How important are images, photos and info-graphics in web content?

For most web pages and blogs "content is king" (Bill Gates c. 1996) and in addition to text, content should include images, photos and infographics. I would go so far as to say that images/graphics are even more important now than they were 12 months ago.

Just look at the new web apps and design views that are turning up. Thumbnails are the plat du jour - mobile phone apps and tablet layouts are navigated using images and thumbnails. So to have an appropriate image or graphic for each web page or article is essential.

graphic thumbnails from the web devil blog

Great looking graphics will also attract viewers and keep them coming back for more visual feasts. The last thing people want is to wade through paragraphs of text without a visual break. And as the famous saying goes "a picture says a thousand words".

Other benefits of images are in searchability. The number of image searches (google images, flickr etc.) is increasing substantially and relevant images will bring more traffic.

Naming image files with keywords from the page are important for search engine optimisation, as is using the alt tag to give a short description of the image.

Infographics are the pinnacle of content images. They provide visual relief to text AND are functional by providing valuable information for readers. For some great examples of infographics check out www.coolinfographics.com


Finally, if you're going to scour the net for images make sure you don't fall foul of copyright laws and "steal" other website images and place them on your own site.
If you use flickr or google images the advance option lets you sort for non-copyright images, or you could use a free image library like sxc.hu
Better yet - break out your fav graphic editing software and do a doodle - it doesn't have to look pretty (check out Drew's style at www.toothpastefordinner.com and he has 14 thousand Facebook "Likes")

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