7 fantastic resources for free images

High-quality photos are crucial to successful content marketing and social media strategies.

Research shows that content with images get 94 percent more views and that if a relevant image is paired with the same information, people retain 65 percent of the information three days later.

Unfortunately, organizations run lots of bad stock images with their content. Fortunately, more and more websites offer striking stock images that can make your content pop.

These free image websites use creative commons zero (CC0) license, which indicates ownership rights have been waived, so no attribution is needed.

Check out these websites for free, high-quality stock photos:

1. Unsplash

Unsplash adds 10 photos every 10 days via an email subscription or through its website.

You can browse the website by scrolling down the home page, browse by new [photos], searching by collection or keywords or search by photographer name. You can switch to the grid format as well. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

2. StockSnap

StockSnap images can be sorted by date, which images are trending, or the number of views or downloads. It has a big search area on the home page where you can search based on keywords or by popular searches. You can also browse by recently added photos. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

[RELATED: Learn how to boost buzz, build brand recognition and engage employees on the hottest social media platforms.]

3. Pixabay

Pixabay has more than 940,000 photos, vectors and art illustrations. You can browse by Editor’s Choice, photographers, videos, photos and cameras that took the photos.

It has a robust or advanced search button that helps you find the right photo based on certain criteria such as orientation (horizontal or vertical), color and size. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

4. Pexels

Pexels has a big search button on its home page that shows you popular searches. At the bottom of the home page, it offers a “while you were away” section that highlights popular photos. You can also browse by popular photos, popular searches and photographer leaderboard (users with the most downloads of photos uploaded in the last 30 days).

Pexels curates photos from Gratisography and Unsplash to simplify the search process. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

5. Gratisography

You can search by categories such as animals, nature, and objects—or you can do a “magic auto search” to find a photo. Photos are added every week. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

6. Negative Space

Every week Negative Space adds images that are sortable by categories such as business, people and nature. The website also has a section for popular collections.

If you follow it on social media, you will get updates on new images. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

7. Kaboompics

This website is sorted by galleries. If you click on the image, you will get the name of the image, along with a button for related images or how you can quickly download the image. It is also sorted by featured images and photoshoots.

You can subscribe to its email to stay up to date with its blog and latest additions. Visit its photo license page for the terms and conditions.

What other websites would you suggest?

Matthew Royse is a digital marketing director of Forsythe Technology, a global IT firm in Chicago. A version of this article originally appeared on his blog, Knowledge Enthusiast.

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