It is imperative for all online platforms, including your business website to have high-resolution images. The brain processes visual images quicker than text and this helps in lead generation for your brand website. Users click more on websites that have compelling and distinct visual images. It boosts engagement on social channels and improves brand awareness.
However, it is essential to cross-check that the images used on your website and social media platforms are copyright-free or royalty-free. It helps to give your brand an authentic touch and dodge plagiarism issues.
There are some royalty-free terms that you can get accustomed to for a better understanding. These include:
- Royalty-Free - You can use intellectual property free of cost.
- Creative Commons - Artist-approved images for free based on terms of use.
- Public Domain - Images that were created in the US before 1923 belong to the public domain. It is free to copy and distribute without any license fee.
- Attribution - The author or the artist charges the users to access and distribute their image for a business or personal use.
- Commercial Use - These are royalty-free images for business use.
- Membership - It is essential to buy a package or plan or subscribe to a website that contains millions of royalty-free images.
The top websites on the internet to find, share and download copyright-free images are as follows:
- Freerange - You can access high-resolution stock photos and thousands of SEO-friendly images with free membership registration.
- Pexels - It is a unique website with a reputable stock photo library for commercial use. You can get outsourced images from other high-quality visual websites. You can also get copyright-free stock videos from the website.
- Pixabay - This website is licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) that allows you to use images without any license fees or credit to the artist.
- Kaboompics - This website uses its own license that is similar to Creative Commons Zero. Nevertheless, there is one drawback, you cannot redistribute the photos. The website allows you to search images by colour.
- Envato Elements - This website allows you to create free accounts and upgrade to different plans to access a wide range of copyright-free video templates, photos, royalty-free stock video, graphic templates and more.
- Shutterstock - This website has an annual plan of USD$ 199/month but gives you access to 125 million royalty-free video clips, images and music tracks.
