Looking for royalty-free images for your business blog?
We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, that is why top business blogs utilize images to grab readers’ attention. However, here’s a question many bloggers often find themselves asking: Where do I find royalty-free images?
I’ve been blogging for over six years. I’ve tried many methods when searching for excellent royalty-free images, but many of the searches lead me to dull, overly corporate photos of people in their suits smiling.
Googling a phrase like “free images” leads you to nowhere. Why? Because it often leads to a website where the images are anything but free. Many want you to purchase pictures that will cost anywhere from $39 to $500!
I recommend you do NOT use Google to find images for your blog. Many bloggers make this mistake without realizing that simply Googling for an image and linking it back to the original site can still get you into a lot of legal trouble – pesky copyright laws!
I thought I would give you an insider’s look at my favorite places to get royalty free images for my blogs.
Today, I’ll share the websites that I use to get all my images. These royalty-free images
- Are free.
- Are high-quality.
- Have no legal copyright issues when used.
Who could ask for more? Let’s get started.
-
Pixabay
Pixabay is a popular destination to find royalty free Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures are entirely free to be used without facing any legal issues.
You can modify, copy and distribute the photos. The best part? Attribution is not required. How cool is that?!
Pixabay offers a large collection of images sorted into categories using tags. All you have to do is simply key in a search term and the images that you want will appear.
The website also has an advanced search feature which allows you to narrow down your search.
What I love about this website is you can download images based on size. You won’t need to resize the images since you can set these to your custom size.
What you will find here could also be found on Pixabay. (listed below)
-
Unsplash
Unsplash, another popular destination for high-quality royalty free images, is similar to Pixabay where there is a search feature that you can use to find images that will match your blog post.
Unsplash offers a nice Google Chrome extension which shows one random image in the background when you open a new tab. You can then choose to download that image if you choose.
One downfall of Unsplash is it doesn’t have a feature that allows you to download a custom image size. You’ll need to download an image that is typically 4-8 MB and you have to resize them yourself.
-
Pexels
Pexels has large, high-quality images that are really appealing to me.
Similar to Pixabay and Unsplash, it has a search feature which works wonders. All you have to do is search what you want.
All the images you can find there are free for you to edit and distribute. It doesn’t require attribution as well which is why Pexels ranks as one of my favorites for finding images.
-
StockSnap.io
StockSnap.io has a large selection of free high-resolution stock photos.
The site also has very handy features to make it easy for you to browse through thousands of images that are available on the platform such as:
- Search feature
- Recommended popular search
There’s even a trending feature which you can use to see the top images people are downloading. Let it serve as inspiration!
If you like those features, you might also like the date and views features where you can sort images accordingly.
-
Gratisography
Gratisography is another website for free high-resolution royalty-free pictures that can be used on your personal and commercial projects.
You can create impressive work using these pictures and here is another option where you are not required to use any attribution.
What I like about this website is I find images that are truly unique. The simplicity and speed are the reasons why this is one of the top five sites that I go to.
However, similar to Unsplash, you will need to resize the images yourself.
Pro tip:
Before we conclude this blog post, search for a photo from one of these sites, download it, and design an attractive banner using Canva. You’ve now created a unique image you can use to promote on your social media.
Here’s an example I did for my how to start a fashion blog post.
I simply searched for the term ‘fashion’ on pexels. Downloaded the image, uploaded to Canva, and voila! In just 3 minutes, I was able to create this.
It’s really easy to do.
Get Started
There are quite a number of royalty-free image websites that are available on the web. However, the five that I just recommend to you are my favorite. I don’t believe you need a list of 10-20 websites that offer similar photos that do not meet your quality expectations.
These websites are standouts for finding original, high-quality, and royalty-free photos that will make your work stand out.
Photo Credit: VeRoNiK@ GR Flickr via Compfight cc
Aaron has been sharing social media tips on AskAaronLee.com since 2010 & has recently started ShortofHeight.com , a style blog for short men.
