If for supporting a web page or blog article we use an image then this image is known as a featured post image. Its other name is primary image. On the blog articles or content pages’ top we can find the primary image. If on social media we share an article’s link then initially we will see the featured images. There are different sizes and shapes of featured images.
Importance of Featured Post Images
Featured post images are very important. Now look at some stats:
- A number of retweets have been observed because of the use of images and their percentage is 150 %.
- A lot of comments have been gotten by the LinkedIn posts that included images and their percentage is 98 %. This information has been given by Social Pilot.
- So much engagement has been received by Facebook posts having images and their percentage is 37 %. This report has been given by Jeff Bullas.
The content that you share can get more clicks if you will include featured post images in it. These pictures push users to click. In order to attract the visitors these images play a very good role.
Tools for creating featured post images
For your website or blog posts you can create images by using graphic design tools. A number of tools for editing the pictures are free. Now I will show you some free or premium tools for this purpose:
- TinyPNG (Free tool)
- Affinity Photo (Premium tool)
- Affinity Designer (Premium tool)
- PhotoScape (Free and Premium tool)
For Windows of all types as well as for MacBook Pro you can get a lot of help from these tools.
How will you get the images of high quality?
Nowadays you can find a lot of stock images that are free of cost. For commercial use as well as for personal use you can get stock images of high quality from a number of sites. Some of the sites for getting stock images are:
- Negative Space
- Death To The Stock Photo
- Pexels
- Pixabay
Various ways of using free stock images in the featured images
By adding a personal flair and customizing these pictures, you can use these in the projects that use featured post images. As these images are used by a number of blogs and websites, so using these in a raw format will not be a good idea.
How will you create custom featured images with the help of a free tool?
For creating a featured post image of 1200 px by 630 px you need to use a site known as Pixabay and download the picture. In order to get a customized featured post image, you need to transform the picture that you have downloaded from Pixabay. For doing all this you need to use the PhotoScape X’s free version. The steps are as follows:
- Edit the photo – For making it fit to 1200 px by 630 px, its cropping and resizing need to be done first. After this you need to give emphasis on a particular color. The other colors will get neutralized. You can choose cool blues. The steps are as follows:
- Click on Edit
- Go to Adjustments
- Click on Emphasize Color/Point Color
Now, for adding a gradient filter, what will you do? For doing this a square shape needs to be created first. After this the square shape’s color needs to be changed as per your desire. Then a gradient needs to be applied. After this you have to merge gradient layers and the photo. For doing this you have to:
- Go to Layers
- Click on Merge
- Add branding and text overlay – In the featured post image how will you use custom text? You can do this by using PhotoScape X.
- Click on Insert
- Go to Text
Opacity, color, letter spacing and line-height can be adjusted as per your requirement.
- Further customize the featured image – As per your requirement, customization of the featured image is possible with the help of a tool known as PhotoScape. According to the style of your brand, you can design the matching images. A clean and minimum design of the image is always preferred.
- Save the featured image – By using the PhotoScape tool you can merge together a number of elements. For doing this:
- Go to Layers
- Click on Merge
After this a good title needs to be given to the image and saving it is also necessary. It will be good if in the image title you use an SEO keyword. If you want images of better quality then saving these as PNG will be a good idea. A tool known as TinyPNG will help you in compressing JPEG and PNG images.
If you want to build an ecommerce website then contact a Website design company.