Archive for images

Content Marketing with Visuals:
Write Like an Egyptian

Egyptian-SymbolsLately I find myself building pyramids. Not real ones, but the kind you can do in Microsoft Word docs. I use them to illustrate a point in an article or blog post. Content marketing with visuals makes your piece clearer, and more compelling to the readers.

Here’s what I’ve designed in just the last few weeks, and it isn’t stopping. (See end of this post for the pyramid drawings.)

  • First it was the “3 Levels of Accountability” pyramid.
  • Then, I was writing about life planning so I did a “Life Plan Pyramid.”
  • And for my article on The Quest for Better Teams, I created a triangle with the “4 Elements of Effective TEAMS.”

What’s up with that? Naturally, since I’m finding myself obsessively drawing charts and triangles, I checked to see if I’d gone off my meds. No. I’m just on a visual kick. Why write paragraphs of text when a doodle says it all?

Apparently I’m not the only one to think this way. A quick research on Amazon and I discovered a trend touting the benefits of the “Visual Revolution:”

Visualization is a doorway to insight about your own visions, strategies, and implementation plans. It is a path to appreciating the interconnection and wholeness of things.”  David Sibbet, Visual Leaders, Wiley 2012

I’ve written about using images and diagrams and such for blog posts before. And there’s a lot that’s been written about the value of quality content, accompanied by animation and great visuals. But now I’m discovering the psychology behind this trend. Graphic images that illustrate articles and blog content are more than eye-candy to attract readers, much more.

Visual tools help in these ways:

  • People learn and change when they become engaged in the process.
  • Processes are easier to understand through drawings.
  • Drawings help both the author and the recipient make connections.
  • Metaphors and maps transform data into meaning.
  • Images connect and involve the whole system.
  • Many graphics can be used as templates to allow the reader to interactively participate.

The Egyptians had a whole system for communicating with little pictures or hieroglyphics. They apparently understood what academics and theoreticians have a difficult time with: Simple is better.

The younger generation doesn’t have patience to read through text and I’m not going to debate that. The use of quality images can make communications clear, meaningful and memorable in ways that text cannot. What’s been your experience using drawings and images?

P.S. I highly recommend Sibbert’s books! Egyptian image: Freedigitalphotos.net.

3-Levels-of-Accountability1Life-Plan-PyramidTEAM-Effectiveness

Google Images: How to Add Great Images to Business Blogs

Infographics-for-bloggingBusiness blogs are better when they lead with a spectacular eye-catching image. But are you bored like I am with the standard business photos offered on free photo sites? How many happy smiling people have you actually seen in a business meeting lately? Give me a break and some more coffee.

I’ve got a new toy: Google Images. I was researching planning models for a client ebook I’m writing, and discovered a page of diagrams and charts people have contributed: Google Images for Planning Models. Check it out, there are 3-D pyramids, bar graphs, circles, arrows: wow.

So I wondered what images I could find for illustrating a blog post on how to write and post on a business blog. Not so hot… boring and confusing. Apparently images are best when steps are clear and everyone has a similar process. However, there were some great images for “infographics + blogging.”

Here are some guidelines for adding great images and infographics to your business blog, to attract readers and get their attention.

  1. I did a search on my own blog, WritingontheWeb.com for similar posts on adding images. What I noticed was that posts that combine blogging tips with celebrities and their photos were well viewed. It helps to have a celebrity name in the post title. (“Oscar Wilde: Advice for Better Blogging“). Read More→

Blogger’s Block Strikes Blog Squad…Blogger Bites Back

Grrrrr…

I’m going nuts. This hasn’t happened in a long time. I’ve been sitting at the computer for the last 2-3 hours wondering what to write about. I’m the gal who says blogging is easy, 1-2-3, done in 20 minutes.

I admit lately it’s been taking me more than hour to post. Some days longer. And I call myself The Blog Squad…I’ve even got a great little package you can have called Time Saving Tips for Smart Bloggers, audio, transcript, PDF handouts. You can solve your blogging blues with all the tips in this program.

Have I changed my mind about how nifty blogging is? No. Am I stuck? Yep.

Solution? Start writing about where I’m at, and then tie it in with something useful and relevant to readers.

Source of problem? I’ve been blogging so much lately for my clients that I’m dried up and stale for my own blog.

So what? I’ll bet some of you have the same problem or similar. You give your all to your clients, then when it comes time to do your own content marketing you’re as dry as toast without butter.

It’s no wonder the cobbler’s children have no shoes.

What to do? Just do it, just start writing and see what comes out. You may surprise yourself. One of my clients tells me he doesn’t write that much anymore. He finds it easier to hook up the Web cam and post a video clip. Hmmm…wait a sec. Read More→