Hiya all. This article on PicMonkey and pictures for blogging is part of a wider series of articles on ‘How to make money blogging, for Craft Bloggers’.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” is an old adage. You knew that. Now let me rephrase that: a good picture is worth 1000 dollars. This might be new to you, but it’s also true. And that is simply because a picture says in 1000-fold: ‘This is a really GOOD SITE! You must go and HAVE A LOOK!’. Bad pictures do the opposite. Mediocre images tend to be just ignored.
So, in other words: a good picture is effective click-bate! IF your picture is compelling, beautiful, compelling and interesting, Facebook readers, Twitterers, and Pinterest pinners’ curiosity will take over and not only pin your image creating an extra link to your article, they will actually click the image and come over and visit your site. Convert this additional traffic to ‘people clicking your ads’ and ‘people buying your products’, than you realize that a good (excellent) image is worth money to you!
It is for this reason that I INSIST that all guest bloggers write their post with at least one or two eye-candy – quality images. The bulk of the FineCraftGuild traffic comes from a few good images that I compiled myself. Yes, really. It is THAT IMPORTANT.
How did I do it?
With PicMonkey! Despite owning Photoshop, I’m a real fan of the photo editing site PicMonkey. In fact, all the photos that rang among my ‘most popular’ photos at Pinterest, were made by me using PicMonkey! And, I find myself using PicMonkey more and more. 
I can access it from various locations that I’m working from on my laptop. t’s just so fast and easy. And, best of all, it has all this built-in creative suggestions that Photoshop does not have. Let me name a few:
1. Easy collage option, with pre-set layouts.
2. Easy Facebook banner template.
3. Cute compatible sets of seasonal clipart, fonts, filters, icons, doodles and doodidats relating to the current seasons and themes: St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, etc. This allows you to very quickly built seasonal images for your blog, newsletter, and more.
4. The image quality is really high so that you actually could design your own cards, labels, etc. for printing. (See this lovely card for Audrey as an illustration).
Oh, and the list goes on.
Free vs. Pro?? What’s the difference?
I started with using the free version of PicMonkey, but soon found that actually the paid (low cost) Pro version of PicMonkey had the best features, cutest icons, and prettiest fonts, flourishes and filters. You will find that you will almost instantly start getting your money’s worth as you can render more traffic to your site. Not just from Pinterest, but from other visual social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, G+ and Twitter alike.
Which is why I choose to write to you today about it today. Right now, PicMonkey has an offer letting you try the Pro version FREE for 2 months.
I am writing you about PicMonkey today as part of my How to Make Money Blogging – series for craft bloggers. For TWO reasons, and the first one is: better photos. For Example:
Product Shots can lead to Bestselling Sales Scenarios
Here’s my first example: a product shot that was not quite right, but, then … with PicMonkey I fixed it:
BAD original photo
I don’t dare
But it was before I did the cropping, color correction, light correction, fun logo and stamps, night stars, birdies, post stamp waves and product text. |
PicMonkey Photo Recreation(Based on this photo, |
PicMonkey Let’s You Enhance Selfies/Portraits Quickly
This is a totally different example, whereby I’m OK with showing you a BEFORE AND AFTER:. You see, in PicMonkey Pro (paid version), you can give your self a 25% weight loss, whiten your teeth, smoothen out your wrinkles, spend an hour in a tanning salon, remove all blemishes from your skin, deal with that too-wild hair in the picture and show off your best features, all within 10 minutes or so!
BEFORE
Mmmm….
Bit pale
Need a teeth whitening
Wrinkles
Too shiney face
Eyeglass glare
Could lose some weight, or at least hide that unflattering jacket & arm holding camera.
Could use a smaller image size and not loose any impact…
Let’s fix it!
AFTER
You could even apply lipstick, blush, eyeshadow, fix your eyebrows, and loads more but I did not do that here. And finally, give that original a good crop, getting rid of that strange arm holding your camera. And voila. PicMonkey? So worth it! I love it!
Tip for FACE enhancements: PicMonkey has loads of some fun seasonal filters, so that you can create seasonal greeting cards, or take the mickey out of yourself. Last Halloween, PicMonkey let you make a Dracula version of yourself. It was fun!
I am not the only one who starts of with mediocre or even bad photos. I have found that there are many really talented creative bloggers who (still) post ‘shockingly bad’ photos of their work, despite knowing that they are bad. The reality is that sometimes we all take bad photos. But my good news is, that they don’t need to STAY BAD and be posted in their ‘shockingly bad’ state. PicMonkey gives you the tools to fix your bad photos and make them into good images. Furthermore, into effective images: add a couple of design elements plus a title, and voila’: the featured image for your blog article looks great and is ready for publishing.
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This is the MAIN POINT I want to make today:
Sign up for PicMonkey Pro and use it!
You will make more money blogging by doing so.
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Making even More Money with PicMonkey beyond having better Images….
This is the other point I want to make: In addition, building upon last week’s article on why you must join Shareasale, let me point out that PicMonkey also has an awesome affiliate program for you to look at. It’s easy to set it up. The terms for the affiliate program are generous: a 50% commission rate, and a super-long 90-day cookie.
Once you have set yourself up with a Pro PicMonkey account, and want to make money with their affiliation program, then sign up here. Once you have joined Shareasale, opt to join the PicMonkey affiliate program. Share a few words on how you love PicMonkey for your own blog, etc. and submit your application. After they approve you, you can pick the links and banner you want and feature these on your website. Choose an above the fold ad spot for best-converting results.
And then, when your readers fall in love with PicMonkey also and opt for the paid (albeit currently free for 2 month_ you’ll end up with a nice 50% check in the mail.
How to Make Money Blogging for Crafters – a New Series by FineCraftGuild.com
1. How to Make Money Blogging – Goals for 2015 – with free downloadable charts
2. Craft Blogging Success Tips
3. Why you Must Join Shareasale
4. Today’s article.
Disclaimer: affiliate links included.
