First picture in your hub?

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   sheilamyersposted 11 years ago

   After being here for almost eight months, I've noticed a few people use the same photo in the first photo capsule for every hub on the same topic. When you look at their list of hubs on their profile, you can know the topic by the picture next to the title. For example, all medical hubs have the same red cross, police hubs have the same badge, and cat hubs have the same picture of their pet cat. How many people do this? Does anyone think this is a good way to do it? Or do most of you think it's best to use different pictures for all or most of the hubs on the same topic and use one which will be more specific to the information in that hub even if it belongs in the same group as others?
   
   So far, I've only used a graphic more than once only three or four times and those were placed in different locations in the hubs. I have two hubs which have the same picture which appears next to the title because I couldn't find anything else that looked appropriate for where I used it in the hubs. I'm just curious what other people think and why they choose to use either method. The main reason I try not to use the same graphic even if it's in different hubs is, as I mentioned, because I like to find pictures, clipart, etc which is much more specific to the hub in which I'm using them. What about you?

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have never noticed the hubs that use the same pics for a general subject. I wonder if that benefits the hub score?
      
      I always try to find unique images that pertain specifically to what my hub is about. Sometimes, I think I overdo it with images, but I find it fun, like a challenge to link a capsule and an image together.  It is a lot of work, but then it does keep me out of trouble by keeping me busy. Well ... off to find some pics for my new hub.

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         sheilamyersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Sometimes finding the pictures frustrates me, but I love finding new things.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It had never occurred to me, but I think it's a great idea.  There's no penalty for using a photo several times - in fact HubPages encourages you to set up albums so you can find and re-use images - and it's a nice way to 'brand' your related Hubs. 
      
      Of course if you're putting your first photo full-width, then I wouldn't do it, as you should never do that unless you have a really special image which is an attention-grabber.  However if your first photo is right-floated next to your second paragraph, then a common image would be fine and probably a good idea, IMO.

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         sheilamyersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Marisa. I never thought about the "branding" aspect.

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      Ronald Bachnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I try to use photos which pertain to the subject of the hub.  I think that is best and draws some attention.  It is a personal choice and their is no rule if it is you expressing your views as you see it.  That is most important to me.

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   mariexotoniposted 11 years ago

   I always aim to find new pictures for each hub. I try to find ones that are especially relevant - as to make it look like these pictures were specifically taken for my hub. I think it's interesting people use the same picture - have never noticed that. I wonder which approach is more successful
   
   I wish hubpages would let us choose which picture is used as the display picture for our hubs.

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   Helena Rickettsposted 11 years ago

   I think I've used the same image in a couple of mine but never as the first image.  I like to have different photos for each hub in case someone is looking for more info on a subject and they venture to my profile page.  In my opinion, it just looks nicer that way but then again I am terribly OCD on some things but to me, visually it just looks better.
   
   Again, it's my opinion but if I see the same image repeatedly from one author, I would view it as laziness and wouldn't take the information as serious as I would with someone that uses different photos.  That's just me though and I'm sure everyone is different.

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   Millionaire Tipsposted 11 years ago

   I use different pictures for each hub.  I have seen one or two Hubbers who repeat pictures, but I don't think that is a very effective strategy.  People may think they have already seen the article if they have already seen the picture, especially as they are reading related articles, and not bother to read it. Plus, it doesn't seem as interesting.

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      sheilamyersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Millionaire: Good point. There have been a few times I've seen the same graphics in hubs which are about very similar topics by the same hubber and thought I'd read it before. I thought they had republished the hub at some point.

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   Writer Foxposted 11 years ago

   I use a different picture for every Hub.  I list my related Hubs at the end of each one and also post a small picture.  The picture encourages a viewer to click through and read another Hub on the same topic.  If all of the pictures are the same in a list like that, it would really look boring.
   
   But, since most people don't list their related Hubs with a picture, it probably doesn't matter as much.  It depends on how much traffic you get to your subdomain/profile page. If your subdomain page gets a lot of traffic, I think the photos for individual Hubs should be different.
   
   Also, your related Hubs are probably on the same Topic page.  If a visitor lands there, it's going to look really monotonous to see a string of Hubs with the same picture.  It will look like a mistake.

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      sheilamyersposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Writer: I never thought about the topic pages. If someone isn't that familiar with HP and they're browsing through the different categories and see the same picture three or four times, they may just assume it's the same hub listed that many times and not bother to read them.

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