Did you know Blogs that contain images receive 94% more views and Blogs that integrate images attract 300% more inbound links? Yes! You read it right.
The pictures tell a story as much as the words do. While fonts increase the readability, images increase the attention and intractability of your blog post.
It’s crucial not only to include images in blogs but also to include the right images to help you to tell a story. Images should be an integral part of all blog posts.
While researching for the best images for blog posts I came across some of the amazing websites which provide royalty-free images. If you are searching for how to find royalty-free images for blogs, then you are in the right place.
Why do you need images in blogs?
- Pictures or images are the best attention grabbers. It catches and retains the reader’s attention and hooks them to read your content.
- A picture is worth a thousand words. This is why all top bloggers use images to grab attention and keep you engaged in their content. Even the print media called newspapers or magazines have plenty of images.
- Images increase viewership and also ensure that the readers are excited to read what the content is all about.
- Adding useful and relevant images also helps to increase interactivity as well.
But there is a problem. Everyone cannot click beautiful photos that are relevant to the blog content every time. For that, we have to use someone else’s picture in your blog.
Either you have to pay for their work or they may ask for attribution so that they can get some exposure.
As you know we are in an era of identification. Even our friends need picture credit when we upload our photos on social media. There is nothing bad in expecting attribution to our work. But when it comes to blogs or websites you don’t want to mention someone else’s name.
In such situations, you have to look for free photos or stock images.
Thanks to some awesome websites which provide royalty-free images that you can use in your blogs for free.
Before you jump into these websites and start working on your desired image, you need to know what royalty-free images mean?
What do you need to know about royalty-free images?
Royalty-free images are exactly as the name suggests – free of royalties. An image such as a drawing or photograph is typically protected by copyright.
If you want to use an image that you did not create, you generally have to obtain specific permission from the copyright holder and agree on the terms of use. One common commercial agreement is known as a royalty-free license to use an image.
How to find royalty-free images for blogs
There are hundreds of free image providing sites out there. To save your time I made a list of the 12 best sites for royalty-free images for blogs in 2021 with details.
So let’s jump in to check the sites without further delay.
1. Unsplash
With over 550,000 high-resolution pictures library, for free, Unsplash “one of the best image providing sites” makes it easy for everyone(as they say it in their tagline itself) to find the exact picture they need. It has a good search feature that can be used by anyone to get their desired image from the collection.
2. Free images.
Free Images- formally known as stock xchng, has a well categorized large collection of more than 3.5 Lakhs photos. Finding a photo on Freeimages is easy. You can either browse images by category or use the search feature.
You will find high-quality images here so you can use them in your blogs or websites.
3. Pixabay.
With over 1.6 million pictures and videos for you to choose from, Pixabay is definitely a must-visit site for your image search.
The best and unique part of this website is, it provides videos, vectors, and illustrations along with free stock photos.
All images and content here are CC0 licenses. That means you can use it without the consent or permission of the owner.
4. Pexels.
Pexels is a popular website with a large collection of royalty-free and public domain photos. You can use these images on your website and blog for free. All the images are of high quality and properly categorized.
You can also submit your photos to Pexels that are then tagged and sorted into the category they fit into.
5. Flickr.
The Flickr community has over 10 billion photos. The platform allows users to come and share their photos with others as well. If you have a photography collection then you need to be here.
You can find relevant photos on Flickr that can be used for your blogs or for commercial purposes. To get free photos you need to filter the search for the CC license category.
6. Photo Pin.
Photo Pin is an amazing platform to find photos for your blogs and website. Through Flickr API it searches for creative commons licensed photographs. Just like the Creative Commons Search, most photographs you find here require that you give credit.
You can also search for photos of a particular photographer by searching for the author.
7. Shutterstock.
Though Shutterstock is a paid service, it offers a 1-month free trial and you can use this to look for their amazing and large library.
It offers the best quality, royalty-free stock images, photos, vectors, illustrations, footage, video, and music for nearly any application.
Once you get comfortable with this site, you will not hesitate to pay for their best quality images.
8. Public Domain Pictures.
You can browse a large collection of royalty-free images in Public Domain Pictures. Like all other sites, it also has the search button on the right corner which eases your navigation. You can also search for images by category.
9. Stocksnap.io
Stocksnap.io is another beautiful-looking website that provides CC 0 license photos. That means all the images here can be used freely for your websites and blogs. It adds hundreds of high-resolution images every week that are free from copyright restrictions.
10. Burst.
Burst is one of the popular image-providing websites that offer free images for personal or commercial use and there are new photos uploaded every day.
The site gives you a Tips tab where you will get advice on how to use online stock images and a Business Ideas section as well.
11. Pickup Image.
Pickupimage has the largest collections of free photographs and you can download high-quality premium free stock photos. Pretty easy to use the navigation panel offers easy search features. It also provides an Image editor option that you can use to edit your images.
12. Libreshot.
LibreShot is a simple website that contains free stock photos for private and commercial use. All photos and the whole website are made by Martin Vorel and you can use these photos without attribution.
Terms Of Licence.
Now you have all the resources at your fingertips but before you go out and start working on your favorite images, one thing you should keep in mind is to read the terms of licensing for each of the images.
Though most of the images you see on these platforms have no copyright restrictions and are licensed to be used under the creative commons public domain. But that may not be the case for all of the images. So it is better to read the licensing agreement on the site before you start working on your favorite pictures.
Conclusion.
As the concentration of people reducing, the online world is becoming more media-rich day by day. So having access to royalty-free images at your fingertips is a great way to keep your readers engaged in your content.
Caution* Read the license agreement on the site before using it on your blogs. So that you can avoid any legal issues later on.
I hope this article helped you to found your desired image to work on in your blog/website. Let me know which site you found useful. Also, let me know in the comments if I missed any of your favorite sites so that it can help others as well.