Images make better web sites, there is no doubt about it. The best web sites are richer and more attractive because of their imagery, even though displaying graphic content may not be their primary purpose. Images assist a business owner in shaping a web page and focusing readers’ attention on the important parts of the page.
Finding the right images to support a good web page or blog post is often challenging. Even when a publisher finds the correct image, copyrights must be considered. Most web site owners realize that it is not permissible (or legal) to simply copy an image from “the web.” The publisher must be aware of each image’s source, and must obtain the rights to display it on a web site, sometimes a daunting task.
There are, however, a number of public domain image repositories where permissions to use images are already granted, and web site owners may use these images freely, or with minimal restrictions. Buffer recently provided a post on its blog listing 53 free sources of images, and it is excellent reading. Any web site owner struggling to use more imagery in his or her copy should read this article and follow the many links.
There is also a discussion of digital rights pertaining to using images on the web that is good background material for any website publisher.