Want more cousins to visit your genealogy blog?

Of course you do. ;)

Previously, I've shown you ways to lead cousins to your family history blog by using words. However, today, I'm going to show you how to lead cousins to your genealogy blog by using images.

[And let me just interrupt myself and encourage you to use at least one image in every blog post. It's more pleasing to the eye because it breaks up all those words. I can't tell you how many times I've landed on a family history blog and was disheartened by all the words. Don't get me wrong. I love to read. But?

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When I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading wherever I may be on my iPhone, it's really nice to have an image or 2 to break up all those words.

Don't have an image of the ancestor(s) you're blogging about? Get creative. Find something in your family story or blog post that you can take a picture of that you have in or around your house. That way it's your image to post on your blog and you don't have to worry about copyrights of the image. Bonus!]

Okay. Once you've written your blog post and added your images, there's something else you can do to your image that will increase your chances of someone finding your blog post through the search engines or through an image-driven social network like Pinterest. And this Cousin Awesome Sauce? Alt Text, or alternate text.

That's right. You can add alternate text to an image in your blog post. Because search engines don't know what an image conveys, it's important that you *tell* the search engines what your image says with Alternate Text. 

For example, if you have an image of your Great Aunt Bernice, then by adding identifying information like her name, the location she mostly lived in, and the date related to the photo, you're telling a search engine about the photo. So if a distant cousin searches for the same info that you placed in the alternate text, then the photo linked to your blog post will appear in their search results.

See? Cousin Awesome Sauce.

Also, when a reader decides to pin your image to their Pinterest board, then the Alt Text goes with the image as the description of the image when it's pinned to the board. [Handy dandy.] 

Following are quick step-by-step instructions on how to easily add Alt Text to your images in the Blogger blogging platform and the Weebly blogging platform so you can increase traffic to your family history blog through search results as well as provide a solid description for sites like Pinterest for when someone or yourself pins your images to their or your Pinterest Board.

Blogger:
After adding the image to your blog post draft:

1. Click on the image and a light blue box appears right below the image.
2. Select 'Properties' in the light blue box appears right below the image.
3. Optional: Enter a title for your image. [This will appear on your finished blog post when someone hovers over your image with their mouse/pointer.] Example: Carolyn Marie Blacketer, San Antonio, Texas, ca1944.
4. Enter your Alternate Text without punctuation. Example: Carolyn Marie Blacketer San Antonio Texas ca1944
5. Click 'Okay'.

Weebly:
After adding the image to your blog post draft:

1. Click on image and a blue drop down menu will appear at the top of the window in the browser.
2. Select Advanced and a drop down menu will appear.
3. Click on 'Alt Text' box BUT do not attempt to delete the text with your mouse - very important.
4. Backspace over the default text 'Picture'.
5. Enter Alt Text. Example: Carolyn Marie Blacketer San Antonio Texas ca1944
6. Click anywhere outside of the Edit box.

And that's it. Any questions? Contact me or ask in comments below. =)

Happy Blogging!
~C