When it comes to blogging, having an image versus not having an image to go with your blog post can make a huge difference from a reader’s standpoint.
People don’t read entire blog posts, but more often than not skim the posts for key points and information. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, not only are they worth a thousand words but they also are quick and easy to process and therefore a very effective feature to include in your blog post.
Posts where I heavily utilize images are usually very well-received. For example, in my post 7 Home Upgrades I Want…Someday ;), I used an image for each of the seven home upgrades I listed. It took me longer to find the images than it did to write and edit the post, but it definitely was time well spent.
There really are only a few viable options, in my opinion, when it comes to photos and images on blog posts:
1) Use your own pictures
There have been many times that I’ve taken my own pictures for posts. For example, I took a photo for my post The Pros and Cons of Reusable Grocery Bags, and my wife has taken pictures for many posts including How To Clean Your Gutters Without A Ladder and Ways to Buy Safe Cleaning Products on a Budget.
Another source of free images that are unique to your blog are screenshots. Screenshots are ideal for a lot of “how to” posts. For example, in my post How I Got 50,000+ Twitter Followers it only made sense to have screenshots of my step-by-step process of gaining Twitter followers.
In an ideal world, every blog would have a unique and exclusive photo or image taken by the blog author or by a paid photographer. In reality, this is impractical and impossible for many bloggers who do not blog full-time and have to manage their time in an effective manner.
2) Use pictures from Flickr
A large majority of the time I use photos/images from Flickr that are licensed under the creative commons 2.0 that allows for commercial use of images. If you use this link you will be able to search all the images on Flickr that fall under the cc 2.0 license.
To be in compliance with the creative commons 2.0 license, you have to attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. This usually just consists of linking back to the image on Flickr, but sometimes people ask you to link to a specific page. What you may find surprising, though, is that many photographers do not ask you to link to a page other than the Flickr page. I think they are under-utilizing Flickr and should consider linking to a personal web page, twitter account, facebook page, or anything else that may generate paid work. Nevertheless, the key takeaway for bloggers and website owners is that there is a huge database of images that can be used for commercial works at no costs.
The nature of the beast with these “free” images is that it can take a long time to find images that are high quality or are exactly what you are looking for. There may be a specific image you have in mind, but you will have to settle for something that isn’t quite what you are looking for. You really do “get what you pay for.” Further, if you are a sports blogger, don’t expect to find images from x or y game that happened yesterday. It’s just not a viable source for sports bloggers.
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For new bloggers and website owners, figuring out where to find free images and photos they can use (legally) on their blogs or websites can be difficult. Hopefully between taking your own pictures and using those available on Flickr you can have a constant source of images to use on your site.
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Photo by ibm4381
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Good post DC! I use Flickr CC quite a bit as they have the best options available (for free) that I can find. I do use some of my own, but not that often. At some point I may just but the bullet and pay for the pictures so I don’t have to worry with the attribution.
@FrugalRules For sure, I have considered paying a friend to use their pics exclusively on this site. For now I don’t see much point unless the revenue justified it. There’s just so many free images out there.
I use Flickr. I’m really trying to use more of my own pictures though. It’s a big goal of mine to do so!
@SenseofCents Yeah it’s always nice to have unique images/photos on your site. I think they stand out.
I also use Kozzie and morguefile, thay are a good source of pictures that are free to use.
@wisedollar Thanks for sharing!
Flickr seems to be one that most people like to go for as there is such a large collection of images available.
@MonsterPiggyBank Best database I’ve found so far
I use freedigitalphotos a lot and also a plugin called photodropper that allows to browse creative commons and insert the credits automatically to a post.
@RFIndependence Nice, thanks for sharing those. I will have to check them out.
Greg always changes the pictures that I pick out! I think he uses Flickr.
@Holly at ClubThrifty Haha that’s really funny. So you can take no credit for any of the pics, then?
I would love to use my own pics, but I’m an absolutely horrible photographer. In the future, I plan to take a photography class and create a bunch of pics. That said, I like using Instagram for pics on twitter. Right now I use Creative Commons (which funnels to Flickr and several other sources for legal, free pics).
@AverageJoeMoney For Twitter I don’t really pay a ton of attention to what service I use, since they all get the job done. I would like to take more pics as well, but with a wife who is an aspiring photographer I have a lot less motivation ;)
I also like freedigitalphotos.net. I wish I were a better photographer, but that would probably require a new camera, etc. Best just to find the free ones online.
@Eyesonthedollar I think it’s important to prioritize. There are tons of free photos out there that allow commerical use. Why spend time taking your own when you can do more productive things? That’s my approach, at least.
I try to use my own pics whenever possible but will often use freedigitalphotos.net. I do agree that having photos enhances your blog.
@Beachbudget I honestly have never used that site, so I’ll have to check it out.
I use a lot of my own photos, but also get them from a variety of the free stock photo websites like http://www.sxc.hu/.
Only problem I’ve had with using Flickr photos was in the past I would hotlink the image from Flickr, and then the image would disappear and show a broken image on my site. So make sure to download the photos to use if you go that route. Also, be careful as I’ve had images go from creative commons to rights reserved later on and had to remove them.
@moneymatters Great points, Peter. I would obviously prefer (and I think everyone else would agree!) using my own images, but not in the cards right now. Great reminder about images changing from creative commons to rights reserved.
I use flickr along with freedigitalphotos.net to get photos. They are both easy to search and easy to download. I always make sure to attribute the photo back to the site or specific page depending on the standards.
As some indicated, I always download the image, never hotlink to them.
@DebtRoundUp Agree with you about downloading the image, it’s the only way to go.
I use flickr 99% of the time. I haven’t really considered using my own pictures, but that is a good thought!
@ayoungpro I’d recommend using your own pictures if you can, but if you can’t there are plenty of free ones available online.
I use the photodropper plugin… Saves me sooooo much time :)
I don’t mind flicker – but often find it more of a hassle than some of the other options out there. I’m a really big fan of the Wikipedia Commons, and of Pixabay – those are my usual go-to’s, although I must check out this freedigitalphotos.com
There’s an idea for a side business, isn’t it? – free photo researcher…
@Megan at Paying for Life Haha I would honestly consider hiring someone to find me pictures that are copyright-free.