Great Read: Using Images in Your Blog

Lots of stations like to drive web exposure by blogging. I have been at stations that don’t bother with it; I have been at stations that require multiple blogs a day from on-air talent. Some people are really good at blogging, some people are not. Not everyone who can orally communicate well can do it in writing.

I love blogging (clearly). 

One hot topic that has come up with station blogs is the use of images. Now, I am expecting your station will have a social media policy. Sometimes it is overlooked to include basic copyright rules when applying a blanket policy to blogs and social media. I am guessing some stations assume that these rules are universally understood, but really I think there is a grey area with the internet and it is important to explicitly get the message out there to protect the station from lawsuits.

Copyright infringement with blogs usually does not happen spitefully, people are very busy and do not have time to follow around Kay Perry to get their own photos of her for their own blogs, think of how much more annoying that would be for celebrities! Often images are borrowed as I like to think of it.

Here is a great article from John Saddington about using images in blog posts. It is pretty clear and easy to read, without all the legal mumbo-jumbo. We went to Radio School, not Law School for a reason, right?

Click here to read John Saddington’s ‘The Complete Guide toUsing Images in Your Blog Posts’.

More tips on blogging to come… 

Here are some articles on stations getting in trouble for using photos they were not necessarily supposed to be using:

http://radio.about.com/od/controversyandscandal/a/Radio-Station-Sued-Over-Using-Photo-From-Internet-Meme.htm

http://www.radioink.com/article.asp?id=2668881&spid=24698

http://petapixel.com/2013/03/05/photog-gets-into-nasty-tussle-with-radio-station-over-copyright-infringement/

Pic Monkey - The Easy and Cheap Alternative to Photoshop

(Logo from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PicMonkey_Logo.jpg)

Before I started my full time job this summer I was working and interning part-time at a major market station in Canada. I was looking for ways to improve one of my side blogs and increase traffic from social media sites like Pinterest. This example blog was about recipes. I had read how important images are to increase traffic through social media and witnessed it with the use of memes (etc.) used on radio station postings; but I really did not have time to sit at home and Photoshop pictures of the food I was making.

One day I was on remote with a member of the stations very experienced on-air team and we were talking about passive income and blogging (he has a VERY) popular blog and he told me about the easiest way to create great graphics. He told me about a site called PicMonkey. I have used this site everyday since taking on my new role as Midday Host and Promotions Coordinator; PicMonkey has been essential for creating graphics for my everyday blogs and web work. 

This has been perfect, at the current station we send everything we need for graphics out to be done. This makes it hard for whimsical changes to things like social media profiles for things like seasons. PicMonkey has made it incredibly easy to update my stations specific graphics in house myself without a computer that has Photoshop. 

Here are the things I love about PicMonkey:

-PicMonkey is extremely easy to use, seriously anyone can use it. 

-With files with a transparent background you can put your logo pretty much everything,

-If your logo file does not have a transparent background you can use the eraser function to remove it.

-You can make collages. 

-PicMonkey is FREE and you DO NOT have to register on the site, you can upgrade and use more of the PicMonkey tools for a small fee.

-There is a good base of free features that are usually seasonal and change to keep you relevant.

-You can make basic Photoshop brightness, contrast, crop (etc.) adjustments.

-You can save your files in various file formats and resolutions for file size.

-You can produce great graphics very quickly. 

I love PicMonkey. It is perfect for making more attractive photos to draw people in with your station blogs, even if you don't have to blog I am betting you have to use social media and PicMonkey is perfect for making one-off posts or things like Facebook cover photos. 

I think everyone in the radio business can benefit from PicMonkey. From promotional graphics and branding social media imagery to throwing a potential client's logo into a presentation; PicMonkey is an easy way to step up your graphics game if you don't know how (or can't) use Photoshop. 

For examples of how I upped my game on my recipe blog you can check out www.cookketo.com, look at my old posts vs. my more recent posts and you will see the difference.