Blog with Tagged Photos

All of my blogging gigs require at least one photo on every entry.

At first, I thought that this was just purely for aesthetic reasons; that looking at websites must be like looking at a magazine page, with all those colorful pictures.

But do you know that adding photos to your blog posts and tagging these photos help build your website's traffic and ranking?

Google bots don't only scan for your content (text). If you have images and you've been tagging these images, Google will index those, too.

And then you'll find your blog's link on Google Image Search, which will help point your website to people who do their searches using the right keywords.

Read more on this from the blogging gurus:

• Using Images to Take Your Posts to a New Level
• Feeling Sandboxed? How You Can Get 53% More Searches with One Tweak

And like I always say, more traffic to your blog = more $.

Where do you get photos? Most people have the habit of grabbing them online, often without permission. But it's always good to use photos that do not breach copyright.

This is a popular free stock photo site. You can also try Flickr and other photo-sharing or stock photo site. You can also apply for an account at GettyImages, WireImage and other similar sites (for approval). If you have to grab a photo, ask permission from the owners or give them credit or a link back for it.

Another benefit of blogging with Photos

Recently I signed up with Picapp.com, it's similar to photo agencies such as Getty and WireImage. I haven't gotten around to using this because I thought I have enough resources for all my blog's photo requirements. But the site has offered an incentive which kicked off today and will run until August 15. They're giving away $50 in Amazon gift cards if you use their services 20 times on your blog. So, now you see this on my TV blog. :)