The 8 Types of Images That Increase the Psychological Impact of Your Content

8/07/2014 09:08:00 AM 0 Comments


Close-up images of old school cameras
The importance of using images in blogging goes far beyond “looking nice.”
It’s actually deeply psychological.
For one thing, your brain (and your reader’s brain) is better at processing visuals than text. In fact, 90 percent of the information that our brain gets is visual, and it processes that information 60,000 times faster than text.
And visuals, when they complement your text, help your message connect: 40 percent of people will respond better to visual information than to text.
Read on to learn about the eight most effective types of images, and where to find them online.
We’ll start with one you may turn your nose up at initially, but hear me out …

1. Stock photos

There’s a lot more to stock photos than business guys in suits walking along growth charts.
Used correctly, stock photos can elicit real emotions in your readers. This can be especially helpful at the beginning of your post, where you’re trying to set the scene for the message you’re about to deliver.
See how Sean Smith’s post on Copyblogger starts with a powerful image that immediately brings to mind focus? That’s exactly what Sean’s post is about
focus
Where to get stock photos:

2. Screenshots

Screenshots are a great example of showing instead oftelling.
Sure, you could tell your readers about the email you got. Or, you could show them, and let them see it for themselves, while adding authenticity and a visual break to your post.
Here’s an example from Ramit Sethi.
crazy-email
Of course he could simply say “I get some crazy emails from people.”
But that wouldn’t be nearly as powerful, interesting, or engaging.
Where to get screenshots: Use a tool that makes taking, storing, and sharing screenshots easy; I prefer Snagit, available for both Mac and PC.

3. Charts and graphs

Given the complexity of most statistics and reports, using images is the best way to convey quantified data.
Especially if it’s something that you want to stick with your reader, because we remember images much better than we remember words.
In a KISSmetrics post about A/B testing, Will Kurt uses graphs to clearly illustrate the difference between the results achieved by “scientist” marketers and “impatient” ones:
scientist-vs-impatient
Where to get charts and graphs: If the visual you want doesn’t already exist in the reporting tools of your analytics app, you can easily create charts and graphs using Spreadsheets in Google Drive.

4. Personal photos

When you’re telling a personal story, using an image — even one shot on a cell phone camera — can make it connect on a deeper level.
Photos can make your readers feel like they’re there with you.
Chris Guillebeau, world traveler and entrepreneur, gets a lot of questions about his packing lists. But instead of just posting a checklist of items, he takes us through his list in a much more interesting way.
telling-personal-story
Where to get personal photos: You’ll have to take these yourself, of course. One important thing to note, though: don’t get hung up on image quality here. Often, a grainy cell phone shot will do just fine, and could even add authenticity to the story you’re trying to tell.

5. Still frames from TV shows or movies

This is one of my favorites, and one that we use on the Groove blog quite a bit.
Pop culture images latch on to connections that your readers already have with a particular movie or TV show, so the emotions are much easier to draw out.
I’m a big fan of Breaking Bad, so that’s one that we lean on in posts like this one.
desperate-for-cash
Where to get TV/movie still frames: Perhaps surprisingly, Google Image Search is my favorite source for these. For example, typing in “Breaking Bad money” leads to hundreds of great results.

6. Infographics

Especially useful for breaking down big multi-lesson message and research findings, infographics make large amounts of data digestible.
They can also be — and often are — shareable content in their own right.
Neil Patel at Quick Sprout uses infographics in a lot of his posts; notice how in this one about calculating the ROI of SEO campaigns, he delivers a valuable blog post and a valuable standalone infographic at the same time.
buying-cycle
Where to get infographics:
  • infogr.am is a free web tool that lets you create infographics quickly and easily.
  • If you don’t want to take the DIY route — and are willing to pay — try Visual.ly.

7. Custom art

Sometimes, the images you want to include in your post don’t exist.
Fortunately, that’s not a reason to not use them.
The cost of custom art doesn’t have to be high, and you don’t need to have a designer on staff to create it.
Buffer uses custom art often, like in this post where they share a valuable headline writing formula:
ultimate-headline
Where to get custom art: I’ve had great success with freelance marketplaces like oDesk, where you can post a task for the design job you want, and designers bid on the project.

8. Comics

Laughter is a powerful emotional reaction to elicit from a reader, and comics are a great way to do it.
In The Most Entertaining Guide To Landing Page Optimization You’ll Ever Read, a guest post on the Moz blog by Unbounce co-founder Oli Gardner, Oli uses a comic to illustrate a point about paying attention:
pay-attention
Where to get comics:
(Note that different sites will have different rules for licensing and distribution; some will allow free use with attribution, while others require licensing fees. Always respect the distribution rules that each artist imposes on his or her work.)

Now it’s your turn

The research is clear: images are a super effective way to make your blog posts more interesting, useful, and valuable to your readers.
And now, I hope that this blog post has given you ideas for how to incorporate imagery in your content, and where to source it.
If you’re not already using images — or not using them to their full potential — give it a try. You may be surprised by just how powerful a picture can be.
How are you using images already? Which idea(s) from this post are you excited to try next? Join the discussion on Google+ and let us know.
Editor’s note: If you found this piece useful, we recommend this episode of The Lede: How to Choose Arresting Images for Your Blog Posts (And Why You Should).
Image credit: Mario Calvo via unsplash.
About the Author: Alex Turnbull is the CEO and Founder of Groove (an easier way to handle customer support) who loves to build startups and surf. Read his latest posts or follow him on Twitter.

