There was a time when blogging just meant writing a post, hitting publish and walking away. But times have changed.
The internet is a very visual place now and, with the rise of blogging and online businesses, competition is high.
You have just a few seconds to grab the attention of your audience and pull them into your site before they move on to the next website. And that’s where your graphics come in.
So many bloggers and business owners leave their graphics and visual elements of their websites, blogs and social media channels to one side.
They either come as an afterthought (often rushed) or get ignored completely. Beautiful, well-designed graphics for your blog posts can not only help drive traffic to your website but also generate leads and make more sales!
Graphics should play a key role in your marketing and it’s time to start thinking of them as an essential part of your business.
But where do you begin? What graphics should you be creating? Where should you be sharing those graphics?
Don’t worry! We’ve got you – check out this list of 10 graphics you need for every blog post to increase your traffic.
PIN THIS POST FOR LATER!
You can create a killer impression with the graphics you use on your social platforms, but you have to make sure you’re including all of the graphics for each of your blog posts to get maximum exposure.
In this post, we share the graphics you need to be using for every blog to increase traffic, generate more leads, and make more sales for your business. Sound like a good idea to you? Great, let’s get started!
Blog post graphics #1 | Pinterest
Let’s start with the most visual platform of them all: Pinterest. There are two primary graphics you’ll need for Pinterest:
- Graphic to promote your blog post, like this one
- Graphic to promote your blog post that features a content upgrade, like this one
You can also include “hidden” Pinterest graphics within your post that only show up for people if they click the “pin it” button while reading your post.
You can hide a graphic by inputting the following code in the HTML of your blog post:
<div style=”display: none;”><img src=”YOUR LINK HERE” /></div>
What makes a great Pinterest graphic?
- Ideal sizing: 800 x 1200 is the recommended size for Pinterest pins. Vertical pins attract more clicks and traffic than horizontal pins.
- Easy to read text: People are scrolling through Pinterest at lightening speed, so you want to stand out and use easy to read text so your ideal audience will stop and click through your pins.
- Congruent with your brand: Utilize your brand colors and logo within your Pinterest graphic. This will help people scrolling to recognize your brand immediately.
P.S. Give us a follow on Pinterest!
Blog post graphics #2 | Instagram
Now let’s focus on Instagram.
Instagram has been getting a lot of flack lately (we’ve even scaled back on how often we post because it became all too much) but it’s still an important visual platform that can be a game changer for a lot of businesses.
There are several options for Instagram graphics:
- Instagram square
- Instagram with content upgrade
- Instagram stories
- Instagram story with content upgrade
What makes a great Instagram graphic?
- Ideal sizing: 1080 x 1080 is what you’ll want to use for photos used in your feed. Stories you will want to use 750 x 1334.
- Call to action: Give your followers a reason to take action and click through to read your blog post.
- Congruent with your brand: Another place you should be using your branding colors, logo, etc. If you’re consistent across all social networks, people will start to take notice!
P.S. Give us a follow on Instagram!
Related post: How We Use Instagram As A Business (And How You Can Too!)
Blog post graphics #3 | Facebook
While some business owners have given up on Facebook, the fact of the matter is Facebook is by far the most popular social platform out there. People spend a lot of time on Facebook, so if you want to reach a wide demographic, Facebook is the place to be.
But again, your visuals have to be on point to get noticed. Being one of the biggest platforms means you’re also competing with a lot of other people in the news feed.
Here are the graphics you’ll need for Facebook:
- Facebook regular post
- Facebook content upgrade post
What makes a great Facebook graphic?
- Ideal sizing: There are multiple sizes you can use for your Facebook page. We recommend 1200 x 900 or 1200 x 628.
- Highlight what makes you different: You’re competing with a lot of other brands and people on the Facebook news feed. How can you use your graphics to stand out?
- A picture is worth 1,000 words: Often you can share a lot about your blog post without having to say a lot in the caption. Tell more of your story in the graphic than in the caption.
P.S. Give us a follow on Facebook!
Blog post graphics #4 | Twitter
You only have 140 characters to share your blog post on Twitter, so graphics are a great way to tell more of the story without dipping into the character limit. You know the saying a picture is worth a thousand words? It’s totally true, especially with Twitter!
Did you know that tweets with an image averages a 35% boost in retweets?
Here’s what you’ll need for Twitter graphics:
- Graphic to promote blog post
- Graphic to promote blog post with content upgrade
What makes a great Twitter graphic?
- Ideal sizing: 800 x 320 or 506 x 253
- Congruent with your brand: Again, incorporate your branding into your images.
- Eye catching images: Make your blog title stand out by using bold text.
P.S. Give us a follow on Twitter!
Struggle with creating graphics? We got you covered!
If you struggle with creating graphics for your brand but aren’t able to afford to outsource your graphic design, we’ve got just the product for you, our new Canva Social Media Templates!