Meta Link is a way of accessing and generating images on demand without using any fancy tools. You only need to 
edit your HTML code. Add a few magic links to your `<head/>` and you are good to go. 

![Automatic blog post generation for social media](/docs/automatic-cover-generation-for-blog-posts.jpg)

## How to configure?

Configuration is simple and does not require any special skills nor Wordpress plugins.

1. Open Wordpress admin panel
2. Expand Appearance menu on the left side
3. Open Theme Editor
4. On the right side choose 'header.php' file
5. Paste your configuration code into editor
6. Click 'Save changes' on the bottom


![Wordpress: Automatic Social Image Previews](/docs/instructions/wordpress-automatic-social-image-previews.png)

> Configuration code must be pasted between `<head>` and `</head>` tags.


## Test configuration

Open our [Open Grap Preview Tool](https://renderform.io/tools/twitter-card-preview-tool/) and paste url to your
blog post and see if the image is correctly generated.


### General Meta Link Example
```html
<head>
  <meta 
    property="og:image" 
    content="https://get.renderform.io/og/TEMPLATE_ID.jpg?url=YOUR_BLOG_POST_URL">
  <meta 
    name="twitter:image" 
    content="https://get.renderform.io/og/TEMPLATE_ID.jpg?url=YOUR_BLOG_POST_URL">  
    
</head>
```


### Resources

- [Documentation: Dynamic og:images](/docs/general/dynamic-og-images/)

Dynamic Social Images for Wordpress


Blog post covers are the first thing a visitor sees before deciding to read your content. A good blog post cover will intrigue the visitor and compel them to click on it.

You might think that designing a blog post cover or header is just about picking the right font or image. But there's more to it than that. We have prepared five tips for creating great blog post covers.

## Why are blog post covers important?

The blog post cover is the first thing that the reader will see. It should be attractive and intriguing enough to make them want to click on it and read on.

The cover provides a preview of what the blog is about and what the reader can expect from it. If it doesn’t intrigue them, they won’t read any further.

The cover also sets the tone for the blog post and will define how readers perceive your content up front - whether they think your content is serious or light-hearted, for example. A good blog post cover should be clear, concise, and show exactly what you are talking about in your content.


![example blog post cover](/blog/perfect-blog-post-cover.png)

## What makes a great blog post cover?

A blog post cover is the first impression of your blog and should reflect the content and style of its content. A good blog post banner reflects your personality, taste, and branding and should draw people's attention by being catchy, colorful, and attractive.

The most important aspect in designing a blog post cover is to be consistent with the tone that the blog is trying to portray. Make sure that the headline title works well with the pictures, colors, background, and most importantly, with your blog post content. 

Imagine seeing a nice blog post cover with rose-colored palette, delicate heading and title, and then reading the blog post about metal music or a fantasy book. That wouldn't work!

## Tips & Tools for creating great blog covers

Below are some tips for creating nice-looking blog post covers. Check how you can improve the click rate and performance of your blog with well-fitted covers.

![online blog cover editor](/landing/template-editor.png)


### 1. Strong and compelling title or headline

A strong headline will catch the reader's attention and make them want to read more of your content. Since the title or headline is what gets people to click on your content, it is essential that you make it strong and compelling. **It should reflect what your blog post is about and entice people to click on it.**

The rules for how to create a compelling title are quite easy:

- Make it relevant and appropriate for your target audience
- Put in some **keywords** that relate to the blog post topic
- Put in numbers (ex: "5 ways...")
- Try using some words like “best”, “simple”, “ultimate”, etc.
- Make it **readable** and visible at first sight

![blog post cover](/blog/post-cover-deepl.png)


### 2. Colors and background

The cover of your blog post is the first thing people see. That's why it's crucial to choose the right colors and background for your blog post cover so that it stands out when they scan through their social media feed. The background also has a big impact on the mood of the viewer.

