Using Images on Your Blog Posts
Hi,
I’ve seen arguments both ways on this topic - do you use images on your blog posts, or not? There are those that absolutely will not use them as it could deter the visitor from the post itself and lessen the impact of the site and information. But there are others that add images to emphasize the posts (check out Jack Keifer - he always uses an image with his posts). Personally, I like to see a little color to liven up a post.
So what’s the answer? Really, it is entirely up to you.
I use images where they seem appropriate or when I need to show you something that would be difficult to explain.
Why Use Images on an Internet Business Blog?
Images create visual interest. You want to capture your visitors interest immediately, adding a well placed image that is relavent to the post creates that visual interest. A post that looks mono-syllabic, pure black & white with no use of hilights (such as bolding or italics) can look very boring. It is not dangerous to add a little spice to your posts.
Where Do You Find Copyright Free Images?
You can’t. Most images have some type of copyright attached to them, however many individuals that make their images available on the Internet may offer their images through the Creative Commons license.
To learn more about Creative Commons Licensing, click on the link. Wikipedia also has an entry on Creative Commons Licensing.
May community based sites offer their images through the CC scheme, but you should always read any disclaimers that they provide so that you are not infringing on any copyright laws or on the rights of the copyright holders. This is essential if you are running an Internet Business.
Some sites that I can suggest are:
- Stock.xchng - free stock photography site. Read their Image License Agreement, and some individuals may have specific requirements before you use their images. The information is usually located on their image page.
- Stockxpert - NOT a free site, but reasonably priced images ranging in price from $1.00 for 800×600 image to $10.00 for 4900×3300 sized image. They are royalty free - once you pay to use them, you don’t pay for each additional use. Again read their Image License Agreement.
- Yotophoto - The first line on their website reads “Yotophoto is now indexing well over a quarter million Creative Commons, Public Domain, GNU FDL, and various other ‘copyleft’ images.” Read their Licenses FAQ to ensure you don’t run into problems later on.
- Free Photos Bank - free images, so long as you follow the guidelines listed in their FAQ
- Free Fotos - images are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution - No Commercial - No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported usage
- Flickr Images - great source of images - there are millions of images on Flickr. Read their Creative Commons Licensing agreement.
I have not listed Google images here, since they are a search engine and the images presented might be copyrighted. You would need to do some research before using images found through Google image search.
If all else fails, just key in “free images“, “free photos“, “free pictures“, “free art“, “royalty free images“, etc., into your favourite search engine.
Great - I’ve Got A Photo, Now How Do I Use It?
A picture — or movie tells a thousand words. Here is a FREE mini-video guide on how to use these images on your website PLUS a quick tutorial on using one of my favourite programs > SNAGIT. This guide will also show you how to add the image to your blog post. You’ll have to excuse my voice - I’ve got a terrible flu/cold that’s gotten the best of me the last few days:
Free Videos at Online Internet Business Opportunity
The video is being presented on my site at http://freevideos.oibo.org - enjoy!
Regards,
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Comments
Excellent post Mohamed!
I was just looking for some more robust pic resources and you filled the bill! One has to be careful with Yahoo! or Google images for copyright reasons as you stated.
I like using pics overall with my posts because, as you pointed out it adds to the aesthetics of the site, plus, everybody looks at a pic, even if they landed there by mistake.
Who knows, that one or two seconds that someone takes to glance at a picture just might lead to a life changing experience!
[...] yesterday I posted an entry entitled “Using Images On Your Blog Post” and in the entry I mentioned the Creative Commons License. Today, I’ll expand upon [...]