better way to use watermarks: story and impact of ozo.art

Before we dive in — I’m running an August Publishing Cohort in my Explain Ideas Visually Course & Community. You can post daily or weekly. Pick your pace. This isn’t a competition. It’s about showing up, learning, and helping each other grow. The only rule: give support to get support. I’ll be in the mix too.

---

When I started to make visuals at the end of 2020, I had no watermark on them.

I was so obsessed about respecting my audience’s attention and tried to remove anything that didn’t contribute to the message I was trying to deliver.

I’ve seen the common practice was adding @usernames to visuals and wondered if it actually helped with reach. Though it offers some legal protection, the added clutter didn't seem worth it.

As my reach grew and content went viral, my visuals spread everywhere without attribution.

But could I really blame people for not crediting me? Unless someone took the extra step to use google image search, they had no way of knowing I was the creator of them.

So, I revisited this watermark question and tried to figure out a solution that would both solve the attribution problem and still meet my standards for clean design.

I always felt the @username watermark was useless. And the fact that I have a very popular Latvian name and surname means I have different usernames across platforms. (I don't blame you, parents — who knew digital real-estate would be such a thing? LOL)

Domains felt more useful because people know what to do with them. However, ozolinsjanis . com was quite long, so after browsing the domain marketplace I went with ozo.art and initially it was redirected to a page like this where I listed sharing guidelines.

With my short domain secured, I needed to figure out how to present it on my visuals.

The main reason I avoided placing it in the bottom right corner was that it's too easy to crop out — and unfortunately, plenty accounts with large reach do exactly that.

Instead, I integrated the domain into the actual lines of my visuals. This approach has really grown on me, and I've been using this technique ever since.

The surprising thing is that it worked. More people shared my visuals by following the guidelines I listed, which led to great content for them and more exposure for me.

Even more surprising — when I checked my analytics, it contributed to around 5% of my total web traffic. Hundreds of people actually typed ozo.art in their browsers every single month.

So, if you create visuals, I highly recommend visiting your favorite domain marketplace to find a short domain that:

• fits your brand

• is short and memorable

• doesn't break the bank

I regret not doing this earlier. Some of my most viral visuals from years ago are still circulating online without ozo.art on them. While some unethical people intentionally remove watermarks, most people actually want to be ethical and give proper credit.

That's the story! Comment below if you have any questions.

---

If you want to be more consistent on social media and grow your audience, join the Explain Ideas Visually Course & Community.

You’ll learn the skills, get feedback from me, and connect with others doing the same.

On August 1st, we’re kicking off the EIV August Publishing Cohort with a casual call to start the month.

I’ll share a few things I’ve learned about posting and growing online. We’ll chat, answer questions, and set the tone for the month.

Here’s how it works:

• Pick your own pace

• Post on your socials

• Share links in the August Publishing Channel

• Support others by engaging with the posts that speak to you

You can post daily or weekly. It’s not a competition — it’s about showing up, learning, and helping each other grow. The only rule: give support to get support. I’ll be sharing, engaging, and supporting too. It’s more fun together :)

Let’s make August the month we stop overthinking and just publish.

If it works well, I’ll run it again every other month.

– Janis Ozolins