One of the most popular ways to create a contrasting, yet still harmonious, **color palette for your blog post** is with complementary colors. This means that you are choosing colors that are opposite to each other on the color wheel. To make it easier, there are many **color mixing tools** online which will help you choose your perfect palette for your blog post by using different methods and approaches

Here are a few helpful tools you can use to create a visually appealing cover:
- **Color** mixers online: You can use a color mixer tool online free to generate new color combinations for your blog post covers (for example, [Coolors.co](https://coolors.co) or [Color Hunt](https://colorhunt.co)).
- **Backgrounds**: Use a background generator app to find high-quality backgrounds for your images that will make them pop. For **image background**, search for perfect pictures on [Unsplash](http://unsplash.com). Also, remember that sometimes simpler is better, so try using a plain background or **simple geometric shapes**. Tools we can recommend are [Trianglify.io](https://trianglify.io) or [Haikei](https://app.haikei.app).

![blog post cover image](/blog/post-cover-blue.png)

### 3. Font and typology

Choosing the right font for your blog post cover is an essential step in capturing your audience's attention. You can use a variety of fonts to convey different messages, but try to select one that matches the theme of your page. Here are some popular fonts for blog post covers:

- Roboto
- Merriweather
- Bebas
- Raleway
- Futura
- Lobster

![blog post cover font examples](/blog/blog-post-template-font-examples.png)


Most importantly, make sure that **font style matches the content** of your post. For example, if you want it to look more modern, go with a sans-serif font. If you prefer a more traditional style, go with serif fonts.

When you're choosing fonts for your images, make sure that they are **legible and that they support the tone of the content inside the post**.

### 4. Photos and Images

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. They can help you easily describe the main topics of your blog post, set a reader in the right mood, or catch the attention to open and read the content.

Photos or illustrations can help break up text, and make your blog posts more visually appealing. The Unsplash library has high-quality images that you can use for cover background or elements matching your blog post content.

**Try mixing different elements of blog post covers, like a one-color background with an image in a geometric shape with the appealing headline** like the obe below from RenderForm library:

![template library for blog post covers](/blog/blog-post-template-library.png)


### 5. Reflect the content of the blog post

A cover photo is often the first thing a visitor sees when they land on your blog. It should reflect the type of content you are posting so that readers understand what they are about to read. 

**Make sure all clover elements, such as background, image, font and title, match the content of your blog post**. Be consistent, so your readers can easily understand what your blog post is about and what topics it may cover.


## The importance of blog post covers

A blog post cover can make or break your content. It's the first thing readers see when they come across your post and it should be enticing enough for them to click, read, and share.

While there are no general rules for what makes a great blog post cover, there are some pointers to keep in mind. Make sure you incorporate images if possible. Include the title in the image so that viewers know what they're clicking on. Use an image that is visually appealing and relevant to your topic 
the more eye-catching it is the more likely people will click on it. Make sure your images are high quality so that nothing looks pixelated or blurry. And lastly, don't forget to include a catchy headline with an enticement!

Check out RenderForm.io great blog cover templates or create your own with just a few clicks in the editor!



5 Tips for Creating Great Blog Post Covers


Social media banners are a great way to bring more attention to your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn and others. Eye-catching banners can increase much more your CTR (click-through rate) and bring you
more visitors who might stick with you for longer. In this article, I will show you how to configure a widely used
Open Graph standard on your blog post to show a banner from your blog post on social media while sharing it. 

## How to configure social media thumbnails?
In general, social blog banners configuration always looks the same. The only thing you need to do is adding
HTML tags shown below to a head section of the page where you want to show your thumbnail.

```jsx
<meta property="og:image" content="https://my-blog.com/my-image.jpg">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://my-blog.com/my-image.jpg"/>
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/>
<meta name="thumbnail" content="https://my-blog.com/my-image.jpg"/>
```
The actual configuration might look different on every platform. 

![open graph meta tags for social banners](/blog/open-graph-meta-tags.png)

- `og:image` it's a widely used standard for adding data to your website. It's commonly used by Facebook, Linkedin and many others. `og` stands for open graph,
- `twitter:image` is a standard preferred by Twitter. It's usually used together with `twitter:card=summary_large_image` to show 
full-width banners instead just a square thumbnails.  
- `thumbnail` one of the first image HTML tags for showing thumbnails, it might be still used by some social media platforms to fetch a social media banner 

## Banner size and format

**A universal banner size is 1280 pixels width and 670 pixels height.** Any other resolutions are also might fit, if 
they keep the golden 1.91 aspect ratio. The best image format for social banner is JPG or PNG format, these are the most 
common used formats across the web, which makes them a perfect choice.  

