Adding free blog images to your post is really as important as the content in the article. Specifically, they help in bringing more interaction and visual appeal to your blog post.
But, an article with zero images is what makes it plain and bland, and can ultimately send the reader looking for more engaging content elsewhere.
One of the advantages of including images in articles is it allures your visitors and keeps them hooked throughout the reading. If you repeat the same process with other articles and make all of your articles engaging, you could also turn visitors into your followers. Hence, it reinforces your following and brings value to your blog.
This tactic is used by many of the most successful blog. One great example is Wikihow. This is a how-to site where each article walks the reader through how to do a wide variety of things, with high-quality images included to illustrate the points being made.
Here’s an example:
As you can see, the blog uses images to go beyond simply telling you how to do something and rather shows you how for each step.
In the same way, once you start adding images to your blog, you can also set a standard for your brand and grow your readers.
However, the real problem occurs when it comes to how to source your images. Where can you find royalty-free images so you aren’t breaking the bank?
You may be wondering, “Can’t I just take images from Google images?”. Unfortunately, the answer is no. Many of the images you find using Google have a copyright, and you don’t want to get your blog in legal trouble.
So, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept, let’s look at some way to grab royalty-free images to ensure your blog is engaging but also legit.
Table of Contents
What is a Royalty-free Image?
A royalty image is a sort of an image that requires a one-time fee to use or is free – no continuous licensing fee is required to keep using the image. Free beside royalty infers that you’re free from paying royalty fees to the owner. Thus, you can use it freely. The free royalty images are available on a lot of sites. Though, prior to using them, you have to be aware that the rights of the image you want to use still go to the creator. It’s important to cite the source under each image when you use one of these.
See below for an example:
So, as you don’t know which image is royalty-free 0r copyright-free, it’s a huge risk to take Google images and subsequently get a penalty from google or even face legal troubles. So, to help you avoid getting into trouble, we’ve laid out 5 of the best sites where you can find royalty-free images.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is personally my favorite site for free, high-quality image photography that is visually stunning. It holds CC-0 (common creative zero) licensed and public domain images which you can use on your blog posts with zero royalty fee and bring more quality to your site.
Unsplash provides high-quality pictures for everything you need. Photos are available of virtually any subject matter – nature, health, technology, blogging, YouTube, and so on. Just use the search bar which makes it accessible and easy to explore the images.
You can also download the Unsplash app on your phone. It is available on both Android and iOS.
2. Pexels
Pexels is an excellent alternative site where you can find 3 million+ high-quality pictures for free.
It has its own licensed images which briefly affirm what is allowed and what is not allowed. You must read the terms of the site before you use images for commercial use.
Though, you can re-edit the picture and alter it as you want, there are also several limitations you should adhere to, otherwise, you will open yourself up to risk.
For more insight into the restrictions and how licensing works with Pexels, read the site’s licensing page.
3. Pixabay
Pixabay is a great all-around site that has 2.2 million royalty-free photos, illustrations, vectors, videos – and it also includes music. It is a multi-purpose and user-friendly site that enables you to explore photos with an advanced search filter.
You can accurately find free stock materials by searching by color, size, orientation, and category. It’s an easy-going site to use.
If you dig through the posts on this blog, you’ll find tons of examples of Pixabay images being used to enhance posts.
4. PicJumbo
Picjumbo may offer the least number of free stock photos compared to other popular sites. But, what for what it lacks, it does certainly offers high-quality images that are perfectly fit for your blog posts.
You can also find a wide range of images from various contexts and use them for commercial use. In addition to this, one of the amazing features of Picjumbo is they offer vertical photos to use for stories and other mobile content.
With an increasing focus on the importance of mobile in marketing and blogging, this can be a very useful feature for your website.
5. Vecteezy
Vecteezy is also a multipurpose site to find millions of images, vectors and video content. It is pretty much like the Pixabay site.
It holds its own license for photos which can be used for commercial as well as personal use. The site also adds fresh and creative content consistently.
If you can’t find what you need now, just stop back in a day or so and it’s likely they’ve uploaded new content for you to browse and consider using in your posts.
Honorable Mentions
Shutter Stock is definitely the most popular site for free stock photography. But, the only problem with it is you have to pay royalty fees for every picture you use. So, if you are looking for free options, this isn’t for you.
That said, if you have the ability to pay for photos and you’re looking for the best quality pictures all over the internet, Shutter Stock is the one you should look at.
In Conclusion
Finally yet importantly, finding the right image is most important. The aforementioned sites are the best places to explore free royalty images. I know there are a lot of other sites to find free stock curated content. However, from my experience, these are worth looking places with free high-quality pictures for your blog posts.
Related posts:
- 5 Best Sites to Find Royalty Free Images For Blog Posts - March 21, 2021
- 5 Tips to Grow Your Youtube Channel - October 1, 2020
- 7 Reasons Why You Should Start Blogging Now - June 1, 2020
Every site looks solid Jayanth. Pixabay is so easy. Look up your image of choice via a swift query. and snag it. Whenever I am guest posting I use pictures from the site. Ease of use is big for me. I intend to grab a royalty free pic of solid quality, then get busy with writing my next post.
Ryan
Absolutely Ryan, these sites are so handy & helpful especially for writers who are looking for images to make their article more visually appealing & interactive.
Hey, Jayanth. These are some great sites indeed. Not all bloggers have the budget for professional photos, and these royalty-free sites offer really high-quality imagery free or at low cost. Visuals are so important in marketing and content (and blogging, obviously), so these sites are very useful!