We all know the value of including images on our websites and blog posts.
- They look good.
- They help convey your points better.
- They also aid On-Page SEO.
When looking for images to use from the internet, you need to be careful. Often they cannot be used freely and you could find yourself in a legal pickle.
Two sources I like and use to get free stock images for my website/blog are:
1). Flickr (Free Stock Images)
Flickr is an online image storing and sharing website. The pictures they have under the Creative Commons licences, can be used with varying restriction levels, which are shown below.
Attribution License [search]
Attribution-NoDerivs License [search]
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License [search]
Attribution-NonCommercial License [search]
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License [search]
Attribution-ShareAlike License [search]
Wondering what all these symbols and words mean? You’re not alone.
Here are some explanations to help from the Flickr website (Don’t ask me what ‘performing’ an image means though. I don’t have a clue 
)
Attribution
You can copy, distribute, display, and perform these images – and derivative works based upon them – but only if you give credit to the owner.
Non-commercial
You can copy, distribute, display, and perform these images – and derivative works based upon them – but for non-commercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works
You can copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of these images, not derivative works based upon them.
Share Alike
You can distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs the image.
2). Google Advanced Search (Free Stock Images)
To find images on Google, you should use the Advanced Image Search. At the bottom you can select the appropriate usage rights.
The problem with free stock images is that finding a relevant image, which is also of good quality, can waste a lot of time.
So I recently decided to check-out a few paid services and settled on fotolia. I’m liking what I see so far. It’s got a good collection and is one of the more affordable services.