![social banner sizes](/blog/banner-sizes.png)

## Why my banner is not showing?

There are a number of things to check when your banner is not showing on a social media platform. 
The most common cause is that you have a type in your HTML tags, or your newly added HTML tags are not visible in the 
page where you wanted to add them. 

### Test Open Graph metadata

Start from testing your website metadata with 
[RenderForm metadata preview tool](/tools/website-metadata-preview-tool/) and see if the correct HTML tags are there.
Make sure that images which you added there are accessible. Try to copy the link to the image and paste it into your browser
URL section. 

![website metadata tester tool](/blog/website-metadata-tester.png)

### Chrome Extension

If you are want to check numerous web pages and test metadata or social image banners, then you should install our 
[Social Media Preview Extension for Google Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/social-link-preview-by-ba/fpeploidflhiimaailgakhamacaimbbh).


![Open graph tester, Chrome Extension](/blog/open-graph-chrome-extension.png)

## Things to remember

Make sure that your banner is good-looking. A good-looking banner brings attention to your blog posts and increases CTR (click-through rate) 
A popular way of creating attractive blog post banners is by adding a title on the banner, author avatar and name. 
Some technical blogs are used to add also a URL to the blog to make it look a bit more technical.

- Make sure that contrast between text and background makes your banner readable,
- stick with the same colors on every banner,
- add blog post author avatar and name,
- keep it simple and readable,
- do not use transparent background, always set a color.

![simple blog post cover creator](/blog/blog-post-cover-creator.png)


How to show article banner in social media?


Leading a global company or a business which sells around the world is a tricky task. Once we set up our multi-language website
using one of the popular solutions we might face the next problem which are images with texts. We cannot easily change the texts, because it requires
vector software, person who know how to use it. It takes time and resources to prepare such images. It also might consume resources if we would like to change some images.
Then the whole process must start from beginning. 

## What are the solutions?

One of the solutions is to keep our images without texts. It's simple as that. This solutions might not always be the best in some use cases.

The second option is to use Web Image Template Editor which offers the option to generate many image variants based on a template.


## How does it work?

Create a template in **RenderForm Designer** by choosing any existing template or start from scratch with white canvas.

![RenderForm Web Image Template Editor](/blog/multi-language-image-editor-template.png)

Once you finish use option to open your template in **Template Studio** to change texts, images and more. Now, you can edit
texts and see how the image will look like in after export.

![RenderForm Template Studio: Variant editor](/blog/how-to-generate-multi-language-images.png)

Use 'Export as PNG' button to save image to your disk.

### Example multi-language images:

![Hello World in English](/blog/english-hello-world.png)
![Hello World in Polish](/blog/polish-witaj-świecie.png)
![Hello World in Russian](/blog/russian-hello-word.png)
![Hello World in Japanese](/blog/japanese-hello-world.png)

Unlike other web designer solutions, images created in RenderForm are very crisp which makes your company look more 
professional. Every image is processed using the advanced techniques to compress the image and to not lose quality. 
We support many image formats which are becoming standards in the 2021, like: WebP, PNG, JPEG XL, progressive JPG.


## What are other advantages? 

Creating images based on templates is great, but it's not the only advantage of RenderForm. Our web designer can also:

- Improve cooperation between designers and technical-experts or copywriters 
- You can ask your designer to create multiple templates just for your brand
- Easy usage for people who are not designer
- Ready to use free templates prepared by RenderForm Team 

## How much does it cost?

**It's basically free.** You can create up-to 3 templates in RenderForm Designer in FREE accounts and generate unlimited number of variants using Template Studio.
If you would like to automate this process and use API, Zapier, Integromat or other automation tool then there is a pricing plan 
which starts from **$9/month (limited launch offer)**. Check [RenderForm pricing](/pricing) page to learn more.



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Dynamic Social Images for Wordpress

5 Tips for Creating Great Blog Post Covers

How to show article banner in social media?

Generating images with multi-language texts