Why should you use good images on your own website?

Images and texts are the most important elements for your website. It doesn't matter whether you have integrated a blog on your website, whether it is a private page or the page of a company. You can also include all the profiles of social media accounts that you use to market yourself privately or for business. Every website that is supposed to look professional must have image packages nowadays. Where in the past it was just about putting as much information as possible in a text. Where letter after letter was lined up, today there are photos and images that should animate the reader to read on. However, they can be used not only for animation, but also for keywording. You can find very high-quality images of stock photography for this purpose, for example, at the stock photo agency Photocase, or Gratisography, or Pexels.

The quote may be very worn out, but it is nowmal as it is: "Pictures say more than 1,000 words. "Therefore, even today, that stock photo plays such a big role. When we talk about photos here, this of course also includes all other possibilities, such as graphics, tables, etc..

• Image packages increase the attractiveness of your products and make them more desirable.

• Professional images inspire more confidence in the user and your website looks more credible with good visuals.

• Stock photos raise the quality of the website to a better level.

• Unconsciously, the reader will equate your web presence with the goods or services you offer. So that they appear to him very high quality.

Stock images or own photos?

Here the spirits divide. For many years, stock photos from stock photography were frowned upon and were reluctantly used on websites. In the meantime, however, people know about the professionalism behind such a stock photo agency as Photocase. The pictures, no matter whether license-requiring, or license-free, are always so well worked on that they were already optimized for search machines. They hardly have to be changed by image processing since they already have an optimal size when they are uploaded to an image database.

Own photos still have to go through this whole process of image editing. Users who are not well versed in this process can of course make mistakes, so that the image will not fit very well into the website later on.

Millions of different images exist on the Internet. They are all categorized by machines and displayed in search engines. However, not every owner has the desire that his photo, like a stock photo can end up on any website. Therefore, it is important that you stick to stock photos in your search, because here the terms of use are clearly written out by the respective agency. Here you can also find out whether you are allowed to use your image editing for a stock photo for royalty-free photos.

There are different offers on the Internet. On the one hand, there are platforms that offer stock photography royalty-free, or on the other hand, those that either give away the whole photo or simply the rights to the image for a fee.

In the past, there were only a few freely available stock photos in comparison to the paid photos. In addition, these were then of the quality also rather inferior. Commercial images, on the other hand, were easy to find. They were not only cataloged, but additionally divided into categories with search function by the operators of different sites.

Today, this is completely different. Free stock photos can also be found, for example, at image agencies such as Pexels, or Gratisography. Here, even partial image editing is allowed without violating the rights of use. This applies to both the royalty-free and the image packages subject to licensing.

What you can and can't do with stock photos

Do's:

• Stock photos can be used free of charge

• The name does not have to be changed, nor does the photo agency have to be named.

• Photos may be changed to fit the particular web portal.

Don'ts:

• People on the image from the image database may not be made bad.

• Royalty-free photos, for example from Gratisography, may not be sold as prints, or otherwise in your name.

• Your product is not endorsed by the photographer and should not be portrayed as such.

• You may not resell the images from one platform to another. Even sharing is not legal. So, for example, you may not take an image from Gratisography and publish it on Photocase, or Pexels. This would be a violation of the rights of use.

• How to choose the right images for your website

• The photos used from the image database should always be of high quality.

• The photos must fit thematically to the content of the website.

• Give the user a visual added value through the image.

• Photos with faces have a more attractive effect on the user.

The importance of consistent images on your website

• The imagery of your site is very important. So, if you are planning to deal with multiple images, then a series that shows the togetherness of the stock photos would be very good for you.

• Design, as well as photographic baselines are first established for this, so that further images can find a red thread in it.

• Photos that do not follow these basic rules should not find their way onto your website.

Editing and changing images

• You should always read the terms and conditions of the stock agency before making any changes.

• Basically, you can change the size and other variables as long as you do not make a profit.

• Stock photography photos have usually already undergone image processing before they enter the image database of agencies such as Photocase, Pexels and Gratisography.

• Always check whether the image packages are royalty-bearing or royalty-free, so that you can act accordingly.

A website must be filled with life. If you are a good photographer yourself, you can of course use your own pictures. If this is not the case, stock photos are a very good alternative. You can also use them as keywords, whereby one or the other stock photo agency can help you. First and foremost, of course, Gratisography, which is always looking for new and royalty-free photos for their image database. A website may be a lot of work in the beginning, but the work will pay off.