Royalty Free Images for Use on Websites

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Royalty Free Stock Photography, Music, Sound Effects, Clip-Art, Fonts, and Drawings for Your Websites and Videos

It can be frustrating sometimes when you are trying to find the perfect picture for your lens, website, blog post or whatever the case may be, and you don't want to spend a lot of money on stock photography. Stock photos only cost a few dollars or sometimes less, but it can add up.

There is also the matter of finding music for your videos without violating copyrights.

I've gathered together some free and inexpensive sources of photos, music, and whatnot, which can legally be used on your projects online.

Huge Stock Photography Collection for an Unbelievable Price 

Royalty Free Images, Clip Art, Royalty Free Music, Designer Fonts, Sound Effects, and More

The Web Media Toolkit

Before I go into the 100% free sources, I want to put a plug in for a recent collection I came across and eventually purchased. It it is called the Web Media Toolkit.

Here is a basic rundown of what is contained in this collection:
  • 4719 Stock Photos
  • 7048 Clip-art Images
  • 1,500 Classic Pen and Ink Illustrations
  • 1,200 Web-ready Business icons
  • 7,387 Designer Fonts
  • 75 Royalty-Free Music Tracks
  • 101 Podcast Intros and Outros
  • 2,500 Professional Sound Effects

  • Total: 24,530 Web Media Elements.

This entire collection costs $47 - which really is a phenomenally low price, considering that it averages to just under 1/5 of a penny for each media element. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the lowest priced media collection on the market.

I hemmed and hawed for a while before I purchased it (because I hem and haw before I purchase anything) but in the end I was really glad that I did. The only problem I have had is that the collection is so huge I have not been able to download everything yet (due to my fabulous internet connection over here).

The kit contains 5 Gigabytles of compressed files. It has come in very useful for me - particularly when I was working on creating my first 50 Squidoo Lenses and needed a lot of thumbnail images!

Whether or not it is right for you of course depends on your circumstances and what you are doing online. But if it is "right for you" (and you will probably know if and when it is) it is a real life-saver!

You can see examples of the available pictures and media, and find out more information, at the Web Media Toolkit official website.

Free Stock Photography 

Royalty Free Images for Download

Royalty Free Images

Another source I use often is the Dreamstime Free Image Library.

Dreamstime is a stock photography company where you can purchase images for reuse - however, they have a considerable collection of free images as well. When you sign up for an account, you are entitled to download free photos up to a certain limit.

There is an excellent search function so that you can find the image you want using the keywords of your choice, and you can also specifically search for free images.

You can see examples and find out more at the Dreamstime official website.

More Free Stock Photography and Royalty Free Images 

These are sources of free images - I have tried some but not all of these:

Get The Crestock Daily Free Stock Photo Here
Free Foto
Free Pixels
Photo Rack
Free Range Stock
Morgue File
Open Photo
David Niblack
Stock Vault
Every Stock Photo
A Digital Dreamer
NASA - NASA images are generally public domain.
Flickr - If you use the advanced search function on Flickr, you can search for images which have creative commons licenses, okay to use for commercial purposes, etc. Just make sure you follow the terms, and remember that not every image on Flickr carries the same license. Many of them are simply "all rights reserved."
USASearch - Not every image here can be used. But it is an excellent site for searching for images which you may be able to use. It is also good for searching for NASA images by keyword. Once you find an image you like, check the site that it comes from to see if it gives rights for use.

Free Web Images and Affiliate Marketing Combined 

Free Photographs with Built-In Affiliate Links

Webmasters Make $$$
Webmasters Make $$$

At this site you can get free images which you can add to your website - including some real old classic images which you would normally have a pretty hard time finding (with rights to use).

The way this works is that you find the image you want to add to your page, and you basically create a "banner ad" out of that image.

You can add a huge variety of images to your site this way, and they are linked to the
the image website. If someone happens to click on one of the images in your post and then makes a purchase from the site, you will receive a commission.

Stock Photo Libraries 

Of course, there is probably no better selection and ease of search than what you can find in an established online stock photo library. The prices of the photos vary - they can be as low as 20 cents each, or several dollars. But this might not be a big deal if you just need that occasional perfect image to complement your website or blog.

Here are some of the best stock photo libraries online:

BigStock Photo
Dreamstime
Get High Quality Stock Photos at Crestock
Fotolia

Thank You for Visiting! 

Do you like this lens? Please leave a comment. Let me know if it helped you, if you have any questions, or if there is anything you think I should add.

by solarstories

Sun Setting Behind a Silhouetted Common Zebra, Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya, East Africa, Africa




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I support the use of solar power, a cleaner environment, Alternative Energy, and work against Global Warming.

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