While heading down to my favorite coffee shop and thinking about this article I was going to write, I got to thinking how there are some similarities between the coffee I was looking forward to and the images used on a web page. The images on your website are like the foam on top of that perfect cup of coffee. You came for the coffee and its amazing caffeine, but thankfully they added in all that other stuff to make it that much better.

That cup of coffee is a lot like your website. You fill it with great information that people want or need (the coffee), make it interesting so they'll come back (chocolate / spices), and then add some images to help bring it all together (whipped cream). Have you ever been to a site with no images? You couldn't click the back button fast enough right? See the image of the perfect cup of coffee above - it sets the tone for the entire article.

When choosing that image I had to keep our audience in mind, the mood I wanted to set and to be sure that the image gave you the right feelings when you looked at it. This image makes you think of good coffee with a classy touch. No pressure - no stress, just a good cup of coffee that is going to taste exactly how you think it will. No surprises happening here.

That image was completely free and took me about 5 minutes to choose. You can view it on Unsplash here. When I choose an image for an article it can take me anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to find what I'm looking for and most of the time I really don't know what that is until I see it. Again, when I look for an image I'm looking for something that...

• Makes sense to the content of the article.
• Can be reduced to as small as possible and still make sense to the reader.
• Gives the reader the rig...