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Everything You Want To Know About Images For Your Blog

Everything You Want To Know About Images For Your Blog
Today, we are going to talk about the different file types, recommended image sizes, and image SEO.  What makes a great image for your blog? That’s an easy and complex question to answer. Your images are the supporting tools for your words. You want to make sure you provide the best images for your words. 

File Types

In Typepad, you can upload a JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Each file has different strengths and should be used in different instances. 
 
JPEG/JPG: Joint Photographic Experts Group
 
This format will allow you to display millions of colors. This is an excellent format for images with lots of colors and is complex. This file can be compressed into smaller files without losing its clarity. Smaller files have less impact on your blog's load time. This file is great for real-world images, images with complex colors, and if the image has shading light and dark. 
 
PNG: Portable Network Graphics 
 
This format is great for transparent images. It allows you to create a clear and crisp image that is transparent. You can place that image (like a logo) on top of other images or backgrounds. PNGs are also great for screenshots. The text is clearer and transitions between dark and light colors are crisper. 
 
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format
 
This format is used for animated images. They are like very short videos but in image form. These files are very large and should be used sparingly. They can cause longer load times for the page. If you want to find some great gifs, check out Giphy. Once you have selected to best GIF you can add it to your post

Image Size

The size of your image will depend on where you want to put your image. Images for the web are made up of pixels. These are very small squares that make up an image (if you zoom into an image, you can see them). When describing the size of an image, we use pixels (px).
 
When you insert an image into Typepad, we compress it so it will load quickly on your site. You want to make sure the image is larger than the area you are inserting so when it is compressed it will not lose any quality. We’re going to break down your blog into different sections and give you recommendations for image sizes. The examples shown are from a Design Lab theme, but this can be used as a guide for other themes. 

Banner Image

This image goes above your blog posts. It’s the images that can showcase your blog logo and name. You have two options, the banner can go the width of the blog area or the width of the browser. 
 
Recommend image size for a blog-width banner.
Width: 1140px       Height: 250px
 
Banner blog area width
 
Recommend image size for a browser-width banner.
Width: 1400px       Height: 250px
 
Banner browser area width

Sidebar


Profile Image exampleWhen selecting your blog's layout, you can add sidebars to either the left, right, or split on either side. The sidebar will appear on all blog posts and pages on your blog. The sidebar is a great place to display information about yourself, your blog, and your ads. We have a module called Sidebar Image that you can use to insert your images into the sidebar. 
 
When creating an image for your sidebar you want to make sure the width is correct. We recommend a width of 500px wide and an auto-adjusted height to keep the image proportional. If you want to create a profile image, we recommend 500px by 500px. 

Post/Page

When composing a blog post or page for your blog the size of the image you want to use depends on what you want the post to look like. We go over some popular image placements and the recommended sizes below. 
 
Header/Featured Image
 
A header or featured image is an image that appears before the text of your blog post. It can reiterate or enhance your post title. You see this in Everything Typepad blog posts. The image size recommended for your header/featured image is 1000px wide and 350px high. 
 
Banner Image for blog post
 
Infographic
 
Infographics are visual ways to provide information to your readers. You can add graphs and small text to present information to your readers. These will be larger image files so we recommend you use the JPG file format as it will be compressed to help it load faster. When designing your infographic we recommend keeping it between 600px to 1000px wide and no more than 1800 high (or long). These should provide basic points about a topic, if you want to expand on the points, write them out in the blog post. Check out how we've used an infographic in our post 25 Mobile Design Principles from Google
 
Wrapping Text Around an image
 
For smaller images, or if you want to reduce the space in your post, use our text-wrapping feature. This will wrap your text around an image. If the image is too large, you will have a small sliver of text next to your image and it will look out of place. If you want to wrap text around your image we recommend staying around 250px wide and keeping the height proportional. 
 
Aligned to right image
 
Full-Size Image
 
Full-size images are great ways to break up a large piece of text in your post with a large image. You can use this to showcase visual examples to better explain your idea or show off your images. We recommend the width of the image be around 1000px wide and an auto-adjusted height to remain proportional. 
 
Full image in post

Image SEO

Image SEO will help your images and posts be found in search engines. Here are some tips to help your images SEO and get your content found in search engines. 
 
Image Name
 
What is the image 73q7478303437.png about? If you don’t know neither will the search engines. Make sure to give your image a name anyone could understand. For example, name the image Me_at_Santa_Monica_Beach.png so search engines can pick out keywords from the name. 
 
You can rename the image before you upload it into your post or you can make the change in Typepad. From the Compose page, double click on the image. In the pop up you will see the name of the image in the Description box, you can update this box to be more SEO friendly. This will add the description to the image title and alt tag. 
 
Edit an image box
 
Describe The Image
 
Like you, search engines look for clues about an image in the text around it. Make sure the text around your image talks about the image or uses the same verbiage as the image name and alt tag. 
 
These helpful tips apply if you create images for your blog or find images from free image sites. If you find images from the internet, check out Blogger Beware - What You Need to Know about Using Images on Your Blog.   This shares tips on how to safely use images found on the web. 
 
Images are a great way to visually showcase your ideas and thoughts. What are some of your tips to help your image stand out? 

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