There is much discussed on the web for how to “write” a better blog post. But often times its the visual elements of an article that make a blog post great. I’m sure you have seen examples of these visual elements throughout the Blogosphere, particularly with more popular tech blogs such as SEOMoz, Smashing Magazine, and Mashable just to name a few.

I have 10 specific tips for you to help you increase the visual appeal of your blog posts. Combine that with your stellar writing/blogging skills and you will be crashing your server with traffic in no time. Let’s take a look at these 10 elements:

1. Graphs

Showing off data that helps support the points you are making in your blog posts is one of the great ways to add some cool visual elements and increase the appeal of your posts. SEOmoz has some great examples of how to use charts and graphs within your posts.

2. Video

This one is a little more common amongst bloggers. Embedding video from YouTube, Vimeo etc. within your blog posts related to your content. Obviously creating your own video is better than embedding someone else’s video.

3. Photos and Screenshots

Photos are very common in blog articles. But high quality photos are not nearly as common. Take the time to either purchase stock photography, take your own photos, or get permission to use photos that will increase the visual appeal of your blog article.

Also, depending on the topic of your blog articles taking and using screenshots can be a powerful way of getting your point across to readers.

4. Infographics

Similar to video, it’s better to create your own Infographics than to use others. But either way these infographics do a great job of communicating tons of information in one condensed, great looking area within your blog post. These add a ton of viral ability to your blog posts and help drive much more traffic to them.

5. Diagrams

Another graphical way to express a point in your article. SEOmoz yet again is a great example of how to do this. Using diagrams have always been a form of teaching with visual elements. You don’t see this that often in blogging, but look for this to be a growing trend in blogging.

6. Illustrations

This may take some help from a graphic designer (unless you have illustration skills yourself) to create some graphic illustrations. But as you can see from this example from SEOMoz that it can be a very creative and fun way to communicate your message(s).

7. Great Headlines

Nobody explains better how to improve and perfect your headlines and sub-headlines than Brian Clark @ Copyblogger. The CSS style of your H1, H2 tags etc. play an important role in this. But even more importantly is the skill and precision behind the headlines that you write. Write things that are appealing to your potential readers but don’t over hype what you have.

I would love to see any examples that you have where you have utilized one or more of these visual elements in your blog posts. Use this as a time to share some of your work a.k.a leave some links! Cheers!