You don’t always need to pay a graphic designer to create your blog banner for you anymore because, in this article, I will show you how to create a blog banner by yourself.
I divided this article into two sections, the first section will show you how you can create the blog banner. And section two will show you X tips for creating a very attractive banner. Without wasting any time, let’s get started.
What is a banner on a blog?
Simply, a blog banner is an image that appears at the top of each of your blog posts, you will mostly find it at the top of your title or at the side of your blog.
These banners can help you attract new visitors to your blog. They can also help you rank higher on search engines because of the keywords you use when placing them on your blog.
There are many platforms where you can create a blog banner like Photoshop or gimp. In this article, I will show you how you can create it on canva very easily because canva is a free online banner maker that doesn’t add any watermark and I personally use it. Let’s get started
How to create a blog banner on canva?
Signup for an account
Just go to www.canva.com and create a free account for yourself. This is very easy to do. Once you’ve created your free account on canva you can easily navigate to anywhere you want.
Choose any template of your choice or start from scratch
You can speed up your work by using a predesigned template, all you just have to do is change the words and add some finishing touches to the design.
But, you can start from scratch and show your artistic skills. When starting from scratch, you can tweak the design whichever way you want on canva.
Use text and elements
Canva enables you to add different elements and texts to your blog banner. The texts can be in any size of your choice depending on what you prefer.
There are also different elements that will help spice up your banner. These elements will help you illustrate to your audience what is actually happening inside your blog posts.
Add free images
When you add free images to your blog banner, it will make it look very attractive. You can use the free royalty images inside canva or you can get them from pexels
Download the final draft
When you are done with your banner, the last step is to download the image and save it to your system. You can save it as a png, or jpeg or even a gif
How to make your banner more attractive
Use bright colors
Just take one second and look at my thumbnail again, doesn’t it look attractive? I bet it does (at least to me)
I always try my best to use bright colours in my thumbnails, as I’ve studied to increase my ctr drastically. I’ve noticed that when I use dull colours it reduces my ctr and fewer people end up reading the post.
So take my advice, don’t use dull colours. Let me ask you, do you click on images that have dull colours or those with bright colours? I bet you love bright colours too.
Use bigger letters
Do people have to strain their eyes before they can see what was written on your thumbnail? If that’s the case, you want to turn things around by using bigger letters.
I’ve also tried it on my website, at a time I was using smaller letters but even I didn’t like it. So I was looking for more ways to increase my ctr, so I started checking other websites to see what I was doing wrong
Out of the blues, I discovered that most of their thumbnails or blog banners had bigger letters than mine. Then I tried it for myself and I’ve been loving it ever since. So, go and try it for yourself. I can assure you that it will help you increase your ctr.
Use not more than two colors
I know I said you should change things up from time to time, yes, and I still mean it. But according to research that was recently conducted for YouTube videos. They discovered that when more than two colours were used on a thumbnail, the click-through rate was reduced.
Use readable fonts, not fancy ones
What I mean by readable fonts is – fonts that are not hard to read. You might be able to read some fonts after straining a little bit. Don’t use those kinds of fonts on your blog banner.
Always try to use simple-to-read fonts that will help people see the words on your banner easily and very clearly.
Kiss – keep it stupid simple
Just make sure they know what your topic is about, that’s all. There’s no room for long sentences. For example, in this article, my blog banner has only “how to create a blog banner” written on it, also, in my other article, about consistency, I wrote only “be consistent“, That’s all, nothing more.
If you want to add some artistic work and make it look beautiful, you can do that by adding some elements which are easily found on canva.
To keep your blog banner stupid simple:
Use few words
Don’t use more than two colors
Your letters should be bold and visible
FAQ
Is it compulsory to create a blog banner for all your posts?
Well, it is not compulsory but it is necessary. This is because, if you have a banner for your blog post, it can help you to rank higher for the search term.
When you upload your banner for your blog post, you will be able to add a caption and an alt tag. These two things help Google determine what your article is about.
Lastly, your image itself can rank on google image search and help you to generate more traffic to your website.
Is canva only for blog banners?
No, canva can be used to create different artworks like blog banner, YouTube thumbnails, social media images, slideshares and even book covers. I used to create all my blog banners, eBook cover
Can I make vertical banners for Pinterest using canva?
Pardon me for intentionally not mentioning this above. The answer is yes, you can use canva to create pins for your Pinterest account. In fact, that is what I personally use to create my Pinterest pins.
Conclusion
There you go, I’ve shown you how to create a blog banner and how you can make it very attractive. If you follow the steps outlined in this article, I’m very sure you ‘ll end up having a very beautiful and attractive banner.
I’ll like to hear from you, have you been using canva for a long time or which other free editing software do you use. Let me know your thoughts below.
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