Another on-the-money post from Creating Passionate Users! This time it involves using visuals to help capture the attention of your audience and get them to respond to your book, blog, presentation, etc.

CPU is pretty famous (I think) for their custom-made visuals, but blogger Kathy Sierra points out that, while it's easier than you think to make these graphics, you don't have to be a designer to use great visuals in your pieces.

Though we have a designer here at InsureMe, we also use stock photo sites like Photos.com; for a yearly fee we can use the royalty-free photos at will. New sites like Veer and Getty Images also make it easy to find more cutting-edge photos, type and illustrations.

Many Creative Commons licenses are cropping up on Flickr.com as well, which means you can search for photos on Flickr to use on blog posts, presentations, etc. for non-monetary gain, while giving due credit to the owner.

I have to tell you, at the Future of Web Apps in San Francisco this past September, the presenters did an amazing job of creating aesthetically pleasing presentations for the audience. Not only did this hold our interest (which can be tough with 900-odd people), but it got us to respond to the presenter and their topic. And that's really want you want, right? You want people to listen, respond, and talk about you to somebody else. Because, you know, that's where the money is. :)

The power of imagery is a strong one. Take a look at the Creating Passionate Users post for more image tricks and ideas.

[Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons license: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatknot/13912531/]