The Importance of Images In Linkbait Articles
If you’re in an area that finds it hard to build natural links what do you do? You create bait and attract or catch the links whether this is done on purpose or as a happy accident. The best way to do this is with content that is directed at a specific audience and has appeal.
Images and visual aids add to this appeal or can be the whole lure altogether. Eye tracking visualization software studies have shown that viewers move across the content on a screen very very fast. What is to keep them there? Unless the content i
s of interest to them they will move on to the next page and continue the search.
Lets face it, people view and read on the screen much different than the printed page. If you have appealing or ‘juicy‘ images for the eyes to feast on then that just may be the
difference for a viewer to stay and read further.
The images need to be relevant to the content, that should be a given. Don’t use a picture of Pam Anderson in Baywatch unless you are writing about her… loop hole, I couldn’t resist.
With so many eyeballs just surfing the waves of content you need to stand out and become noticed. Add some life and face to your wonderful content and use imagery to help get noticed.
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Nice post Pat. The power of good graphics is amazing…
BTW – I wonder what the reaction would have been if you had used a more current pic of Pam Anderson (like this one) :)
Thanks Chris- Yikes! I missed that image. The reaction would have been someone asking me ‘what if I used a Baywatch pic’:)
Good graphics are important but be sure to research the target market before utilizing celebrity images.
In my locale (Los Angles) these are some of the people visiting my site and calling for services. Many are seeking privacy and I’m required by law to respect it.
Consider this when building campaigns that address large metro areas (such as NYC or LA) that are home to high profile individuals.
Pam Anderson Turns into a Zombie … not a bad bit o’ digg bait
What if the client’s images have nothing to do with hot babes, guys or cute animals?
We have a mutual finds company so would the images be dollar signs or typical stock photos? Would those help?
Thanks
Excuse me, a mutual FUNDS company.
Also, I suppose hot babes would come into play if someone made a lot of money and that’s what attracted someone like Pam Anderson to them…
@ Michael- Yes good point, it is always critical to know your audience. Thanks for comment and useful information.
@ graywolf- That is some photo! I just may use it for my Yahoo IM profile pic ;)
Nice to hear from you!
@ Catherine- Great question, although I always say cute animals have a place anywhere…well I don’t really say that.
I would say just be creative- think in metaphors or use some other perspective of the everyday imagery.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
@catherine how about a big stack of money? How about a fancy house paid for with all those mutual fund gains, exotic sports cars, private jets?
How about some humorous pictures of people who are broke? Guy with empty out turned pockets? A yugo with a wooden spoiler held on with duct tape? A made up classified ad for a 2 bedroom cardboard box?
HEHE… Excellent ideas! Thanks!
How about a down and out hottie (of any persuasion) with rope holding their pants up and wads of money just out of reach?
How about a Yugo entirely held together with only duct tape with a sad and cute basset hound?
Damnnnnnn Catherine – are you sure you haven’t done this before :)
Here’s a more (hmmmmm) relevant Pamela Anderson picture for the topic at hand.
@Catherine – lots of possibilities for you. Graphs and charts (line graphs of money growth, pie charts of diversification strategies, etc.). I personally love chart … a picture says 1000 words.
Sorry, let me add the other Pamela Anderson photo here
Great examples Jeff, I am a fan of charts and how easily ‘some’ can relay information. Was that picture taken at the Google dance? ;)
I having been trying to incorporate more images in my blog. Do you have any suggestions to make the process less painfully long? For example, a plugin that searches open source images sources based on tags or simply a search directly from WordPress itself? Or simply the process you use or sites you use for finding images?
Hi Stephan- I do not know of any plugins that do such a thing. I use a pay site to get all my images. You can check creative commons on Flickr to see what you can use http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ Other good stock photo sites are Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com and http://www.istockphoto.com
It saves a lot of headache to engage in something that makes it easy for you to build links in a natural way. But if you choose an area that makes it hard to build natural links, enhancing your content with nice graphics might be helpful but not be enough to turn things around.
I'm attracted to any article that lures me in with good images. Especially when the image tells a good story about the topic.
Images are good to be used web pages only if designed well. A poorly designed image scares visitors away. I normally use them whenever I have time to meaningfully convey my story through them.