What if I told you that images can improve your value, your results and make your more irresistible to clients?
Here’s the truth:
The right image, in the right place, can skyrocket your article and take it viral. And the wrong ones can hold it back and be sure it never gets read.
There’s also a big burden on your clients to find the right images, with the right credits, to make the article pop.
And these two problems present the perfect opportunity for you:
If you’re able to find and deliver images that will improve the performance of the article, and save them time and effort, you’ll be able to wow them with value and add another layer to your business that makes you a writer worth keeping.
Over the last four years I’ve used Stencil to save my clients time and money, whilst improving the performance of my articles. And in this article I’d like to share with you four simple ways you can do the same…
#1: Provide Featured Images With Your Articles
The most simple way you can use this to wow your freelance writing clients is by using the Stencil database of free stock images.
You can go the extra mile for your clients by delivering not only your finely tuned writing, but you can also provide them with a featured image (or images) for what you’ve been working on.
Using the search function you can type in the topic of your article, let’s say budget travel, into the search bar and it’ll show you all of the related imaged for that topic:
Just pick out the one that fits best with what you’ve written, select the Blog Post Feature canvas size, and watch it snap perfectly into place:
Download the image and you’re ready to attach it and sent it to your client.
For less than 30 seconds work you’ve saved your client a job that can take 30 to 40 minutes when you don’t have a tool like Stencil, potentially saved them money on buying an image and added an extra level of value to yourself.
Not a bad result if you ask me.
#2: In-Article Images
In article images can help your articles pop, decrease your clients bounce rates and have positive SEO effects. [tk]
And from a writing perspective, it can break up a big chunk of text and make it easier for your readers to digest.
For example in this 10,000 post that I wrote, every section was broken up with an image from Stencil to make it easier on the eye:
Much like finding featured images, this can be a real problem for your clients and be time-consuming. But you can do it all in under 30 seconds.
Another small, simple benefit that can bring a lot of value to the table.
#3: Upgrade Your Screenshots And Capture Skim Readers
Screenshots are the freelance writer’s secret weapon. They help add depth and context to articles – especially how to’s – and allow you to appeal to the skim readers who are just flicking through the page.
And, using Stencil, you can add an extra layer of depth by using icons and text to highlight really important information.
Let’s say you wanted to showcase a spike in traffic that your client had. You might have a screenshot like this one right here:
Now to turn this into a wow image that captures attention and gives extra insight, you could add the data you’re going to include in your article.
To do that just upload the image to the Stencil tool and adjust your canvas size to fit accordingly:
You can then use the icons – like arrows and lines – to highlight the important parts of the image, and add the text statistics to really make this pop.
Now when someone is scrolling through your article they’ll be pulled in, and the readers following along will have a level of proof about what you’re talking about.
When I wrote in the Internet Marketing niche clients used to love extras like this. They’re small details that take a couple of minutes work, but can skyrocket the value of their article.
#4: Increase Their Pinterest Shares And Traffic
Pinterest is now the second largest driver of social traffic after Facebook. And it’s an area usually considered ‘off limits’ for us freelance writers. After all, we’re not designers, are we?
Well even with the addition of a basic image that can be shared on Pinterest at the end of your image you can see great results. Just take a look at what happened to my post on Side Hustle Nation when Nick added a Pinterest image to the end of the post:
That’s 597 shares of the total 623 for the post. That’s nearly 96% of the shares!
The image isn’t anything special that you couldn’t put together in just a few minutes, either.
Simply take the featured image for your post and have it adjusted to the Pinterest sized canvas in the tool.
You can then overlay some text – preferably using the headline of the article – and you’ve got a complete image that can be used for social sharing.
It’s Time To Start Wow-ing…
These are just a few of the ways you can use the tool to start wowing your clients, improving your articles and offering a level of value many writers miss.
If you’d like to learn more about Stencil, and how you can get started for free, you can read more on this page here.
And if you have any ways that you use Stencil, I’d love to hear them in the comments…
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