Where to Find Free Images to Your Website(s)

One of the most common topics I see in Live Chat is where to find quality free images for use on our website(s). Short of the "How does this work?", "Is WA Legit?" or "How do I build my website?", this one seems to be the most common question.

I actually wrote a post on my WA promotion site titled "Free Stock Images for Websites | 5 Great Resources and 6 Alternatives For Your Articles", which I will be borrowing heavily from here.

I hope this post helps you find the images you're looking for and maybe even give you sources that you will bookmark for future use.

Let's get started...

Sources for Free Images

Here are four great sites, and one amazing tool, offering images that you can use freely on your website(s):

Pexels

Pexels provides high quality, completely free stock photos licensed under the Pexels license. They are tagged and searchable within the platform to make finding what you're looking for easy.

Pexels also offers free images from other sites. They also offer browser plugins and one that allows you to access the Pexels library from within Photoshop.

Pixabay

Pixabay is a community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos provided under the Pixabay License, making them safe to use without obtaining permission or giving credit to the artist - even when used commercially!

Be aware that Shutterstock photos are also offered on this platform, which are not free but can be identified by the Shutterstock logo.

Rawpixel

Rawpixel offers free and paid design resources. They offer photos, vector images, different file formats, illustrations and more. You can connect with artists, share ideas, collaborate and inspire. It's worth checking out.

Unsplash

Unsplash is a platform whose community has generously gifted hundreds of thousands of their own photos.

Imagery from Unsplash has been used in everything from Apple keynotes to the default theme shipped with WordPress. Check them out when you get a chance.

Wealthy Affiliate's Site Content Tool

With its integration into the Site Content tool and my workflow, the image gallery available on the WA platform is my first stop when looking for an image for the article I'm writing. I actually only go to the other sources above, when I can't find exactly what I'm looking for.

The way I see it, there's no need to look elsewhere, adding time to my workflow, when there's an integrated tool that may have what I need. It only takes a minute or two to search for that perfect image. If I don't find it, then I move onto other sources. I can tell you this, most of my images from this repository.

Other Sources to Consider

Affiliate Imagery

Check with your affiliate programs. You might just find what you're looking for, right there. For example, Amazon Associates offers linking options that include text, image or text and image. I like the text and image links for my sites, because it dynamically updates the price when it loads, allowing my visitors to see up-to-date information.

Do-It-Yourself

If you actually have the item you're writing about, or access to it, consider taking the pictures yourself. There's something to be said for that personal touch and you can place the item in various situations to give it the desired appeal (i.e. an inflatable pool toy shot would make more sense in the pool vs the garage, etc. In most cases, you don't need a professional setup to take shots. Even your cell phone camera will do the trick in most situations.

Manufacturer Provided Imagery

Check with the manufacturer. They may have some sort of media kit you can take advantage of. If not, reach out to them and see if they can provide you with some product images to use.

Other Free Image Resource Sites

There are many sites out there. I just listed the more popular ones that I happen to know about. Feel free to check other sites out but verify that you can legally use the images get from them.

What About Pay-For Options?

I know this post's title says free in it but there may be times when you just need to bite the bullet and pay for that perfect image. In such cases, consider the options listed below:

Outsourcing

Hiring a professional might be what you need at times. Food photography is one area where you might want to consider hiring a professional. They'll have the proper equipment and great tips and tricks to use to get that perfect shot.

Pay-For Stock Photo Sites

One other option to consider are pay-for stock photo sites. Many of these sites offer slightly altered versions of images (such as a business image with different text slogans or a slogan with different images, etc.). A paid site may offer the image you've been looking for when a free site may only offer one that's almost perfect but not quite.

If you go through this list, there should be no image you can't obtain. Just make sure that you can use the image legally on your site.

Conclusion

I hope you found one or more of these options useful. I've used images from all of these options at one point or another in my sites. At any rate, check them out, bookmark the ones that you like and just try a few images from each one to get a hang of how it all works.

If you found this post useful, please keep it handy to share with others when they ask about free images in Live Chat or post a question on the platform.

What do you think of the list I have provided here? Have you used any of them? If you have, what has your experience been? Are there any sources, not listed here, that you think should be? Let me know by leaving a coment.

Thank you,

Scott