Photo used with permission. Source: Yung6, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
If you are doing any kind of marketing today, you need great images to get your point across. Pictures are “short codes” to the brain – they register information at a different level than mere words. Plus, they look pretty. 🙂
Here are some of my favorite ways to add images and graphics to my blog and facebook posts:
Free
Microsoft Office – Beautiful free images. Very easy to access.
Free-Graphics.com – Free clipart. Nice images.
Wikimedia Commons – a database of over 14 million media files to which anyone can contribute.
Wikipedia’s List of Public Domain Image Resources – a treasure trove of websites with public domain pictures.
U.S. Government Sites – Any .gov site has content that is automatically placed into the public domain. Unless an image states otherwise, you can use it copyright free. I particularly like these:
DotGovWatch.com –The Best Copyright-Free Photo Libraries – Stunning copyright free photos.
U.S. Government Photos and Images
Free Image-Generating Tool
Zemanta – I use this tool for blogging. It brings up related pictures based on the words in the post. Works with WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, Tumblr, and other platforms.
Low Cost Images
iclipart.com – This is my GO TO resource. 1 year subscription is less than $40 US. Tons of high quality pictures and clipart.
Other Sources
If you use a photo from a third party source, give credit. I did an article in Technorati.com recently where we used an image of Kobe Bryant from Facebook. We noted at the bottom of the article that the photo was from Kobe’s Facebook page. You can see the article here:
Why Kobe Bryant Won’t Be the Next Social Media Disaster
When a photo already includes a name or website, I do NOT make a separate mention of the source.
I’m not an attorney and I am not giving legal advice. I am just sharing what my team does for myself and my clients and what I believe to be proper practice.
If you want great legal advice on intellectual property rights, I recommend my friend and fellow National Speakers Association member Francine D. Ward, Business & Intellectual Property Lawyer.
What are your favorite sites for images? I’d love to see your recommendations in the comments below. What guidelines do you use?
Related Posts
7 Sites for Free, Legal Images for your Blog
The Law of Using Images from the Web on Your Blog
