Images often used to be an afterthought when it came to online content, but since the rise of Pinterest and other image sharing sites, like Instagram and Pheed, it’s now an important part of content marketing in its own right.
The images that you choose have a big impact on spreading your content brand’s image and how it’s received. Someone is more likely to check out your content if their eye is drawn toward it by a powerful image that’s consistent with your brand message, and if that image evokes an emotional response.
Guidelines for Choosing Images
The best images are colorful. They draw the visitor’s attention and offset the mild colors of your text. If the image you want to use isn’t colorful enough, it’s easy to enhance the colors with photo editing software or using a tool such as Pic Monkey.
Images should be simple with a strong focal point. The focal point is the area to which your eyes are drawn. You can determine this by showing your picture to someone and asking what they see first. If it’s the same as what you see, the image has a good focal point. Simplicity helps this and also makes your image more viewable on a small mobile screen.
An image must be relevant. Don’t choose images that are merely colorful and eye catching. If the image isn’t relevant, it will clash with the message of your content and your brand.
And finally, the image that you use in your content must be yours or used with permission.
Finding Images
There are several ways to find images for free and Google images isn’t one of them, that’s right Google Images isn’t a free-for-all that you can help yourself to; it’s a fast-track to a breach of a copyright lawsuit.
One option for finding good images is to search for creative commons images. Creative commons images are free images that anyone can use, but have some restrictions. You might have to credit the creator of the image. You can do this by simply writing ‘image by (name), licensed through creative commons.’
Other image sites that you can find and use include:
- Pixabay
- Unsplash
- SXC
- MorgueFile
- Free Digital Photos
- Digital Dreamer
- Stock Vault
- Creative Commons Search
- Pic Finder
- Dreamstime
- Big Stock Photo
- Fotolia
- Veer
- Photo Pin
- Death to Stock Photos H/T Dave Lynch
- Free Media Goo (Love this!)
- Gratisography
- Big Foto
- IM Creator
- Free Photos Bank
Always look at the small print when you use a site, they may change terms and conditions at any time, and there may be commercial use restrictions.
Another option is to use stock image sites (also included in the above list) or graphics PLR. There are many good images offered for free through stock photo sites if you subscribe will send you through a weekly image for free (Unsplash send around 10 a week in a newsletter).
If you don’t mind paying a little, there’s a wider image choice available, and if you can’t find something that’s perfect, then it is worth taking a look an paying for the image. One of my favourite sites for low-cost images is Yay Micro and for $1.95 you can get an image perfect for a blog post.
Graphics PLR works in a similar way to stock images only you buy a big bundle of images that you can edit, and you don’t have to credit the creator. I’ve purchased infographic templates, and used tools such as Piktochart to edit them.
I also buy batches of images from Mighty Deals, and they offer these types of images about 2 or 3 times a month. In the past I’ve got images with no backgrounds, images of people and badges and icons to use. My personal image folder contains around 50,000 images.
You cannot take images off of other people’s websites and use them on your own, even with credit.
Why? If they’ve purchased that image then its licensed to their site, and their site alone. If they’ve stolen the image, well, you’re in just as much trouble as they are. How much trouble is that? Well depending whom the image is stolen from, depends on the fine. You’re looking at £2,000 upward per image.
You cannot lift images out of an email you’ve been sent… often these are licensed by the email management company. For example Get Response users are allowed images from iStockPhoto in their emails. If you take an image from an email and use it somewhere else you are the one that’s going to be in trouble.
The best images to use are your own original ones.
Whenever possible, take your own photos or create your own images. I love Canva for creating your own images, and Share as Image for creating quote images.
There’s nothing to stop you using an image from Unsplash or Pixabay and adding it to Canva or Share as Image, and then customising a bit more.