“A picture is worth a thousand words” holds very true in your WordPress site. A WordPress website is only a framework to hold your images and text. The images you pick will make a difference on how professional you look and set the tone of the site. This article is about how to find that perfect photo for free!
Most businesses don’t have a budget to hire a photographer. There are however, some stock photo sites that have excellent photography at a price. iStock Photo, Shutterstock, and Dreamstime, are just a few that come to mind. A google search, of course, will reveal dozens more sites that will sell you stock photography.
What if you can’t even afford the cost of these stock photos? Well fear not, there are plenty of sites out there that will find that perfect photo completely free! Most of these have non-exclusive rights to use the photography, however some might require attribution, so make sure you read up on the licence terms. That being said, who can beat free?
Make sure that after you download the images to rename them. This of course will help you organize your photos, but also is great for SEO! I wrote a story about images and SEO here if your interested in learning more.
Also, if you are passing these on to a designer to develop a site, download the largest image size available. Most professional WordPress designers have access to photoshop to resize the images to the perfect dimensions for your needs.
Unspalsh
pexels
reshoot
pixabay
Bonus!
Own a restaurant? iStock by Getty Images, which usually charge top dollar for images, has a free stock image site for food!
Foodiesfeed
These are just a sampling of all the free stock image sites out there for you to enjoy. Of course there are dozens more to find if you are crafty with google.
Take your time to pick the best photos that match your brand. These are personal choices, so don’t pass this on to your developer to decide the best photos. They don’t know what best suits you, only you know.
Of course stock images can’t replace all your images. If you have a team page, you should get some headshots of each member. If you have products, you will need photos of those. If you are a restaurant, it’s probably best to take photos of your own food than a stock photo.
Picking out the perfect images for your site can be time consuming. However, it will be worth it to make your website look awesome. Remember to have fun!
Do you have other favorite sites you get images from? Please leave suggestions in the comments!