the average person’s attention span is getting shorter every year and they need to be enticed with something much more eye-catching than a textual article.

If you want to keep your blog up-to-date and interesting, adding videos and graphics as a focal point rather than an aside is a good idea. I’ll be practicing what I preach, and begin vlogging in the near year, so be sure to keep an eye on my YouTube channel for some cringe-worthy footage of me and my partner in crime, Petal! 

Make the content focus of the blog

Most modern blog themes do not have bright colors, flashy header graphics or complicated structures. The best themes are unobstructed, professional, neat and responsive for mobile devices. After all, the thing you want visitors to be attracted by is your content.

With a basic template, the content itself needs to be eye-catching. No one can argue with the fact that a photo slideshow, a clip art-filled info graphic or a video attract the attention more than black text on a white background.

Include graphics and video without overwhelming readers

Unless you are going for a Pinterest-style website or a photo gallery with many columns and rows of bite-sized chunks of content, you need to make sure your blog doesn’t look busy and cluttered. Keep photo thumbnails the same size, arrange them so the color scheme flows pleasingly to the eye and group similar graphic themes together to create clusters of attention-grabbing content.

If you display featured posts, or all of your most recent posts, on the front page of your website, the last thing you want is a stack of auto-play videos overwhelming anyone who navigates to your blog. Make sure the static video displays an image that gives readers an idea of what they will find if they click the play button.

5 quick and easy tips for a more interesting blog

1. Include an interesting photo or graphic with every text-based post.
2. Add a video-only blog post (or vlog) once out of every five pieces of content.
3. Use slider, slideshow and animation plug-ins on select posts where it makes sense to do so. How-to instructions, posts that include multiple options or personal accounts of travel or other experiences are good options for these multi-picture inclusions.
4. Design or hire a professional freelance designer to create infographics that teach, share statistics, impart knowledge or entertain the people who visit your blog.
5. Always consider proper and effective search engine optimization (SEO) practices when including graphics and video in your blog posts. Alt or title text can include keyword phrases and textual blurbs can be used to summarize the videos. These will also help people who are looking at your blog at work or on a mobile device who cannot play a video at that time or consult from digital marketing agency like Tekfirst to make your online presence stronger.

Expand your online reach, build a platform and improve brand recognition and reputation with engaging content. But most of all – write about what you love and let that take the center stage. Instead of the flashy website templates of yesteryear, the content should catch the most attention now.