TeamYou know about the best website for free stock images, but how to pick the right stock images for your website? We are visual beings, so we relate to content much more when it includes relevant and aesthetically pleasing visuals. Here is how you can find the best ones:
1. Pay attention to the image usage rights
The most important thing to remember is that not all stock images are free. Image usage rights can be royalty-free, public domain, rights managed, and creative commons. Royalty-free means that you can use the images, but you are not allowed to edit them, while public domain means that you can use them however you wish. Rights-managed means that you get a single-user license and can use the image just once while creative commons means that the creator gave you the permission to freely use his image.
2. Pick images related to the content or the message
The most important part of learning how to pick the right stock images is making sure that they are relevant. For instance, if you would find an image of an owl in this article, you would probably be confused. If your picture makes no sense to your readers they will not like your content.
3. Choose only high-quality images
Another big part of knowing how to pick the right stock images is choosing only high-quality images. There should be no place for a blurry or pixilated photo on your website. Choose the ones that are less used and unique, make sure that they are relevant, and always pick the ones with high-quality resolution.
4. Choose well-lit stock images
Dull and dark images aren’t going to help you, so you need to choose well-lit ones, but they can’t be overly bright either. Pay attention to the contrast as well, and make sure to choose professional photos. Apparently, people more often share blogs with images that include the colors red, purple, and pink.
5. Edit images
Both free and premium stock images are available to everyone, which means that the same photos appear on many different websites. This is why it’s always good to achieve a certain level of originality through customization. Don’t just learn how to pick the right stock images, learn how to edit them as well. Adding your logo or relevant text could even be all it takes to make the best stock image for your site.
6. Pick stock images that show human faces
Pictures of human faces build the reader’s trust and humanize the content so that it becomes more engaging. You have plenty of options to choose from so think about whether group photos or individual photos fit better with your message. There are many more factors to consider, but make sure to use stock images with human faces whenever it’s possible.
7. Optimize the images
Stock images can also improve the search engine ranking of your website. So, the photos that you choose should be accompanied by alt-text that is keyword-rich. This means that people will see your photos when they search for topics that you’re trying to rank for.
8. Get creative
Finding relevant stock images doesn’t mean that you always have to choose something literal. Learning how to pick the right stock images includes thinking outside of the box. For instance, a picture of a laptop wouldn’t be so good for an article about cyber-security, but a picture of a safe might work great. Even better, maybe there’s a picture of a laptop covered in chains with a lock. This is especially important for tech topics, and you should always try to pick images that evoke emotions in your readers.
9. Use humor
Learning how to pick the right stock images can be fun because an important piece of advice is to joke around a bit. If there’s a pun in your content that a stock image can highlight use that picture! People more often share funny things than important things, so give them something to laugh about! Choose unusual photos for more original content, and rest assured that people will share your link if there’s a funny picture there that made them smile!
10. Make sure that the image is not overused
How to pick the right stock images? Always try to find images that aren’t already overused, and one of the ways to do that is to pick up-to-date imagery, but that’s not all. There’s a handy tool called Tineye where you can upload a stock image and see how many times it has been used, as well as which websites have used it. Seeing how others have used that stock image can be useful to you as well!
