Same Photo on Number of Articles

Jo and I were having a backchannel discussion and she suggested I raise this question here.

In her informative 250+ article, she states that each and every article should have a different image in the intro icon space and using the same photo over and over again is laziness.  I suggested that it is not always laziness - in fact, I made a decision to use the same photo on my child abuse articles and use a single photo for all of my Nazareth articles. This was intended to be a kind of "branding" of those sets of articles.

Interestingly, Jo suggested that, while she can see the logic of that, where it might not work is on Pinterest.

What do you guys here think?

I'm really interested to see what the responses are here.  Sheri and I have been having a great chat behind the scenes, but we've not got any firm conclusions. 

I am very ready to be swayed on this, as Sheri makes good points about branding.

I think you could do both, using a different image each time and still branding a series. So for example, you could use a different image from Nazareth and photoshop "Nazareth" as a title into it. Just my 2 adcents, SY

The issue here is whether or not to use the same image (copyright compliant, of course) on a number of different articles in a niche.

I like Sam's suggestion for my Nazareth niche as I can use my own photos of the different sites and add a unique title that i devise that I add to each of them and that title will become the branding. I like that.

But for the child abuse articles - and maybe other people have similar philosophical or psychological oriented series of articles that are not "photogenic" - it is not so simple.

Does it make a difference for Pinterest, for example, if all the intro icon images are the same for all articles in a niche?

Does it look bad to someone who comes to read the different articles or does it form, for them, a coherence that is calming?

When you think about a series of books for example, they never have exactly the same cover but there's always something that tells you they are linked. That could be graphic style or something - think Fifty Shades of ...., that same silver grey style. So you could look for images that are linked in that sort of way, or add a common graphic element. Another thing I thought of - have you noticed how crossword books often use the same image (a crossword funnily enough) with a different tint, same title and a different number. Simple but effective.

I see 2uesday's point - the reader wondering if he or she had already read that particular articles. So John, your suggestion is interesting and I said "Hmmmm, blue, green, pink. That could be fun." But then I laughed to myself thinking that they might then wonder "Hey, did I read the pink one or the green one?"

Hi Sheri_Oz - there's also the title and maybe a number in addition to the tint. Seriously, this would work if you were creating a numbered series like - Quizzes about XXX part X. Maybe adding some sort of common graphic to different images would be better for your articles.

too sleepy to respond but wanted to tick the box to return tomorrow :) I'm one for all articles must have a specific and different image,, it's the movie poster of my articles! If I wanted to brand an article set I just use Part 1 part 2 etc... but I'd use different images- if you do want to use images the same across several articles for branding- just photoshop the article name or change the image slightly to fit THAT article (as was suggested)...

Jerrico

I don't see any branding benefits in using the same images on several articles. As mentioned above - it may create confusion. One distinct image for each article - that's branding! Ideally, people see the image later on, and identify it with the article title.

The purpose of the avatar is to elicit interest in the article, right? (Especially important on Pinterest!)

I would look for pictures that express part of the article's message, even when viewed in a small format. Graphics with a written message within the image work very well on Pinterest and Facebook.

I hear what you are telling me.

I will see what I can do about finding enough images to fit my different articles on sex abuse. Oof. I liked that picture!

I am loving the conversation so far.  Thanks, Sheri, for raising it.

My initial response is one of relief.  I've been doing the interlinking colour scheme picture thing, without even realising it was branding.  My Wizzley Tips and Tricks are all goldish, brownish, peachish...

*looks helplessly at any passing artist to explain what they are*

I just know that the colours look like they belong in the same kind of batch.  But I'm not that visually minded, so I don't know what I mean.  I could paint you a picture in words any day of the week, but not in actual paints.

And I want to thank Jo for making me rethink the way I was using all the same photo for my sex abuse articles. And then this discussion here made me rethink even more, so off I went looking around pixabay and . . . what did I find?  Just lots of possibilities is all.

So thanks, guys, for MAKING me redo the intro image - and I adopted the suggestion to write on the images with the topic of the article.

I think it works.

I've checked out your profile page and yes, it does work. :D