How to blog effectively: Insert Photos
Most of us have a slice of vanity in our emotional makeup and having our photo appear in a civic leader's blog is a little ego boost. The word-of-mouth factor then comes into play – a blog post with a photo increases the likelihood that its PermaLink will get passed around via email and linked to in other blogs, as well as mentioned verbally, e.g., "Hey, I saw your photo in whatshisname's blog this week…"
Photos can also be instructional. Use them to illustrate a situation or a problem, with or without people in the shot.
Also, it's often easier to take a photo of a flyer, poster, map, or other visually-oriented document and put it into your blog than to obtain the original digital document that was used to create it and upload it to your blog.
Digital cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones make it considerably simpler and more cost-effective these days to include photos in your blog. Get in the habit of taking a camera with you everywhere and looking for opportunities to capture information and people that are relevant to your civic leader weblog.
Expect to be reluctant – shy, even – to use your camera to take photos of people. It initially feels awkward, that you're intruding on people when you don't know them very well. It's surprisingly hard to overcome this but once you start getting feedback on your photos, it'll spur you on to get over your shyness to do what needs to be done!
When approached about a photo, people often make comments about how they're not suited for it – their clothing or hair or how they always take terrible photos. It's often enough to just say something like, "Well, this is just for my blog, not a fashion magazine" in a light-hearted tone and they'll go along with it. Or tell them they can see the shot after you take it and approve/reject it. But never be insistent. You don't want a paparazzi reputation.
Photos also help to "set the scene" for your storytelling. And as images, they break up text-heavy posts.