For my SEO 2.0 blog I tend to use images only as a nice to have add on due to the fact that my time for blogging is very limited. Last week I added images to all posts, this week I didn’t but in future I will as often as I can. Why?
Why should you use images even if you blog about topics which rarely yield any significant imagery beyond screen shots?
An image
- catches attention
- stirs curiosity
- illustrates a topic
- makes you relate to the subject
- helps you to memorize
- looks good and thus makes an overall positive impression on the reader
- is great for being found at Google image search
It’s not easy to find images, especially free stock photos you can freely use on your blog without having to pay, if you don’t what I know: There are stock photography and free image search engines!
So I won’t offer you an overwhelmingly large list of sites to find stock images on. I will recommend 3 image search engines I use to find stock photography:
- Creative Commons search (on Flickr)
- everystockphoto – searching free photos
- PicFindr: Free stock photo and image search
I seldom use more than one of these 3 as it’s easy to find images to illustrate your point with a few clicks using one of these stock photo search engines.
Last updated: September 26th, 2010.
Related posts:
- Image SEO for Photographers and Other Visual Artists
- SEO 2.0 Basics: StumbleUpon Categories
- Freemium for Blogs
- Why Image Optimization is Important for Blogs
- Image Bookmarking Sites for Daily Inspiration
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This thing has 11 Comments
Thanks for the photo sites tip..I’ve checked them out and they are really nice..not slow and choppy with load time. Appreciate the hook up. :-)~
Thanks for the links. I don’t use enough images on my blog. Very good points on why to use pictures in posts.
Cheers.
Hey, thanks for the sites. Whenever I search for photos I always stumble upon those that requires payments. Thanks for sharing sites that offer free ones.
Well, you’re welcome of course.
I remember a post on Problogger that went on many of the same topics as you, but you covered a few good ones that weren’t mentioned.
Good insights on using images to make things pop. Another good resource I found is Stock.xchng
http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml
I hadn’t heard of these. Thanks for spreading the word. Finding photos to illustrate blog posts can take longer than writing the post … so I do like you. If I have time, the post gets an image. I’m hoping these resources will help.
found this site.. stockphoto.cc
works like the others, but without the ads and registration…
I most often use Stock.xchng referred to above. I have also started making a search engine for low cost images: ImageTrail – The Stock Photo Search Engine. Let me know what you think.
I most often use Stock.xchng referred to above. I have also started making a search engine for low cost images: ImageTrail – The Stock Photo Search Engine. Let me know what you think.
Excellent post. I also try to add as much as possible photos to all my adds. However I try to use my personal photos or pictures created by me:) It could be time consuming but I enjoy it. What do you think of that? I hope I’ll do better in the future.
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[...] but not least, SEO 2.0 shares three effective places to start looking for free stock photos. I would have really needed such advice about a week and a half ago to be honest. So the moment I [...]
[...] Finding Stock Photos – lists 3 great resources for stock photos; [...]