[bctt tweet=”In the creative world of cards and gifts you need stock photos that are better than average. “]

As online marketing becomes increasingly image-based and web users demand higher quality images the rise of free stock photos is a godsend for small businesses.

Whether you use them for inspiration, mood-boards, marketing, your website or even your blog posts, stock photos can be an amazing tool for your business.

The popularity of image-based apps and websites and the growing importance of images on sites such as Facebook and Twitter is not too surprising. Internet users pay close attention to images. Positive images can even encourage people to buy and that’s really great news for small companies.

In an ideal world this might mean you need a whole series of photos, but commissioning a stack of bespoke photos isn’t always practical and that’s where stock photos come in.

Stock photos are an easy way to fill a gap or communicate a message that your own photos cannot.

But as helpful as it is, stock imagery can have a downside.
The most common problem with using stock images generally boils down to 2 issues.

Quality.

Not every stock image is equal. Some can be terrible quality, overused or just not right for your brand image. Today’s web user demands a higher quality than the clipart of the ’80s and this means you need amazing photography.

Cost. 

The second issue is cost. A lot of time and skill goes into taking quality photographs so naturally, they can be expensive. For small businesses, this can often mean having to rely on poorer photos or no images at all.

There is a solution, however, which can be found in the growing number of websites offering royalty-free stock photos.

As with stock images, the quality of these ‘free image’ websites varies, so in today’s post, I wanted to save you some time and share a few websites with stunning, free stock photos.

#1 ~ Free Refe

#2 ~ Unsplash

#3 ~ Gratisography

#4 ~ PicJumbo

#5 ~ Creative Commons

#6 ~ IM FREE

#7 ~ Picography

#8 ~ Magdeleine

#9 ~ Pixabay

[bctt tweet=”Try these stock photo sites for extra special images that will give your brand unique, high-quality style. “]