It’s the third Wednesday of the month, so it’s time for the Author Toolbox Blog Hop!

More and more the visual appeal of something is what makes people stop and look, take in the message and then take action.
There are different ways to use this and different places to use this.
Basic
The easy way is to go to a site where you can get royalty free, free for commercial use images (Pixabay, Morguefile, Unsplash, etc.) and then add them to your blog posts, Twitter posts, Facebook posts, and others. Just make sure it is relevant to what you are sharing.
Intermediate
A step up from this, and which will help with your author brand, is to use Canva or Adobe Spark. You can create social media posts and blog banners with certain fonts and other elements that work at building your brand – things that are instantly recognisable as yours. Adding your blog’s name in the corner – or your author name – also helps with visibility.
Here are a couple of reasons to add pictures in your blog posts:
- Visual appeal (people like pretty things, so your picture will draw them in and your words will make them stay).
- Search engine optimisation (though we’ll look at SEO later in the challenge, you should know that images help your posts to appear in search engine results).
- Complements the writing (relevant images will enhance the reading experience – much like a great cover for a book will set the tone. When I do interviews, I also add the author’s photo and the cover of the new book.).
Advanced
Make videos.
You can easily create book trailers with Adobe Spark (there is a free plan) and load it to Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Goodreads, your Amazon author page, your blog, etc. With Adobe Spark, you get music, images, a text function and a voice recording function to create your videos. Be creative.
You can also use YouTube to create videos, though you’ll need some extra tech to make it work if you’re using it directly.
Why do you want videos? Because of voice search. A lot of people are using their AI voice search functions to find new content. And you type something a lot differently than you say something. It is worth doing your blog post as a video and as written content (sometimes as a transcript beneath the video on your blog).
But even if you don’t want to venture too far into this realm, just making book trailers and sharing it widely will already make a huge difference to your brand’s visibility.

If you’re not already using images consistently, I hope that this has helped you. This was a partial extract from my non-fiction books. If you need more help with your author platform, check out my book “The 30 Day Author Platform Challenge” or the workbook edition “The 30 Day Author Platform Challenge: A Companion Workbook” to help you to go from invisible to searchable in thirty days.

Series: Non-Fiction @ Ronel the Mythmaker
Volume number: 3
Not sure how to get started on building your author platform? Not sure what an author platform is? Then this is the book for you.
Includes how tos on the various social media networks and writing tips. Helps to define your writing goals and who you are as a writer. Helps with community building and getting your name on the map.
Some parts of the book can be found on the author’s website, but this is a complete updated version for 2019.
The author originally ran a 20 day Basics of Author Online Presence Challenge on Writer to Writers in 2017 – this is the superpower version of that challenge with loads more information and tasks.
Included are homework questions to get the most of the lessons, exercises, and to-do lists to help you keep track of your various platforms and what you have to do every week.
By the end of 30 days, you will no longer be invisible online.
Get this book from your favourite online retailer in print/ebook.

If you would like a digital copy for review (Amazon, Goodreads, your blog, other places you post your reviews), fill in the form below and I’ll send you your copy.
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I hadn’t heard of one of those photo sites, so I’ve bookmarked your post in my stock images folder. Thanks, Ronel! Looking forward to reading the book (soon-ish, hopefully). 🙂
Glad to have helped!
Signed up. Cool book can’t wait to read. Great post.
Yay! Thanks, Juneta 🙂
Canva is great! I use Snappa. Great tips today and it’s so true! Visuals are what draw me and spatial placement too. Happy Hop Day 🙂
Thanks, Erika 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation!
Images make a difference. I’m not sure I agree on the videos though. I find them extremely distracting especially when I’m trying to read. Some bloggers put one between every paragraph—or so. When this happens, I give up and move on.
Too much of a good thing… I guess. 😉
Anna from elements of emaginette
Too many videos can be distracting — it’s about moderation. Like chocolate 😉
Thanks for the photo-sites (I hadn’t heard of one of them), but more to the point thanks for sharing! Mixed medium communication really is the way forward, I think; blogposts need to be visually appealing in a way that they didn’t before the rise of visual platforms like Instagram, for example.
You’re welcome 🙂 We need to be able to compete or we won’t be noticed.
I use Canva all the time and I love it! Eventually I hope to get the paid version for more options. But, the free works just as well. Great post! I’d love to review your book, however for non-fiction books I tend to prefer paperback copies that I can hold in my hand. <3
Commenting from http://www.sarahkrewis.com
I would love the paid version of Canva, too — especially for the “magic resize button”!
If only it were economical to ship paperbacks across the world…
I know I should use more images and creating my own YouTube is on my list. Thanks for the advice.
Susan Says
You’re welcome 🙂
I love Canva! I’ve recently bought a subscription to Stencil, as the paid version has a few things free Canva doesn’t (and I got a good deal). I’ll report back on what I find.
I love Canva, too 🙂 Let us know how Stencil works out!
Thanks for the suggestions, Ronel. So far I’ve mainly been using WordSwag to make the images to go with my blogs posts but you’ve given me some other options to consider.
Options are always good, Drew. I’m glad to have helped 🙂
New information here for me, Ronel. Thanks so much. I’ve got to get into the habit of adding pictures to my posts. For my http://campingwithfivekids.blogspot.com/ blog I use my own photos. I just don’t think about it on my writing blog, Victoria Marie Lees Adventures in Writing, but I should. I love all the photos you use on Author Toolbox and Insecure Writers Support Group posts. All best to you!
Thanks, Victoria 🙂 Adding images really helps to get your blog discovered by new readers.
Oooh yes, I love working on Canva. I’m not very good at graphic design and it has saved me many times! Never heard of Adobe Spark, that definitely sounds worth a visit.
You’re welcome 🙂