As tools like Pinterest become more popular, using images in your blog posts is becoming increasingly important. Ideally, you’ll want to add an image to every single post you do, as it makes your posts more dynamic, especially when they are shared in social media spaces.
How do you find images to use on your site? Although it may seem like a great idea to simply use Google Image search to find images, most of the images you’ll find are under copyright, and you may run into legal problems if you try to claim these as your own.
However, if you search Google Images – or other databases – via the Creative Commons filters, you may be able to find free images that are licensed for commercial purpose.
There are many image sourcing sites, which are a much better option if looking for images for your site. We’ve always liked www.istockphoto.com, which has a mammoth collection of both images and illustrations (as well as sound and video files), and if you’re just looking for images for your website, you can normally download these for a few dollars each.
When purchasing a photo, consider what you’re likely to use it for. If you’ll want to place it on a billboard, you’ll need to purchase the highest resolution available. If you’re wanting to use it in printed materials, you’ll likely need to go for one of the middle sizes. However, if you just want a graphic to go on your website, most times the Xsmall or Small image will work just fine. Typically these are between 1 and 5 credits, and the credits are normally less than $2 each, less if you buy them in bulk.
If you’re looking at illustrations, you’ll find the prices a bit higher, but you’ll normally be provided with a vector based file. This means that rather than the pixel-based photos (similar to a grid of squares, each of which is one colour) which don’t tend to resize well, the information that makes up the image is actually stored mathematically. That means the vector-based files can be made as large or small as you like.
When purchasing photos, we’d suggest creating a special folder on your computer to store any photos you’d purchased, and ensure this is backed up regularly. You may also wish to upload a copy of the original image to your blog, so you have a secondary back-up if you ever need it.
And if you ever need a custom image for a particularly important post, feel free to give us a call. We’re happy to set you up with one of our super graphic designers!
Some bloggers are now include photos on their blog posts and this is also one way to attract and catch attention of visitors.