How To Use Creative Commons Photos- For FREE!
How to Use Creative Commons Photos- The Why
We all understand the importance of adding photos and labeling them properly into our blog posts. Adding just 2 images can increase the time someone stays at your blog by up to 300%! That means if the average time is around 30 seconds, we can get someone to stay up to 3 minutes by adding them. This is an important thing to note because not many people can read 500 word blog posts in under 30 seconds.
The reason this works is because consumers scan posts for the important points. If a photo is there, that consumer’s eyes are drawn to the photo and they will study it. If the photo is good enough to get their attention, they will read the content.
How to Use Creative Commons Photos- The What
There are several ways to get photos for your blog. Some are legal, and others are not. Let’s first address the not so legal ways. Many times when I ask a client where they found the photo for their blog, they say that they simply did a Google search and the photo appeared. They liked it, so they copied & pasted it into their post. Whatever you do, don’t copy & paste a photo from the a website without permission! When you copy & paste an image that you do not have permission to use, you are begging for a lawsuit to come your way. I have seen and heard countless horror stories of people who have been sued for several thousands of dollars for doing this.
The second is to take the photos yourself. We all now own some sort of digital camera or smartphone that has a camera built in. Use those to snap photos yourself and load them into your blog. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to get good pictures for your blog. But what do you do in instances when you don’t have a photo of your own? You can turn to photo sites where you can purchase the photos for a few dollars each, or if you are on a tight budget, you can use a creative commons licensed photo.
An Example Creative Commons photo I took.
What are Creative Commons photos? To understand completely, visit their site here & read what is CC? Basically, they are pieces of content that someone else has agreed to allow others to use under a common agreement that you will give the credit for the piece to the originator through proper recognition as required. Giving proper credit normally means placing a link back to the photographer giving them credit for the original work.
Creative Commons Photos- The How To
So how exactly do you go about finding the photos and using them properly? Well instead of writing it out, I decided to do a short video over on my site that shows you step by step how to do this. Simply follow the steps and you will be well on your way to finding great photographs to use in your blog posts.
I hope this helps you to find great photos for your upcoming works that are both functional & free. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me for more help.
Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors
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The best I have seen yet was both on a website and in print where the agent copied a photo right off the website where he found it with the watermark still in place. Did not give the most professional impression when the words ‘iStockPhoto’ were displayed across the image.
I have actually seen agents use photos with watermarked URL to another agents site! Some people
You may also want to try a Photo Dropper WP plugin. It automatically searches for CC photos on Flickr and writes the credit attribution under the photo.
Also, I’ve been finding some good pictures on photoxpress.com. You need to register. Some pictures are free, some are not but it’s really easy to search them. Of those that are free, you can download only 5 (I think) per day. I never needed more, anyway
Be careful where you get them from these Free photo places. A lot have in the very very fine print that the photos cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Also, if you purchase a stock photo, make sure you hold onto your receipt FOREVER, they come back & will ask periodically for proof and if you don’t have that receipt, you can be in trouble as well!
I think it’s a lot easier to just take my own photos!
I seem to frequently forget about CC photos. If you haven’t taken your own, then this is a great resource.
I have used Photo Dropper WP plugin, as mentioned above, however sometimes you need to input your search phrase several times to pull up an appropriate photo – this can get a little time consuming.
Your stats on how long a visitor stays on your site are very eye-opening. I’m going to start using two images on each post!
Thanks for the info.
Thanks Serhiy for the suggestions. You learn something everyday. I will check out the wordpress plugin you mention. The other reasonto include a photo on your blog post is so that if you share the url on facebook, for example, a facebook will use pic as a thumbnail. I find that my friends/fans are more likely to click on my link when i have an image associated with the link.