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Today we are talking about making your guest posts GREAT by using screenshots!
Why images?
We have listed most convincing reasons why images are a MUST for guest posts in our previous chat (We even started our own collection of images for bloggers – that’s how much we believe in what we preach!). Let’s re-cap the “whys”:
- Images make web articles much more easier to market: Images make people stay, interact and share
- Images increase your chances for approved guest post: A blogger is likelier to like your guest article if it appeals to an eye.
- Images make social media shares much more engaging. As an example, it has been proved that tweets with visuals increase engagement (retweets) from 90% to 150% (based on different research). Images are grabbed by Facebook and Google Plus to show in the social media update. Images make your article “pinnable”. The visual web is definitely the future (Look at multiple visual startups).
"A picture is worth a 1000 words!" #myblogguest
— David B. Faltz (@dfaltz) December 12, 2013
@myblogguest Images make your article more clickable, AND sociable for social profile sharing. #myblogguest
— Shannon Hutcheson (@LdyLarke) December 12, 2013
Why screenshots?
While screenshots are not always possible, in many cases screenshots are definitely the way to go:
- They don’t require license* (as you are making them yourself)
- They make a post much more useful (giving the preview of tools, apps, dashboards, etc)
*We had cases when people just screenshotted an image from a page claiming it’s now theirs (I know that sounds funny). But because we had precedents, I have to note: A screenshot is an image displaying part of your screen that aims at explaining some functionality.
How to make, edit and host screenshots
I for one am not using any extra tools apart from my keyboard shortcut and Photoshop (the two tools I’ve been using for ages, so there’s no real reason for me to look for tools). However for the sake of experiment, I did try a few high-recommended tools. Here they are…
Screenshots are cheaper than buying stock images (which I do, to ensure quality and proper licensing). #myblogguest
— Shannon Hutcheson (@LdyLarke) December 12, 2013
Lightshot is by far the best screen grabber I've ever used and it's free. http://t.co/z8KAY1iphJ #myblogguest
— Chris Countey (@chriscountey) December 12, 2013
Create, Annotate (and Host) Screenshots to Quickly Add Them to Guest Posts:
- ?Awesome Screenshots Plus (no hosting ability, but you can upload to MyBlogGuest) is the FireFox and Google Chrome plugin (no additional software required). You can easily edit screenshots by adding annotations (arrows, circles, etc) and text.
I use this all the time. Great tool fro Chrome RT @myblogguest: Tool#1: Awesome Screenshots Plus http://t.co/sVR8J2gNWx #myblogguest
— David B. Faltz (@dfaltz) December 12, 2013
- ?? Clarify it. The reason I love this one is because it has very sleek annotating ability. It can host your images too (but I believe that option only comes with PRO account).
- ???Jing is the best screen capturing software I am aware of. It lets you beautifully annotate your screenshots and (with just two configurations required), you can upload screenshots to Flickr (after that just grab the direct file URL on Flickr and insert the screenshot to the guest post!)
Here’s a good video by Don on adding images to your MyBlogGuest article (together with more tips):
Examples of guest articles that make a good use of screenshots:
- Five Mobile Apps I Couldn’t Live Without: Each app has a screenshot which makes the guest post a pleasure to read! (by @CubesCubesCubes)
- How To Access Your Remote QuickBooks Cloud Server From Your Computer?: Every step in this very detailed tutorial is visualized with a screenshot! Who can resist reading (or publishing) it?
- Top 3 Flavors.Me Pages That Intrigue: Those screenshots really intrigue!
- How Your Business Can Use Google+ Embeddable Posts (by @sotol3m): Don’t go with too many! One well-annotated relevant screenshot may work great as well!
- 10 Video SEO Tips To Improve Website Rankings (by @mindbox_pro): Screenshots are used as examples of Good video SEO and how it looks in search!
RT @LdyLarke: @myblogguest I like using screenshots of videos too. #myblogguest
— Olga Goldina (@OlgaGoldina) December 12, 2013
As our own @Don_Sturgill likes to say only 10 minutes of work separate your *good* guest article from being great (Don will hopefully provide a more exact wording :))
The difference between acceptable and exceptional is 10% more work …. #myblogguest
— Don Sturgill (@Don_Sturgill) December 12, 2013
So let’s spend those 10 minutes proof-reading and adding a couple of useful screenshots! Our team is always ready to promote the heck of a great article in case it’s great!
Joseph
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