Sick and tired of the same stale stock photos that everyone else uses? You don't have to be a graphic designer to come up with a great looking original image for a blog article. Here are a few free resources and techniques for professional do-it-yourself blog post images that will enhance reader engagement and click-throughs to your blog articles.
This app has a free trial and is an excellent resource for professional-looking diagrams that look fantastic on business blogs. The application uses a format similar to Microsoft's Visio product. Just drag, drop, and type onto pre-made templates to create original images as simple as a venn diagram all the way to infographic-level process workflows.
Gliffy is great for creating:
- Venn Diagrams
- Flow Charts
- Process Diagrams
- Wireframes
- 4-Box Models
- Org Charts
- SWOT Analysis
- Floor Plans
Screenshots
The classic screenshot is still my go-to image creator for blog posts. With hotkeys (Mac) or a free app (PC), you can quickly grab a screenshot from company documents and resources that will generate a professional-looking graphic in an instant.
Macintosh: a simple hotkey (shift + Command + 4) will pull up a crosshair that will create any selection into a PNG file straight to your desktop.
Windows 8: download a free app called Snipping Tool. This app will also create a cross-hair like selection tool that will open a new window with the screen selection. You will need to manually save the PNG image using File -> Save As.
Here are a few ideas for screenshots:
- Excel sheets or graphs
- Powerpoint presentations
- Company PDFs & marketing materials
- Web analytics graphs
An interesting and relevant quote is a great way to grab your audience's attention. Now you can easily turn any quote into an attractive image using the free web application QuotesCover. The editor includes templates for Facebook/Google+ covers, wallpapers and even e-Cards in square, portrait or landscape format. I recommend using the Viral Status Updates' editor for a quick and easy blog post image.
The app even has a database of quotes to use if you can't come up with any ideas. You can also consult
BrainyQuote for a directory and search engine to find an endless number of great quotes by author or topic.
Here's one that I created in two minutes with a Malcom Gladwell quote and a free background image:
Don't feel stuck in a stock-photo box when choosing an image for your blog post. Take a few minutes to learn these techniques and create images that will make your articles stand out from the pack!