Creating fast and easy graphics for your blog

A long time ago, when I started Paper Beats World, I didn’t worry overmuch about graphics for my blog posts. If you’ve been following me for that long, you’ve watched the evolution of my graphics. I’ve gone from allowing my crappy logo be the image for every post to some slick looking graphics.

I’ve found that, since I’ve started creating good looking graphics, I’ve gotten more traffic. People click on my posts from social media more, because the posts catch attention. And, of course, I love creating images for the short fiction that I sometimes share.

Today, I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned. So that you as well can up your graphics game.

Watch for copyright infringement!

Please be careful about this! There are all sorts of great images and pictures that are fair use, but millions are not! Check where you’re getting your images from, do not just do a google search! I don’t want to see any of you sued.

Pablo

Now that my PSA is taken care of, let me tell you about two places to find good stock photos. The first is Pablo. This is fantastic for creating blog images, social media pictures and anything like that. I think I’ve talked it up a few times before. But seriously, it also is part of Buffer. So you can create an image and toss it right into your buffer queue.

Canva

I’ve used Canva to create two book covers. I used to use them all the time to create blog images. They’ve got a ton of graphics, fonts, and styles. You can pay for some, but I’ve never needed to. You can also upload your own images, and mess with them. So if you don’t have photoshop, it’s a good way to go.

Taking your own pictures

I generally don’t post my own pictures outside of Instagram, because I’m not good at taking them. All I have is my tablet, and it’s not the best equipment.

But if you take decent pictures, and you can invest in a nice camera, this is probably your best option. It’ll cost some money on start up, but might be worth it in the long run for you.

If you’re going to go that route, I suggest taking a look at By Regina’s website. She talks a lot about taking unique, creative pictures for your blog.

I challenge you this week to create some graphics for your blog posts. See how it impacts your social media reach.