5 Reasons Why You Need Great Graphics to Grow Your Blog

Last updated on March 9th, 2023

In this article, we will discuss the 5 major reasons why you need great graphics to grow your blog and exactly why they are critical for the success of your blog.

We will also talk about how the graphics you use can impact trust, promotional success, user experience, conversions and more!

Inside my exclusive Design Vault, you’ll find done-for-you design Canva templates for your blog. Jump right in to get access to social media templates, media kits, ebooks, and so much more! Just click right here to get access or the button below!

GREAT BLOG GRAPHICS ARE ESSENTIAL TO GROWTH

Back when I first started blogging I just could not figure out why my site wasn’t getting any traffic.

In case you didn’t know, traffic is NOT a vanity metric. Traffic is the lifeblood of your blog. No traffic = no subscribers = no income.

I felt like I was doing all the things right and still… crickets.

Looking back, I was doing almost nothing right in the beginning.

I was talking about things I wanted to talk about instead of what my reader wanted. I had no direction, I didn’t even know what a keyword was, and my images were modeled after other pins I saw on Pinterest.

The thing is, not everything on Pinterest is gold.

Having very little knowledge of anything else, I decided to dust off my graphic design certification and actually implement some of the basic design principles I had learned years ago.

Something actually started to happen!

Yep! That’s a 2,200% increase in traffic from a re-design of my pins alone and it’s not just a big spike that faded out after a day or two.

I was onto something.

It wasn’t just the pins. I started implementing my graphic design knowledge and learning anything and everything about blogging, online marketing, digital products and more.

All so that I could BEST combine the two areas: marketing and design.

When I launched Simplifying DIY Design, it took me less than one year to replace my full-time income and less than two to generate six figures.

In this post, I want to share with you why it’s SO important to implement design strategically in your blog to create massive growth.

#1: Professional Appearance Establishes Trust

Fun story: My husband and I were on our way to Myrtle Beach one year for a family vacation.

Our GPS took us some weird back way and we were driving through a lot of wooded land when we happen to see a sign on the side of the road.

I’m not kidding you that this sign was on a white poster board and the lettering was in black sharpie marker. It read: Chinese food *phone number* ➡

We both looked at each other (in slight terror) because not only would we never want to eat there but it kind of felt like it was a trap of some kind! That’s how awful and out of place the sign looked.

That’s essentially what you’re doing when your blog, sales pages, and any other graphics you have on your blog are very sub-par. The internet is a sketchy place these days and people don’t need any LESS reason to put their credit card in.

The more professional your blog appears, the more credible you’ll appear to your reader.

This is why it’s super important that not only are the graphics professional, but the tools you use are as well (ie. using a drag and drop builder to produce a sales page instead of a random page on your blog with a PayPal button.)

Branding

Your brand can play a big part in professionalism as well. Not only will a nice-looking site help build trust and credibility but also a cohesive brand can go a long way in establishing trust with your audience.

How will your audience ever become familiar with you if you change your logo every other day?

If you’d like to read more about creating a cohesive brand, click here.

#2: Visual Promotions Catch Attention

There are so many different types of graphics that you can create to promote something such as:

• Promotion of a blog post
• Promotion of a lead magnet
• Promotion of a paid product
• Promotion of an affiliate product
• Promotion of a event (livestream, webinar, live event, etc)
• Promotion of a collaboration
• Promotion of a shop page

The list goes on!

Here’s the thing: there are three main components that result in getting the click:

1. The design
2. The copy
3. The offer

The reason I have design at the very top of that list is that if your design doesn’t STOP them long enough to actually read your copy then you will never get that click.

Without the click, you won’t get the sale. Simple as that.

This is why it’s super important that your promotional graphics are spot on. They increase the perceived value of whatever the offer is and they get people excited to take action!!

#3: Visual Elements Improve User Experience

There are a lot of different ways I like to use visual elements to improve the user experience on my blog. The reason I want my readers to have a good experience is that they will stay on my site longer! This is great because:

• The longer the user is on my site, the more authority I’ll have with google which is good for SEO– longer sessions show Google your content is good!

