Where to find images and other graphic resources for your business website
Images are essential for creating warmth and personality for your website. Lots of text without images will quickly drive visitors away.
Professional custom images taken specifically for your business is always ideal, however sometimes for new businesses this is not always possible due to a limited budget.
Free Images
If you do not have any images, these are some recommended sites where you can obtain a wide range of free images that can be used for commercial purposes without attribution (CC0).
Royalty Free Stock Images
You can also purchase stock image photos from the following locations:
Video Options
If you are looking to use a video as part of a hero image, you may find something suitable at:
Icon Options
Icons are great to help create interest within your website where an image might not be suitable. Icons can be used for dot points, lists, adding a visual aspect to CTA buttons, etc.
Remember, professional custom images are always best, however we understand that budgets don’t always allow that, especially when you are just starting out. If you choose free images, or stock images, you may see other companies or websites that use these images in a variety of ways. As an example, and for a bit of a laugh, you can check out the following links:
It is essential to always check how images can be used as using copyrighted images, or ones that require attribution or royalties to be paid can cause potential legal issues in the future and possible fines.
Word of warning: Don’t Google search images and use these. Images that are displayed in Google search results are generally not free to use. They are usually copyrighted and owned by others.
There are tools that check where else an image has been used on the internet. These are often used by companies to check whether copyrighted images have been used on other websites. A common free one is: www.tineye.com.
Where possible, any images of people / products that are created should be saved with a transparent background, not a white background. Some editing can be done, however this takes time and may not always be the best quality in comparison to the original image being saved correctly.
What to do when you find an image you like
If you find an image that you like that is suitable for your business website, you should download the image and save the original file into a safe location. If you go to make any edits to the image, such as resizing or cropping it, always make a copy first so the original is maintained.
Also, it is recommended to copy the source URL for each image you want to use so it can be found later on if another copy is needed, plus note the date it was first downloaded. As stock image websites can often be bought out by other companies and the licences and policies for the images might change, this helps provide proof on where and when it was obtained from if questions arise in the future.
