What you’ll know by the end of reading this is:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The stock photo site I use is Dreamstime.com<\/a> because the price is right and the selection passes muster.<\/strong> If you use advanced search to set the price slider bar to the lowest setting, you’ll find images available for 1 credit in the extra small size. Extra small is usually around 480 px by 320 px, which is fine for both my purposes (blog posts and social media posts).<\/p>\n Credits will run you $1.36 if you buy the smallest credit package down to about $1 if you buy 120 credits at a time; 250+ credit packages save you even more cents.<\/p>\n I checked out some stock photo site comparisons to get an idea of what else is out there and how they stack up.\u00a0In 6 Stock Photography Services Compared<\/a> I learned that FREEIMAGES<\/a> is the most popular free stock photo library, yet it has a limited selection.<\/strong> Among the most popular paid services, iStockphoto has the most massive library and Getty Images has a complicated pricing and licensing scheme.<\/p>\n As long as you’re not looking for high-res or print quality images, you’ve got some good, free options online.<\/p>\n Creative Commons<\/strong><\/p>\n When using images with Creative Commons licenses, the attribution requirement adds a hurdle to the graphic mash-up use for images I describe later since it adds another element to what must be included in the graphic. But, CC images are great for blog posts.<\/p>\n For a long time, I used Creative Commons<\/a> licensed photos on Flickr that allow commercial use and derivatives. For use in blog posts, Flickr makes it easy to use Creative Commons licensed images, and the “share” function gives you HTML code including the required attribution. The Creative Commons site search includes Flickr, Google Images, Open Clip Art Library and Pixabay for images, and a number of media and music sources as well.<\/p>\n You can also search Wikimedia<\/a>‘s library of free images, a collection with Creative Commons copyrights, free documentation licenses or no copyright.<\/p>\n For free images you can also search EveryStockPhoto.com<\/a>, a search engine for free photos across a number of sources and including a variety of license types.<\/p>\n Public Domain<\/strong><\/p>\n You can also search Flickr’s collection The Commons<\/a>, images that have passed into the public domain and belong to everyone, mostly due to their being old. You’ll find awesome vintage photos, advertising, illustrations and art that have passed into public use and can give modern blog and social posts refreshing classic flare.<\/strong> Since they don’t have copyright or licensing requirements, you can use public domain images for the graphic mash-up use which we get into next! <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is my little trick for sharing blog posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to get a little more attention than straight text updates.<\/p>\n As you may have noticed, recent layout updates to Facebook and Google+ have put an emphasis on visual media. Skyrocketing mobile use of Facebook, along with other social media apps, was a big reason behind Facebook’s update last March. Images show up larger in the News Feed and may also get priority in the ranking algo. An update to Google+ around the same time also made images feature more heavily. And in the endlessly updating churn of a Twitter stream, a picture attachment makes tweets stand out and, as pictures are worth a thousand words, lets you extend your message past 140 characters.<\/p>\n The graphic should include these three vital components:<\/p>\n You can opt to include a logo for branding purposes as well. Note that if there’s text in the logo, it would add to your text to image ratio which Facebook limits to 20% for ads and promoted content. More on that below<\/a>.<\/p>\n I use the drawing function in Google Drive to add text on top of images. It’s super easy and Google gives you a ton of font options as well as shapes, arrows, and call-outs you can add to the drawing. Here, you can see a graphic mash-up I created last week to promote our Thank You page series<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sign in to Google Drive at https:\/\/drive.google.com\/<\/a> and create a Drawing.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Insert an image that you own or one sanctioned for public use.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Create a custom short link to the content. If you’ve got a registered Bitly account you can customize links, and in the Elvis example here you can see I created a custom link “typagecro,” which I chose to suggest “Thank You page CRO” (conversion rate optimization). Another bonus of a registered Bitly account is that you can track clicks on your short links.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n (#2) Include the custom short link, which a viewer can type into their address bar since it’s short and easy to understand. Of course, also include a hyperlink in the image caption or tweet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n (#3) Include a promise of what’s to come in the full article, or hint at what the full content contains. If it’s a “Top 3 Reasons Why…” post, then you may want include the three reasons right there in the image with an invitation to get all the info in the full post. In the Elvis example I included a brief description of what was covered in each of the two-parts of the Thank You page CRO series. Try to make this message seductive, whatever that means for you and your content.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n I’ve taken one graphic design class, one web design class, and a handful of painting and photography classes, so while I’m not a professional designer, I’ve certainly been exposed to the rules of good composition. I think these are the basics to keep in mind when you’re creating mash-ups.<\/p>\n If you want to get a background in some basics of design, I recommend Bootstrapping Design<\/a>, a $39 ebook. It’s written for programmers, but I like it because it’s accessible design fundamentals for a non-artist set. Considering we’re in an age where everyone can publish online content, learning the basics of good design is an investment that will payoff.\n
Free Images and Paid Stock Photo Services<\/h2>\n
![\"panda](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/dreamstime-panda.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOther Stock Photo Services<\/h3>\n
Getting Images for Free Online<\/h3>\n
![\"panda](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/flickr-panda.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Author](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/elizabeth-jolley-and-sister-madelaine-winifred-190x300.jpg\")
<\/a>The Graphic Text Mash-up Promo<\/h2>\n
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Creating A Graphic with Google Drive<\/h3>\n
![\"elvis](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/typagecro.jpg\")
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A Quick Note About Design<\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a><\/p>\nFacebook Guidelines for Text in Images<\/h3>\n
![\"12](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/12-percent.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"60](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/60-percent.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"wall](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/wall-cutoff.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"diagram](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/center-square.jpg\")
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