• They might click around to other posts which would provide them additional value, increase the likelihood of a conversion (sale or opt-in), and “number of pages visited” is another thing that is good for SEO

• As mentioned in the previous point: increase the likelihood of a conversion!!

Blog posts are meant to be one of the first steps of a funnel. This is the free information you’re providing to someone. This is your opportunity to hook the reader enough to want to stay.

If they can’t make it halfway through your post because you’ve written all your content in a giant block of text with no headings, images, or video then how will they get any value from you to want to stick around?

Here are just some visual elements I like to include on my blog and in my posts to increase user experience:

• Stock photos
• Videos
• Visually appealing promotional graphics that promote a lead magnet, product, or affiliate product
• Mockup style graphics on my opt-in forms
• Popular post graphics in the sidebar

#4: Visual Elements Can Improve Conversions

We talked about this a little bit early on, but visual elements can actually improve conversions. I’m talking ANY conversion, whether it be getting a click, getting a sign up, or getting a sale.

They’re important on social media not only in organic promotion but also for paid advertising too. A major part of all paid strategy — whether it be Facebook or Pinterest ads — are graphics!!

In addition, I’ve found a few more tricks to be helpful:

• Increase conversions of affiliate links by creating a beautiful image that showcases the affiliate product in addition to your compelling copy about why you love it

• Increase conversions of sign ups by including a mock-up style graphic on your opt-in form. This is important because you’ll not only be more likely to grab attention but you’ll increase the perceived value by showing that it really is a real PRODUCT that someone can get for free.

• Increase clicks around your site by including visually appealing graphics that showcase your other posts (ideally ones that are heavily monetized or convert well to a sign up)

You also have so many opportunities to increase the conversion of sales on your sales page.

In addition to making sure your sales page is set up in a professional and cohesive manner using a drag and drop builder (I like Elementor and LeadPages) but you can also include:

• 3D mockup graphics of your product

• Photos (or stock photos) that drive home the point of your copy (ideally when hitting pain points or describing the transformation)

• Making your button pop– this is a visual element as welll! A common mistake is making your button blend into your branding.. make it pop!!

• Adding charts or other graphics that visually demonstrate the statistics of how your product can help

• Establish credibility and social proof by letting your reader know where your content or products have been featured

• Testimonial graphics that can establish further social proof

• Increase usability by breaking up a solid white background with visually appealing background image or colored sections on the page. This helps break up text and enables the reader to get from section to section without becoming overwhelmed by blocks of text

The more visually appealing your sales page is (without, of course, becoming overwhelming) the better!

Side note: If you’re an Elementor user, check out Confident Funnels! These are my designed-for-you templates for creating each piece of your stunning and high converting funnel!

#5: Graphics Are The First Step of Your Funnel

I see a couple of common mistakes with bloggers:

1. They underestimate just how much graphic design actually goes into building a funnel
2. They don’t realize that the very FIRST step of the funnel is more often than not, an image!

Most of the time someone is clicking on your post from a pin graphic, a Facebook graphic, an ad, or some other visual promotion of the post.

That graphic brings them to your post, which leads them to your offer.

Depending on the offer it might lead straight to a sale OR it might lead to an email sign up which can trigger a tripwire product sale, an upsell, or a sales sequence.

I’m a huge fan of funnels! Not only are they an amazing way to generate a full-time income with your blog but they also provide an insane amount of value to your audience!

Don’t underestimate the power of amazing graphics to grow your blog

We talked a lot about common mistakes that I’ve made and that I constantly see others make. You are one step ahead of the game.

The thing is, I can hear you on the other side of your screen– “I’m not certified in graphics! I don’t have time to learn graphic design!”

It doesn’t have to be this hard. You can even get started right away with a simple tool like Canva and some pre-designed templates.

You can try out the ones located in my Design Vault or, if you already know you love Canva templates and you’re wanting to go dive in with all the graphics you’ll need for your blog, check out my Complete Blogger Template Toolkit!

Inside my exclusive Design Vault you’ll find done-for-you design Canva templates for your blog. Jump right in to get access to social media templates, media kits, ebooks, and so much more! Just click right here to get access or the button below!