Use Your Own Photos As Background Images In Your Graphics
March 12, 2023 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as background images, Marketing for Authors, Social Media, Visual Content MarketingBackground images in graphics is something we don’t talk about much. Yet, when you see a social media graphic with a great quote, there most always is a graphic behind the words that helps communicate the message. So, if you plan to create your own graphics, choosing the photos you use in those graphics matter.
What to use as a background image
Nature is a popular choice, especially sunsets, sunrises, flowers, mountains or waterfalls. Images with animals are selected frequently as well, showing them all in their cute glory or in varying circumstances that can be funny or memorable. When we look at humorous posts, an image with a funny face or situation lends to the message.
The colors you use in your backgrounds is just as important. Sometimes the photo itself in the background may drive what color you use for your text in order for them to blend. But keep in mind, colors represent different things to people. Look up color choices, if interested in what emotion you want to convey in your graphics. And then choose your background image color accordingly.
I found this definition on the internet about using backgrounds in graphic design.
Backgrounds are the foundation of a successful composition. Background textures and colors create depth and contrast, allowing graphics to stand out and get noticed. Well-composed background images can help create space for you to overlay text.
Incorporating your brand in your background choices
Something to keep in mind is your brand. What is your brand? Specific colors in your brand? Do you have animals in your stories? Or what settings do you write most of your scenes? These all are ideas of what to use as background images in your graphics.
For example, if you write about cowboys, then horses and sunsets might be good options to include in your graphics. Every graphic should include your branding in some way. And think outside of the box a little bit to expand your branding content.
I found some 12 x 12 paper I liked and gave a historical look that I wanted in my background images. As I started using these to take pictures of books, bookmarks and other small items in my graphics, I liked the results.
Out of the few I first bought, I tend to use the same ones over and over because I like how the wood contrasts with all the types of images I’m creating.
If you know your brand and have a look, this is a great way to build consistency in your content. Try some things. It’s the only way to know what works and what doesn’t.
Taking your own photos and using them as background images
It’s important to note to not just find any photo off the internet. That’s actually taking someone else’s intellectual property. Instead you can find photos for free from certain apps, as well as purchase photos from several different resources.
Taking your own photos is a great way to create content. See if you can find things around you to be used as background images.
Start seeing backgrounds in the world around you
Some of this will take practice, but keeping an eye out for what you like is important. You have a brand and your brand is your style. Think about your readers, but I would focus on things that speak to you as well. A look, a vibe. All of which will come out as you build your content in your social media.
Be careful not to include anything people would be able to recognize. That’s not the point of a background image. And you don’t want something on your graphics that is someone else’s brand.
I’ve created a folder on my phone in my photos that is for background images. When I take a picture of something that I think would make a great background I save it in there so I can find it easily.
A little Disney magic in the background
One of my favorite places to find image backgrounds is Disneyland. Everything is clean and colorful and there are lots of choices available, from rock walls, boards, or the pathways. If you look around you can see things that you hadn’t noticed before, but they are part of the atmosphere. That’s what you want for your background photos. Something that blends in nicely but is clean and aestheticly pleasing.
I love going to Disneyland and taking pictures of the things around me. Disney thinks through everything, and it’s given me some great ideas for image backgrounds. Here are some additional examples:
If you zoom in close on something it can provide a completely different perspective and make the perfect background image.
I hope these examples give you some ideas for you to use in your content in the future.
Thanks for reading!
Denise M. Colby loves to write blog posts on marketing and SEO. She also loves to write about her word of the year. She creates social media graphics to highlight quotes from her word of the year. Take a look at this blog post on her 2022 word Work for additional ideas. Or the graphics created for her 2021 word Wisdom using the 12 x 12 paper mentioned above. Check out the new ones she’s created for her 2023 word Change. Or see more on her instagram or facebook pages.
0 0 Read moreThe Brand Challenge Introduction
October 12, 2022 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Author Brand, Denise M. Colby, Marketing for Authors, The Brand ChallengeThis month, I’m introducing a concept called The Brand Challenge. It’s a way to encourage you to try something new on your website to help you build your brand.
Sometimes branding and dealing with your website can be challenging. The purpose of this challenge is to encourage you to just try. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It can even be something you decide to change later on. The idea is trying something new to keep propelling you forward in your Author career.
For a list to choose from, here are some ideas to help you with your Brand Challenge this month:
- Create a new blog post this month about a character, your story theme, or genre you write in
- Up your on-page SEO with each post and page (for help, I’ve created an On-Page SEO Checklist for you to download, and check out my past blog post Using a Blog SEO Checklist to Streamline Your Blog Post)
- Create a book page on your website for every book you have or are working on
- Link two or three pages on your website to one another using Anchor Text
- Design a social media post about the genre you are writing in, or a book you’ve read recently
Pick One Task A Month For This Brand Challenge
Again, I encourage you to do one thing on this list above to help build your brand. It may not seem much, or it may feel overwhelming. But just stick to one thing only for the entire month. Then do another thing the following month. Pretty soon, you’ll have many months of blog posts or content you didn’t have before.
