Locate the Best Free Image Sources for Social Media and Blogs

The most successful form of marketing communication is visual content advertising. Savvy marketers who know how to embrace visual contentreap the most rewards. These benefits come in terms of higher returns resulting from an increase in leads, followers, buyers, and clients. What consumers see can have a profound effect on how they feel, who they are and what they do. Effective use of graphics can have a positive effect on how you and your brand is seen. Strong visual content drives social engagement.

Access to free blog images

Currently, there are online tools available to help users incorporate image posting. But first, you need access to free, high-quality images that are usable for social media and blogs. Many images out there are copyright protected and cannot be used or copied. However, you may find a public domain photo or a Creative Commons image.

Opensource images

Creative Commons allows sharing of images through free legal tools. For example, Pixabay is an open image source for commercial use, published under Creative Commons. There are different license types ranging from those allowing highly restricted uses to any type of use.

Graphics without a copyright are located in the public domain, such as Public Domain Pictureswhich offers images by amateur photographers. Just because a image was discovered on the internet doesn’t automatically make it part of the public domain. Types of free photo sources include the following:

• Searchable photo databases
• Free-form photo collections
• There is no searching involved and usually no registration requirement.
• Image search tools –
• These websites are not free image sources; they provide a way to easily search through public domain photos to find the image you need faster.
• Create-your-own graphic tools
• Design tools like Canva are used to create new images. This source allows users to either upload their own art, search for graphics, photos, and fonts then use the site’s drag-and-drop tool to make a brand new design.
• Embeddable photos
• An embedded graphics file refers one you embed into the website. The embed maintains its original frame, branding and share buttons.

Searchable blog image databases

The easiest way to find an image which illustrates a specific topic is through a free searchable site. Dreamstimeprovides a section of searchable free blog images that are frequently updated. You will be required to create an account profile. Additional free image sources include the following:

• FreeDigitalPhotos.net offers a plethora of searchable and categorized images for a wide variety of uses. It is often required that the photographer and the website be credited when using the free blog photos.
• FreeImages.com is a huge gallery of over 350,000 stock photos, also searchable and categorized. Expect a long sign-up process in exchange for a photo download.
• Freerangestock.com houses high-resolution, high-quality stock images. Access comes with a free registration.
• Imcreator.com is a library of free resources for commercial use. Categories are easy to browse and are searchable by keyword.
• ImageFree supplies a limited selection of free images to download for personal and business use. Paid image choices are also available.

This list is just a snapshot of all the open source images available to enhance your content. People are very visual beings. Powerful blog images draw attention to your message while engaging the viewer’s imagination and provoking emotions. The most effective image-driven campaigns stay in consumer’s minds.