Enter the world...

A blog is a type of website consisting of independent, specific, diverse, separate and chronologically ordered entries. In most cases, publications can be commented on by visitors who form a kind of community. There are individual blogs run by one person and collective blogs belonging to a larger number of people, text blogs, video blogs, photoblogs or audio blogs. Personal blogs contain content about the author's personal life, professional blogs focus on scientific topics, hobby blogs are aimed at showing the owner's passion, and relational blogs are used to establish new contacts and maintain relationships with current friends.

Another type of blog is a company blog, which usually provides valuable advice on given topics and subtly weaves in information about its activities and services. It is visited not only by people directly browsing the website of a given company, but also by people typing a query about a given issue into the search engine. Running a blog not only gives a lot of satisfaction, but also provides the opportunity to earn money. At the same time, you need to remember to regularly publish content, organize promotional activities and gain new audiences.

Graphics on...

Before you start creating graphics for your blog, you should first of all have a consistent idea for the appearance of the entire website. Materials must be tailored to individual entries, have the right size, readability and attractiveness. However, it is also important to be guided by your own intuition and choose the right tools for the job. On blogs, graphics are of course used as photos intertwined with the content in entries, as a cover on the home page, as well as in the form of post thumbnails. The latter are also called distinctive images and are of great importance because they will be visible when sharing posts, e.g. on social media.

Of course, you can create materials yourself using programs such as Canva or obtain them from the web while keeping copyright in mind. There are many services that allow you to download photos, graphics, infographics, icons, etc. They can be paid or free. In the first case, there are subscriptions under which you can download a specific package of photos, there are also "per piece" settlements, i.e. payment for each graphic used. In the second case, the materials can be downloaded and used for free, often on the condition that an additional action is performed, e.g. attribution of the authorship of a given person. Inspiration can also be provided by a graphic portal, such as the well-regarded Art Lounge Plus.

Recommendations and lists

The most important features of image files posted on blogs are their name, size, weight and format. Most of the screens used by users are about 1280 pixels wide. Therefore, when adding a photo, you should remember to resize it. So it is worth making sure that the width is 1280 px, and the height is scaled analogously to it. The less the photo "weighs", the better. It is good if they do not have more than 100 kB. Otherwise, the website could load more slowly, which definitely does not attract visitors to stay for longer. As for the format, the .jpeg extension will be ideal, and for photos with transparent backgrounds - .png. It is also worth taking an interest in the .webp format. A valid name should consist of 3-4 words joined by hyphens instead of spaces and "-" and describe what is in the photo, without special characters. To adjust the size of the photo, you can use any graphics program that allows you to edit without losing quality. It is worth running files through a compression program that will "slim" its weight.

In fact, there is no specific recommended number of photos that should be included in one blog entry. There can be both 3 and 10 of them. You should only remember about the transparency of the presented content. It is also best to limit the number of fonts to a safe number of two typefaces, thanks to which the graphics will be attractive and pleasant to read. It is worth starting with original photos, and then looking at illustration databases such as Pixabay, Unsplash, Pexels or Freepik.

You don't have to be a professional to create a blog. This is a tool designed for everyone. Also, creating graphics for the home page and entries does not require much skill. Many possibilities are provided by ready-made graphic materials available on the web and programs for their processing. The most important thing is to remember about their appropriate size, weight and format. Thanks to this, the website will load quickly, graphics will remain clear and legible, and will be well displayed from various devices - both computers and mobile devices. Graphic elements are very important from the point of view of the blog's audience, as they are able to attract attention for longer and encourage them to stay on the site. This should be remembered primarily by companies that use a blog to conduct their promotional activities.