Image by Getty Images via @daylife

When you are developing a website or generating a presentation on the web, it is important that you incorporate illustrations to help get your message across. Not only does a perfectly selected photo add value to your content, but it also increases visual appeal and makes it more likely that visitors will read what you have to offer. As you may know, there are tons of images available on the Internet today. However, the ones which will add the most value to your website are royalty-free images.

What is a Royalty-Free Image?

To make this as easy to understand as possible, a royalty-free image is a photograph or other piece of clip art which is designed for general use. Once you pay to acquire a certain image, you can then use it over and over without having to invest any additional fees.  With a royalty-free image, the copyright of the photos remains with the photographer or artist who generated it. In some cases they may be a specific amount of time you are allowed to use the image but in more cases this number is unlimited.

Easily one of the best places to find royalty-free images is on the Internet. Here you can pay for an image which you want and download it. As you will discover in this article, some websites have collaborated a method which links buyers and sellers of images and allows them to do business in one centralized location. This is probably where you will end up purchasing the majority of your royalty-free images. In some cases these websites will allow you to purchase images in bulk which provides a hefty discount. Others simple allow you to purchase as many as you would like after paying a one-time monthly or yearly fee.

The Benefits of Royalty-Free Images

Arguably the most attractive benefit associated with royalty-free images is the fact that your photo is going to be exclusive. Well, most of the time it will be. Depending on how much you are willing to pay will determine if the image you want will be available for other users after you purchase it. Most would agree: there is nothing more annoying than seeing a photo you purchased on the website of a competitor. Always make sure that you are purchasing from a reputable royalty-free image website before investing any money in a photo.

Another great benefit about royalty-free images is that they are much more dependent in the area of quality. Hence, this is probably why they can be so expensive in the first place. When you invest your money to retouch a photograph, you are usually purchasing something which incorporates a lot of vivid color and detail. These images are definitely more crisp, clean, and professional than those that you would find on Google for example. Again, the price of a royalty-free image will really depend on what kind of quality you are searching for.

Where to Use Royalty-Free Images

There are many places where a royalty-free image could be used to increase the value of its surrounding content. First and foremost, images can be used on your own site to help increase the visual appeal of your articles. Generally speaking, visitors will be more likely to engage your content if they are initially attracted by the photo attached to it. Images are also great to add some flavor to your website which might otherwise look rather dull without them. Most people find that another viable option would be to learn a free Photoshop retouching tutorial.

If you are a guest blogger or would like to post information on other people’s site, a good strategy would be to incorporate an image into your article. More specifically, you should insert a royalty-free image. This automatically makes the material more valuable to the webmasters eyes and increases the chance that your article will be chosen to be shared on their website. As you can see, the applications for a royalty-free image are virtually endless.

Where to Purchase Royalty-Free Images

There are many places on the Internet where you can purchase a royalty-free image. One popular website which has been around for quite some time and has been proven to be quite reputable is “iStockPhoto”. While they have been the optimal choice for consumers for many years now, their prices have slowly been becoming too expensive.

PhotoDune.net has been growing tremendously in popularity due to the fact that they have a collection of well over 400,000 royalty-free images and aren’t as expensive as competitors. PhotoDune has grown to become quite a respected company in the royalty-free image industry.

About the Author

James Martell is an Internet entrepreneur who is self-taught and has achieved remarkable success as a full-time affiliate marketer. Today, he teaches students from all over the world through podcasts and affiliate marketing eBooks.