No matter what others might tell you, I’m going to insist on this: Images in post help you make your point and eventually retain existing/new blog readers. It’s a no-brainer: Images add value to your blog posts.
That being said, many bloggers are not taking images seriously – some even avoid images at all cost. Especially for those who blog for business or own a network of blogs, they often want to rush things and avoid finding images because it does require you to spend some time to get the perfect one for your blog post.
Ways to find images for your post
Sure, you can always buy royalty free stock photos from iStockPhoto.com and such, but they cost you credits, and credits cost you money. Maybe it’s not a big deal to purchase a small image costing you $1.5. However, for most of us it’s a big deal (making money from blogs are challenging, you know! Every penny counts…)
How about searching for images on Google and take any good ones you encounter in the search results and slap ’em in your posts? Well, many do that but many of them are copyrighted.
Sure, many say that once an image or a piece of content is published on the Net it’s in public domain, but we do have to follow some rules to pay the due respect to the original photographer or artist – i.e. giving attribution or asking for permission.
How about finding on Flickr? You’re getting there, but you could spend too much time finding the right image for your post; and for most of us, time is a precious commodity.
Tips on finding post images quickly
So, how to get around those obstacles? Here’s what I do to save time finding images for my blog posts whenever I’m stuck:
1. Search via search engines first
Many bloggers are wasting so much time browsing for images on Flickr, SXC.HU or other free image sites. Why not searching for ones starting from your favorite search engine? Searching via Google, etc. will yield you some fine images that look perfect for your post.
Now, don’t just steal those images! This step is just for giving you an idea of what kind of images are the right ones for your post.
2. Find the right search term, and use it to search on free image sites.
For example, how to find image that portray “perseverance”? That’s trivial. Typing perseverance on Flickr Creative Common won’t yield you any good results. Try to search for it on Google. If you get, for example, athletes sprinting toward the finish line for “perseverance”, then what you should do is to type “runner”, “sprinting” or “people running” on Flickr, instead of “perseverance”.
Got it?
Now your final step, just to remind you, is to check the license of the images. Are they public domain images so you can use ’em without any attributions? Are they creative common images requiring attribution? Are they should only be used after you ask for the owners’ permission?
So, there you go – some practical tips to get the right images for your post… if you have any more tips, please share by leaving your comment on this blog post.
Image: somegeekintn / Flickr
Andreas,
Indeed – we should always aim for cost cutting efforts, and there are plenty of free images to use 🙂
I like going to federal govt websites, because that stuff, unless it was licensed, is in the public domain. I’ll search in Google for a topic then add site:.gov Some .gov are state govt sites, where the rules aren’t the same, but it’s still pretty quick process.
Thanks for the tips, Roger!
Indeed, .GOV sites have some nice public domain images.