Adding illustrations and other visuals to my blog posts and articles is one of the most pleasurable and rewarding moments as a writer and editor. Why? Because visuals make articles look more interesting, and when it comes to selling work to readers, presentation is key.

Here’s another secret: I don’t use my own photos to add punch to my articles and website. So where do I get beautiful photos that are relevant to my topics?

In this article I will share with you where to get free or inexpensive photos to use, the advantages of using royalty free images versus your own photos, and how to get the most out of your royalty free images.

Where to Use Royalty Free Images

Incorporating illustrations to your posts is an effective and affordable way of sprucing up your blog or website. I also use illustrations in the following:

• Guest posts to other blogs. Other bloggers will deem your submission more valuable as it will able to entire more readers.
• Promotional materials. Using images and illustrations add excitement and engage more potential customers.
• Press releases. Adding visual dimension to text and more people will be drawn to read it.

Where to Get Royalty Free Images

My latest source of exciting and beautiful photos is photodune.com. This photo site is only 4 months old, but they already offer nearly half a million high-quality photos from professional photographers. I have also used its sister sites for quite some time now, themejungle.com for WordPress themes and audiojungle.com for audios.

Another great source is SXC.hu which have loads of photos with licenses that you can use on sites and best of all at no cost! But the quality isn’t so good

Prior to PhotoDunes and SXC, I relied on iStockPhoto for my visuals for years. In addition to photos, they have illustrations, paintings, and drawings. However, their prices have been steadily increasing prices. They now charge $3 – $4 a photo. With PhotoDune, I can get the same file sizes for $1 for a standard size of 548 x 364 photo, which is great for articles. At this price, you realize you don’t have to spend much to enjoy high quality photos.

Purchasing Royalty Free Images

To start accessing PhotoDune’s huge cache of photos, simply set up an account. You then have the option of pre-funding your account. Images are grouped into various categories. However, I found the search facility more helpful in finding specific images easier and faster. The previews are large and very detailed to help with your buying decisions.

The great thing with royalty free images is that you only pay once and yet get to use the same image as many times as you like. You can post the same image on your blog post every day for a year and not pay a cent more for it.

Original Photography vs. Royalty Free Images

If you want images that are unique to your articles and require no license from other photographers, your own photos are a great way of enriching articles. There are plenty of free retouching videos and tutorials to walk you through the techniques of editing and enhancing images.

If you’re like me who don’t always have the time to take photos of subjects relevant to my article topic, nothing is more relieving than the knowledge that there are millions of royalty free photos ready for instant use. These images were taken by professional photographers so I don’t even have to learn how to retouch a digital photo.

A thing to remember about digital images: they are huge. They can take much space of your website and may cause your website to load slow, turning off potential visitors. If an image is too large, make sure to resize it to 72 dpi.

Another important thing to remember is that pictures convey strong emotional messages, so you should practice discretion in choosing images. They should not antagonize people and should be respectful of other cultural, religious, and ethic beliefs.

In Closing

Images are a powerful transmitter of messages, which is why I make sure to incorporate photos in all posts. In turn, I’ve experienced huge success online using digital images. Want to spruce up your own site? Try my suggestions above and see how they work for you.

About the Author: James Martell, a leading affiliate marketer and successful Internet entrepreneur, has been teaching affiliate marketing courses since 1999. His lessons are available in eBook and podcast formats. He also provides online live trainings. He currently resides in Vancouver, Canada with his wife and children.