I’m always amazed at how slow and steady can be the right way to approach brand building.
Sometimes we feel this urgency to hurry up that adds extra stress we don’t need as we are busy writing our next book.
I’d love to hear other ideas that can help you build your brand. Do you like the idea of a monthly Brand Challenge? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Blessings,
Denise
0 0 Read moreWhat’s All The Hype Over Keywords?
August 12, 2022 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Keywords, Marketing for Authors, SEO MarketingWe’ve all heard these statements: Use keywords in your blog posts. Up your SEO game with the right keywords. Keywords are the key. Keywords matter. So what is all the hype over keywords?
Here’s a simple definition:
Keywords are used in digital marketing to describe a word or group of words someone types in a search engine/search bar to perform a search.
As writers we use that search bar all the time for our research.
And that’s how our readers use the search bar too.
So when we write a blog post – think what your reader would possibly type in their search bar to find what you are writing. And use your search bar to test the keywords you are selecting.
The hype over keywords is no joke
Have you ever searched for something and had to change the wording several times to finally get to what you were looking for? That’s the keyword organization going on. The search engines have specific formulas to organize and index everything on the internet. When someone performs a search, they want to find relevant content. And why businesses in the SEO and search engine business hype the use of keywords all the time. And teach what they can on the subject. The better everyone uses keywords, the more organized internet content will be.
How do you write keywords?
Keywords are tricky. You can’t use the same ones twice. If you do, they sort of cancel each other out when being indexed. So, when you use only one word, it limits using that word ever again. So using two words and varying one of them for different scenarios would be a good strategy.
Another strategy is to not use words too broad or too narrow. Again, think about the terms you use when searching for similar topics. You want to land on the first page of the search. The more you research, you’ll start to see how to tweak and tailor your keywords to better fit.
Other tips for writing strong keywords
- Make sure posts and pages are focused and related to only ONE main idea. When you figure out your keyword FIRST, you write your blog post differently.
- Include your keywords in your title, first paragraph, a subhead or two, and the body text
- Use other relatable words that support the main topic through the post/page
- Include pictures that represent your keywords and add your keywords into the alt text
- Keywords can be tied into your Category and Tag strategy as well, especially if it’s a topic you cover frequently
- You could use your keyword phrase as your slug to keep things simple
Interested in learning more about SEO? Check out my Using a Blog SEO Checklist to Streamline Your Blog Post and/or sign up for my Marketing for Authors newsletter on my website.
Using a Blog SEO Checklist to Streamline Your Blog Post
May 12, 2021 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Blog SEO Checklist, Denise M. Colby, Marketing for Authors, SEO, SEO MarketingDid you know that using an Blog SEO Checklist can help you streamline the time it takes you to build your blog posts?
We all know it takes time to figure out what we even want to write about, but then we also need to figure out all the SEO parts that support that particular blog post.
If we were to build the SEO as part of the blog post step, we’d save ourselves a lot of time and be more strategic and purposeful with what we are posting.
I don’t know about you, but it seems every month I forget how much time it takes to organize my SEO because I think about it AFTER I write the post. Sometimes it takes longer figuring out the SEO then it does to write the post and pull graphics together. And then because I’m entering it all last minute, I don’t think it through as much as I would like.
I’m working on changing that and thought it would be helpful to pull together a checklist for all of us.
Focus Keyword:
Figuring out this first—even before you start writing the post—will help save you time in the long run. What do you want your focus word to be? Everything else should stem from this.
Category & Tags:
Knowing your categories and tags before you develop your blog posts help you be more strategic and set up an organization within your posts. In my classes I help you brainstorm and build out potential ideas for your blog.
Blog Title:
Make sure to put your focus keyword in your title and the first paragraph of your post.
Slug:
The slug should be condensed version of your title and/or keyword. See my blog post about slugs—URL Slugs: The Right Custom Slug Builds SEO or Custom URL Slug and How To Make One
Meta Description:
This is a summary in a small one-to-two sentence structure. Some use the first paragraph, some change it up. Make sure it includes your focus keyword, and remember this is the summary someone sees if they are searching the topic and your post appears on the search results.
Graphics Alt Text:
The Alt Text should have your keyword in it. If you pick your keyword last and already uploaded your graphics (see my three-part blog post about graphics and SEO) you might miss this opportunity to connect your graphics with stronger SEO.
Outbound Link:
Think of one link that would support your blog post (research, your own website). You can sign up for my Marketing for Authors Newsletter using this link to my website.
Inbound Link:
Think of one link within the blog website that supports your current blog post. Don’t forget to use Anchor Text. I did this in the slug section and the graphics alt text above.
How to Apply Your Blog SEO Checklist
I highly recommend creating a spreadsheet to keep track of what you use for SEO every post. It’s important that you don’t repeat the same words and phrases each time, yet build out synonyms and similar themes with your SEO to help establish your authority on certain topics.
If you have a notebook, you can download this sheet to write in the blanks.
Short on time? Take a screen shot of the data, or write it on a post-it note. Anything to help you keep track of your SEO. It’s all about building your brand, and your SEO strategy is a part of that. And using a blog SEO checklist is one way to help you develop this strategy.
