New Windows Live Writer Plugin Helps to Organize Blog Images and Improve SEO

There’s a plethora of new features available in the Wave 3 beta of Windows Live Writer and it continues to be a blogging tool I’m unable to live without.

However, there is one thing about WLW that agitates those, like myself, that like to keep any and all aspects of their Weblog organized. When pasting an image into your blog post using WLW, you’re never given an option to change the image’s filename.

There are two possible reasons you’d want to do that. First and foremost, naming your images unquestionably assists with image search engine optimization.

Second, if you’re allowing Windows Live Writer to automatically upload and organize your images into a very clear folder structure, (e.g., blog/2008/10/10/image.png), you’ll probably like the fact that, in addition to an organized folder structure, you can also specify the precise name of the image for discovery and retrieval purposes within your archives. 

Well, to be able to specify the names of those images using WLW, you’re going to want to install the Insert Clipboard Image plugin. 

Once it’s installed, it’s relatively easy to put it to use.  With a screenshot, logo or other such image on your clipboard, select Insert > "Clipboard Image…". You’ll then be presented with a quick and simple dialog box where you’ll enter the name of your image (e.g., WindowsLiveWriter_Insert_DialogBox) and then choose whether you want it to be inserted as a PNG or a JPG.  (Note: if you’re concerned about storage space and/or frequently insert images, you’ll probably want to choose the JPG format.)

To be honest, I admit that I’m one of those people - the people I mentioned two paragraphs up - for whom this plugin was built. In fact, Scott Lovegrove, Windows Live Platform MVP, created the plugin in response to multiple inquiries similar to the one I made on the Windows Live Writer MSN Group. 

Kudos to Scott, Joe Cheng and others, by the way, who are always present and offering great tips and advice on that group.

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