Images have the power to capture our imaginations, and stir our feelings and other senses. They are a unique way of sharing information that allows each of us to see, at a glance, straight to the heart of the matter so that we can quickly understand concepts, ideas, dreams, desires and needs and connect with others on an emotional level.

Images Attract Attention and Increase the Reach of the Message

According to an article at Jeff Bullas, who is ranked as one of the world’s top influencers and digital marketers, page views are increased 94% for content that includes a striking image. By using images in combination with the other content that you post for your nonprofit, you have the opportunity to attract attention and increase the reach of your message with both your NFP’s supporters, and others who have yet to learn about your cause and its mission.

Top 7 Tools and Tips to Create Images with a Powerful Impact!

The following tools and tips can help you to create captivating photos and other images that will increase interest in your NFP and help you to more easily spread your nonprofit’s message.

Drag and Drop Tools to Create Great Images without Professional Design Skills

Unless you are a professional photographer and graphic designer, you need easy to use tools that simplify the image creation process. Two great choices are Canva and Pablo.

Canva allows users to easily create customised themes and blog templates, as well as create custom sizes for their images. The tool allows users to search for photos within the program and choose from over 1 million images, or upload their own. Canva also has added features that make it easy to create infographics and other custom visual content, including icons, charts, frames and shapes.

Pablo makes it easy to create great images fast. Users can choose from a large library of over 600,000 images, upload their own, or even use a browser extension to save and upload images that they find elsewhere on the web.  The tool has an extensive suite of features that allow users to them customise their images, including making it easy to add text, and, since it’s created by the folks over at Buffer, it’s easy to add it to your publication queue as well.

Tools for Colourful, Attention Grabbing Infographics

Infographics are a valuable visual aid when you are trying to simplify complex processes and make it easier to understand intricate or expansive concepts and ideas.  Creating an infographic, however, can be quite the challenge. Two programs that simplify the process are Piktochart and Easel.ly.  Both of these tools work in a similar way to make it easy for anyone, from a novice to a professional design expert, to quickly design a theme and create their own infographics that they can then embed in posts, or share in their social media and elsewhere on the web.

Editing Tools to Spruce Up Images and Speed Up Loading Times

As a non-profit, it’s likely that you’ve been able to capture lots of great images that showcase the great work that your organisation does each day, but, it’s likely that these images may need to be tweaked a little since these types of images are often captured on the fly by amateur photographers. Pixlr is a great and easy to use tool to eradicate those red eyes and otherwise edit out those flaws that distract from the message that you are trying to convey as you tell your nonprofit’s story.

Another issue that often crops up when you are using images to tell part of your story is that these files often become so large that they can lag or slow loading times. Sometimes, images may even cause your content to freeze, which makes it very tempting for visitors to just navigate to other pages that load more easily. WP Smush is an image optimisation program that cleans up the details in your image so that they will look great and load more easily.

Finally, how many times have you had a great image that you wanted to use in a post, but somehow the colours in the photo clashed and really didn’t go well with the colours and themes on your site? Using your image, Pitaculous helps you pick out the perfect colour palette for your post so that your background colours, text, and even the frame that you use, will all work together and coordinate for the best possible result!