0 0 Read moreHow Big Is Your Writing Box?
April 12, 2021 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Author Brand, Denise M. Colby, Marketing for Authors, Writing BoxWe all have created a box for our writing, whether we know it or not. It’s our map, so to speak. And detours can either help or hinder our writing journey. So how big is your writing box? And how do you adjust when potential opportunities or detours appear?
We all have a game plan when we first start writing. We sort of need to in order to reach our goals. But is your writing anything like you originally planned out when you first started?
Mine isn’t.
I get asked a lot by friends who know I’m writing a book “When will your book be published?” “Have you finished that book yet?” Well, I can understand their questions, since I’ve been working on my book for over eight years now. (I’ll be honest, I’m not focused on it full time, since I’ve had other commitments, including jobs & volunteer positions for my kids schools).
I still plan to publish, but after some amazing side journeys, I now wonder if my book(s) are not the entire piece of my writing journey?
I love my Writing Journey so far
My experience has been awesome, overall. Sure, there have been high points (winning a contest, learning, making friends) and low points (getting hard feedback from a contest, not figuring out a scene, everything taking too long), All of it has helped me learn so much about myself. From putting my work out there, to learning from so many fantastic workshops I feel like I’ve gained a second degree, to making great friends and joining some amazing writing groups.
But I’m finding as I complete this latest round of edits and share my MS with a few additional people, I’m curious to see what will come next. And I’m willing to step out of my original writing box to see where it can go. Which is very different than having the focused expectation of how the next step will happen.
See, In the beginning, my book was the main goal. Now I’m not so sure.
Be Willing to Expand Your Writing Box
We all have to start somewhere. But, if we are too rigid with our plans, we may miss opportunities that help us with the bigger picture. For me, I needed to explore other areas of writing to help me figure out what I could and couldn’t do. Some of these side journeys have helped me continue on this writing journey.
Magazine Articles
I wrote magazine articles, which took time away from my book, but I found the deadlines, working with an editor, and seeing my writing in print, helped to keep me motivated, and help me be a stronger writer.
Blog Posts
Blog posts and being a part of this blog has helped me gain confidence in putting my work “out there” and learn that the sky won’t cave in, I do have something to share, and how to respond to comments (and experience the thrill of connecting with a reader). Some of my first blog posts covered topics of hard-learned lessons (Let Me Tell You Something, Face Your Fear) and sharing what I was doing and testing out theories (What is Alt Text and How To Use It), which lent to the next step…
Marketing for Authors
When I made connections between my day job (Marketing) and this author thing and realized I had expertise to share. I felt a nudging to teach (at writing conferences, and in blog posts, and a training course in the works) and establish my Marketing for Authors newsletter. Now I find I love teaching and helping other authors figure out their brand and creating additional content and how this all ties together.
With all that, I really don’t know if my book is the end all goal now. Or it may still be and all of this will support it in ways I can’t explain yet.
Am I going to finish it and publish it? Yes. Do I have more stories in the works? Yes. But by allowing my writing box to get bigger, I’m seeing infinitely more ways to connect and be a part of this publishing world.
Our Writing Box ties into our Author Brand
What do I want my brand to be?
Our Author Brand is our Author Name and pieces of who we are (and who we decide to share with the world). How we explore and expand as our writing grows and expands. It takes time to develop what our voice is going to be about. And it should continue to evolve.
I have found that by being flexible with my writing box I see a bigger picture. And I’ve learned to trust my instincts and take some side journeys.
My Writing Box Grew Bigger When I Took a Detour
I know I’ve talked about this in snippets in my classes, but here’s a deeper dive into how this came about and became an aha moment for me. And why I believe my branding brainstorm I teach in my classes can help you figure out your brand and new and different ways, which can in turn help you to connect with your readers.
My Example:
I love journaling. Whether it’s a prayer journal, or a travel journal, or what I’ve now started as my Word of the Year Journal, capturing thoughts and writing them out help me process things.
When I started writing my novel, I wanted to have an element of a journal in my story. I didn’t know how I would do it, but wanted my heroine to have a diary that turned into prayer journal. Something which helped show her journey throughout the story.
I wasn’t even completed with my first round of edits when I had a nudge to create a website page about starting a prayer journal. And I argued with myself for taking away precious time to work on my book, etc… But in the end I decided doing so would be good practice for putting something “out there” on my website. So I created the page 7 Steps to Creating a Prayer Journal.
It didn’t click until afterwards how much this fell in line with my story.
And by flushing this page out, it helped me see more clearly how to implement what I wanted to do. This little detour actually has helped me write my book. And I think it is something I can tie into when my book is published.
Side note: Something else that has come out of all this is the desire to design a line of journals as well. Who would’ve thought that something I love and hold dear, would become a large part of my story and brand?
If I hadn’t take then the time to flush it out and do it, I would’ve limited the potential of offering more than just my story.
So am I the only one to experience this?
Do you have a side journey that has helped your writing career?
I’d love to hear about it.
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