How To Add Featured Image To Your WordPress Site

 An attractive WordPress featured image is one of the most powerful ways to make a blog more popular and impressive. This is the first thing that the viewers notice. A catchy featured image grabs the attention of the site visitors and creates interest among them to go through the blog. Not having a featured image means losing lots of readers. If you are a blogger and looking for some guidance about how to add featured images to WordPress blogs, you are at the right place!           

Adding a post thumbnail to your posts is not at all a big deal. Go through the steps below and in your blogs on WordPress, set featured images within a few minutes. 

What is a featured image? 

A WordPress featured image or WordPress post thumbnail is an image that represents an individual post, page or custom post type. A featured image in WordPress represents the content, mood or theme of a post or page. Featured image is not an official term. The terms thumbnail and featured image are used interchangeably. When the feature was launched it was known as WordPress post thumbnail in WordPress 2.9. In later versions, it was called featured image WordPress. 

Many WordPress themes today come with built-in support for featured images or post thumbnails. These themes will automatically add post thumbnails to your post. It will appear at the top of your blog or article.  

How to add a featured image to your WordPress blog?

Adding a featured image in WordPress posts is very simple. You can do that by going to the post editor. Here are the steps you need to follow- 

• Create a new post or open an old one and scroll down a little to find a meta box called  featured image

• On the right hand side you’ll see a tab called “Set featured image”

• WordPress media uploader will open 
• You can either select an existing image from the media library or upload a new one from your computer.

• Select the image and click on the “Set featured image” button 
• The image will be added to your post  

Theme developers can add WordPress post thumbnails support to their themes by simply adding a snippet into the theme’s functions.php file. They may also configure image uploading by WordPress. They may choose thumbnail sizes, size them, and set the display on and off.   

Theme Developers Guide To Featured Image and Post Thumbnails

There may be a chance that you are using a theme that does not support featured images. In that case, themes must declare support for the featured image function. You can declare the support by adding the following to functions.php file

add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );

Adding this code will enable the featured image option on the posts and pages. But first, you need to edit your templates by adding the following code: 

<?php the_post_thumbnail(); ?>

Now you must set image size, use the following code in your functions.php file:

set_post_thumbnail_size( 40, 40);

If you wish to change the image size for older posts, you can use the following code:

<?php the_post_thumbnail( 'single-post-thumbnail' ); ?>

You can extend these functionalities and even add multiple post thumbnails and featured images in it.

How to create an attractive featured image 

An effective image compels your visitors to go through the texts of your blog. So, it is very important to have a catchy featured image on top of every blog. But, how to create a good featured image on your own is a question for many. You may create an image of your choice by using some online tools. There are many easy to use tools available in the market. The most popular one is – Canva.

Canva is available in both free and premium versions. Here are the steps you need to follow – 

• Sign up with Canva to create your account. 
• You can create your own Custom dimensions by clicking on the “create a design” tab or use the suggested templates in the dropdown.

• You can choose the templates available in the sidebar which comes in both Pro and Free version, or Upload your own image.

• After the image is uploaded, drag and drop it to your canvas. 

• The next step is to add text to your image. You can do it from the Text tab on the left.  If you select a preset layout, there will be some texts on it. You may edit the texts. You may change the font size, text and colour. You may find the options on the top of the page. 

•  If you wish to add an overlay to make your texts prominent, go to Elements -> Shapes. Now drag and drop the shape to your canvas.now you have to add colour and make the shape transparent. Or else it will block your texts. You have to adjust the size so that fits the background of the text.

• You may also add some style elements to your WordPress featured image. It is an optional feature. Canva has a library of style elements. Some are free while others are Pro. Choose your style element and drag and drop it to your Canvas. 

• The final step is to download the image. You find a Download option on the top right of your screen. Click on the button and the image will be downloaded.
  
• Now upload the image to your “Set Featured Image” tab.Don’t forget to optimize the image you created before you use it for your blog post.

Ideal WordPress Featured Image Size

The best WordPress featured image size is 1200 x 628 pixels. These dimensions usually fit all the blog posts. However, different blog posts or pages may have different sizes of post thumbnails. Their needs may vary depending on their purpose. 

If you want to get more shares on social media, you should keep in mind that every social site has its own standard dimensions for featured images. Based on that you should set your image size. If you wish to focus on Facebook, you must know that it is the best size for Facebook. The ideal dimensions of WordPress fit everywhere. But, if you desire coverage in a specific medium, these sizes you must keep in mind –

• Facebook – 820 x 428 Pixel (For group posts)
• Instagram – 1334 x 720 Pixel ( For Insta stories)
• Twitter – 520 x 254 Pixel (For shared links)
• YouTube –   2560 x 423 Pixel (For desktop display )   

There are certain things you have to keep in mind while setting the image sizes for your WordPress blog – 

• Always check the aspect ratio while setting the image dimensions. The height and width should complement each other to make the image look standard. 

• You may follow the formula of “The Golden Ratio”  to find the ideal dimensions for an image. The formula is the ratio of your height and width should be 1.618. 

• Your images should be optimized for SEO. Too large size may decrease your loading time. So, while setting the size, try to keep it small. 

Conclusion 

Hope we could provide you with some valuable information about how to add featured images to your blog posts. Attractive WordPress thumbnails work like magic for your blog post. Go through the steps and add one to any of your posts. You will realize it yourself. So, don’t delay, log in to your WordPress account and get started. 

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