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Direct Selling Statistics USA – Reps Increased To 16.8 Million

8/04/2014 04:35:00 PM 0 Comments


by TED NUYTEN 
The Direct Selling Organization has published interesting statistics about the growth of the USA Direct Selling Sales Force.
Number of People Involved in Direct Selling in the U.S.
The size of the direct selling sales force increased 5.7% to 16.8 million in 2013, a record high.
The industry experienced a surge of new direct selling independent representatives at the height of the recession.
Due to normal attrition and the fact that some people join the industry for the short term, the slight reduction in force was expected in 2010 and 2011. The size of the industry’s sales force grew 1.9% in 2012 and is continuing to rise through 2013.
The percentage of households estimated to have a direct sales person as a member is the same as in 2012 at 13.8% of U.S. households.

USA Reps Direct Selling
Estimated Total Direct Retail Sales
The 2013 estimated retail sales of USD 32.67 billion for the direct selling channel were up 3.3% in the United States, from USD 31.63 billion in 2012.
The U.S. market increase of 3.3% in 2013 continued an upward trend that began after 2009 and brought the industry to a record high.
Direct sales grew 0.8% in 2010, 4.6% in 2011 and 5.9% in 2012.
Direct Selling Growth 2013

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Micheal Sam Coming Out- L Jamar &Sadat X

8/03/2014 03:17:00 PM 0 Comments




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DRAKE VS. COMMON BEEF OVER SERENA- COMMON

8/02/2014 05:10:00 PM 0 Comments

                      
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KIDS FOR CASH JUDGE RUINED OVER 2,000 LIVES: AN AMERICAN HORROR STORY

8/01/2014 05:23:00 PM 0 Comments


Corrupt ‘Kids for Cash’ judge ruined more than 2,000 lives

Hillary Transue, 14, created a fake, humorous Myspace page about her school’s vice principal.
Justin Bodnar, 12, cursed at another student’s mother.
Ed Kenzakoski, 17, did nothing at all.
It didn’t matter.
As we see in the documentary “Kids for Cash,” which opens Friday, all three Luzerne County, Pa. teens met the same fate for their minor infractions.
They were hauled into court with their parents, sometimes ­after being persuaded — coerced, according to at least one parent — by police to waive their right to ­legal counsel.
They were brought before Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and, without warning or the chance to offer a defense, found themselves pronounced guilty, shackled and sentenced to months of detention in a cockroach-infested jail.
They were trapped in the juvenile justice system for years, robbing most of them of their entire high-school experience.
Modal Trigger
Hillary Transue was sent to juvenile detention for making a fake Myspace page for her teacher.Photo: AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Judge Ciavarella, who sentenced around 3,000 children in a similar manner, was later sentenced himself to 28 years in prison for financial crimes related to his acceptance of $2.2 million as a finder’s fee for the construction of a for-profit facility in which to house these so-called delinquents.
The scandal was called “Kids for Cash,” and it rocked the state in 2009 — for the accusation that Ciavarella was happy to tear families apart in exchange for the payoff.
Kenzakoski was diagnosed with ADD before he was 10 and drinking by 14, and his parents were so worried about him that his father developed a plan to scare him straight.
Along with two police officer buddies, Kenzakoski’s father planted a marijuana pipe in the boy’s truck, hoping he would be arrested and turned around after a confrontation with the authorities.
But the second part of that plan went awry, and Ciavarella sent the boy away.
In the film, Bodnar recalls how, shackled and torn from his home for saying a dirty word, he approached the facility on a convict bus and saw the 20-foot razor wire.
“I’m now one of those people you see in the movies,” thought the 12-year-old, who would smoke pot for the first time three months later, influenced by “living around criminals” in a facility intended to make him a better person.
After her release from incarceration, Transue returned to school with a stigma, viewed as a criminal by her teachers and under watch from her probation officer, who kept an office in the school.
Mark Ciavarella was elected to a 10-year-term as Luzerne County judge in 1995, on a platform of getting tough on teen crime. Much admired for his stance, he was a frequent speaker at schools and was re-elected in 2005.
Knowing he was sending children to a run-down detention facility, Ciavarella decided a new one was needed and approached power broker Judge Michael Conahan, who assembled an investor group to build a private, for-profit detention facility named PA Child Care.
Ciavarella was paid a finder’s fee of 10 percent of construction costs, or $2.2 million, by its builder.
Undone by a tip from a reputed underworld friend of Conahan’s, among other information, Ciavarella had 2,480 of his convictions reversed and expunged.
Modal Trigger
A scene from “Kids for Cash.”
After his initial release, Bodnar, now 24, was shipped off to a military academy. He now works as a cook. Transue, 22, eventually graduated from college.
A fender-bender landed Kenzakoski back in court when he was 19. Ciavarella again sentenced him to a juvenile facility. When he got out, said his mother, his demeanor was all pent-up anger, and a fight landed him in state prison.
He was released in January 2010. That Memorial Day, after a day of drinking and arguing with his father, Ed Kenzakoski placed a gun against his heart, and pulled the trigger. Had he lived, he would now be 27 years old.
The most harrowing moment in the film occurs during Ciavarella’s trial. As his lawyer holds a press conference outside the courthouse, Kenzakoski’s mother, Sandy Fonzo, who had been standing to the side, unleashed years of pain and anguish on the man she held responsible.
“My kid’s not here anymore! He’s dead! Because of him!” she screamed, pointing at Ciavarella as news cameras rolled. “He ruined my f—ing life!!! Go to hell, and rot there forever! You know what he told everybody in court — [the kids] need to be held accountable for their actions! You need to be!”
At the end of “Kids for Cash,” directed by Robert May, information flashes across the screen saying: “Two million children are arrested every year in the US, 95% for non-violent crimes”; that “66% of children who have been incarcerated never return to school”; and that “the US incarcerates nearly 5 times more children than any other nation in the world.”
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