As you scroll through a sea of text, an image pops up. It's not just a pause in the potential boredom of reading, it serves as a relevant message in itself. Enter the world of “visuals” in your content.

Take us back to the days when we were young, we used to read “picture books”. There is a reason for this. Our minds wander and don’t have the same ability to connect “text-based content” with a visual representation of those images, without the picture in front of us.

Tasks for this Lesson:

• Understanding the role of visuals in your web content
• Creating images using Bing Create and leveraging its AI capabilities
• Edit your existing post, and add relevant imagery into it
• Create a post, and incorporate imagery into it
• Best practices for image optimization and placement

As much as we think we evolve from this as we get older and more sophisticated with our reading capabilities, that is not the case and that is proven when it comes to web content. For perspective, let’s look at just HOW important imagery is in your content.

1. The Power of Engagement. An article with relevant and impactful visuals tends to draw more attention than a text-only version. Incorporating an engaging image can break up the stream of text, making it more digestible, more relatable.
   
2. The Data & Science. It's been suggested that our brains are more adept at remembering pictures than words. An image, particularly a highly relevant one, can sear itself into the reader's memory. Studies have shown that content that features relevant images gets 94% more views than content without.
   
3. Share-a-ability. Content that is more readable, is more shareable. So as you create content, consider that the more you “show” what you are talking about (and not just talk about it), you open the doors to more reach and more traffic.
   

Adding imagery to your content is going to be “part of the process” as we move forward, and we are going to be getting our hands dirty in this lesson.

This leads to our next question - how do we create these compelling visuals? Enter AI tools like Bing Create, and the Image platform integrated directly into SiteContent.

Navigating Bing Create and Leveraging its AI Capabilities

Now that we appreciate the importance of visuals in web content, let’s put it into practice. Let's once again embrace the use of our powerful ally, Bing Create.

It’s not just about crafting compelling logos (as we did in an earlier lesson). Bing Create can generate imagery based on the context of your content.

Unlike generic stock photos (which you also have access to through SiteContent), Bing Create brings personalized visual content to life. It comes down to your ability to properly ask what you are looking for through your image prompts, and this is something that I want to give you a hand with here.

Proper Prompting Strategies With Bing Create

When you are incorporating images, you will want to choose images that SHOW what you are talking about, not just choose random “relevant” images. There is a big difference.

Any imagery that you add should add value to the end user, and help them “envision” what you are talking about within your content.

Step 1: Conceptualize your image. This includes the main items you want to include in the images, the colors you want within your image, and what you want the backdrop to look like.

Step 2: Write a prompt that reflects this. The more sophisticated you are, the more elaborate the sophisticated the image will be.

Step 3: Adjust and refine. If the image is not exactly what you want, or you want to improve upon the image, then you can update the prompt within Bing Create and create a new image.

Step 4: Edit the image (optional). Using the Customize feature, which takes you into the Designer. You can also leverage your Canva.com account to further add and create more sophisticated imagery.

The Importance of Image Optimization

Online business owners tend to overlook the importance of “image optimization” in their business, and with their RANKINGS. First off, size. Size matters. Make your images too large, and you’ll slow down your site. But squeeze them down too small, and you’ll lose quality.

It's a fine line to tread, and one we have you covered with in terms of technology at Wealthy Affiliate, that is built directly into SiteContent. When you publish your content through SiteContent, your images are automatically compressed using Kraken compression technology, which will optimize all of your images for the web without losing the quality of the images.

Smaller image file sizes, means that they load quicker on your website, which also means that your website speeds will be much faster. We pride ourselves in offering the fastest hosting experience in the industry, and things like our image compression functionality are the types of things that give you the competitive edge in search engines. We have you covered.

A few other important image optimizations that you should consider area:

• 'Alt Text'. It’s like your 'Behind the Scenes'. Not only does this aid visually impaired users but also bumps up your SEO game. Alt text should be simple but descriptive, explaining what the imagery is.
  
• Responsive design (mobile ready). Your audience is varied. Desktop, tablet browsers, and mobile users. Almost ALL Wordpress themes automatically are responsive, which means they adjust to the environment that your audience is using. This is not something that you have to worry about, but you can always view your content on a mobile device to see how it looks.

Alright, now that we are “image ready” with our content, the next focus we want to shift our attention is to the broader website design of our website and the initial updates we want to make.

Tasks for this Lesson:

• Understanding the role of visuals in your web content
• Creating images using Bing Create and leveraging its AI capabilities
• Edit your existing post, and add relevant imagery into it
• Create a post, and incorporate imagery into it
• Best practices for image optimization and placement