What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system where you can easily create your free website or build a blog. There are many free, customizable, and user-friendly themes. It is often said it is the easiest and most flexible site to use for blogging.
What are featured images?
However, something that is overlooked a lot is the WordPress Featured Image Size as it is a visual representation of a post. The featured images are what eventually become the thumbnails of the post. It is important as it shows what the post is about, and it can be something you can use to your advantage. For example, if it is consistently styled in the same way, users will associate the thumbnails to your blog, which will increase awareness for your writing and business.
Many people do not think this way and they just select an image from WordPress and show up as the post’s thumbnail. But it is more advantageous to you and your business to pick out your pictures for the thumbnail. Placing it at the starting of the post where people see it when they first open the post is ideal. If not, within the first three paragraphs.
To set up featured images on WordPress, you need to scroll down after completing your post when you see a toolbar on the right side. There will be many options such as Categories, Tags, and of course, featured images.
You can pick any image from your library. There are options also to add alternate text and titles to the image. Once you have done so, the image will show up in the toolbox under the featured image area. You can also change it, edit it, remove it whenever you want to.
The featured picture’s ideal dimensions are 1200 x 628 pixels that will fit most WordPress blog themes. Some might have different specifications, but they can be altered and customized so that the image will be sized as per your liking.
All you have to do is go to settings, then click on Media where you will be given the options to customize your width and height of the picture. It also helps with cropping issues. When an image is bigger than the dimensions, it crops the picture at weird places and makes it harder for the reader to understand what the post is about or just gives off unpleasant feelings. But altering the specifications will prevent this problem from happening.
Bloggers usually tend to forget about the featured images because they focus on the content, and so on. However, there are many benefits to using featured images. It gives the blog a more professional look, especially if the thumbnails are personalized to be consistent. The consistency of it will ensure that people gravitate towards it more and be on alert when you post because the thumbnail is unique to you. This helps with branded blog feature images as well. It will help establish your online presence and build engagement.
Alternative text to the featured image gives it a good SEO boost. Place the keyword as alternative text when it setting up the featured image for an SEO boost. You can also optimize the thumbnails for different social media platforms. If you use Yoast SEO Plugin, the Facebook thumbnail is 1200 x 628 pixels. The same applies to Twitter as well.
The key to boosting engagement and seeing good results when it comes to the feature images is choosing good, relevant images. It also does not hurt to use high-quality pictures for the thumbnail. It should also cater to what the post is talking about. Make sure to grab the reader’s attention with specific images. If the post talks about planning a wedding on a budget, a picture that is wedding-themed with edited money will make the reader want to read the post instead of just another wedding picture.
This is where custom-made images come in handy as people are aware of what they’re getting from clicking on the article, and it is relevant to the blog. It will also help add the business logo somewhere into the picture without making it look too forced or out of place.
Some tips about featured images
Using high-resolution images capable of scaling also helps a lot because the picture will be on WordPress and other social media sites. Hence, you want the thumbnail to look good when the size increases. Always also choose clean, simple images. If the image is too cluttered, people might stray away from clicking it. Consistency with picture uploading is also key and will help with your online presence so much. Lastly, it is also important to have rights to the image unless it is a generic stock picture. Many things are there to consider when it comes to the thumbnail, but hopefully, this post has helped highlight the key areas to focus on.
