Using images on your website

A picture truly can take the place of a thousand words. No where is this more true than on your website.

The images you use on your web site will determine the impression your web site makes on visitors. Great images, ones that are professionally shot will make the best impression. But how do you go about finding such images?

One way to find images is by using Google’s image search. Go to google.com and click on the images hyperlink. Using this option will return images whose name matches your search criteria. Use this as an idea starter only though. If you happen to find the perfect image using this method, you must know that that the image is not just there for the taking. Yes, you can just right click on the image and save it to your hard drive. However, if you place it on your website (especially your COMMERCIAL web site) without the image author’s permission, you are stealing. In order to legally have images appear on your web site, you must first LICENSE the images.

See, when the photographer took that picture of the incredible sunset, he or she was instantly granted a copyright in many countries for that image. The creation of that image made it his/her intellectual property. While you may think your use of this image is harmless, you are in fact VIOLATING the author’s copyright.

We all know stealing is a crime but stealing intellectual property is actually WORSE than stealing. While you may think the worst thing that could happen to you if you "steal" an image is that you might be forced to pay a small fine.. nothing could be further from the truth.

Image licensing fees can range from $30 to $3000 and up, depending upon the image and the intended USE of the image. While those fees can seem steep, they’re nothing when compared to the fines you could face should you be "caught" borrowing images without permission. Copyright laws provide for statutory penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement. (Use that image on your business card as well as your website, there are, not one but TWO infringements.) When you infringe upon a legal copyright, the owner of that image can come after you for $150,000.

OUCH!!!

In case you think you won’t be caught…. think again.

Remember the google image search function? That sword cuts both ways. Create your site and get it indexed with Google and you’re inviting prying eyes to see what you’ve been up to. With $150,000 bounty on each count, there is plenty of incentive to pursue copyright violators to the fullest extent of the law.

So, it’s best to pay up front for your image rights. (Oh, and keep the receipt because the burden of proof is upon YOU to prove you DIDN’T steal the image.)

Where to go to get images?

Comstock is the choice of many professional graphic artists. You’ll want "royalty free" images which means once you buy the rights, the image is yours to use in whatever manner you wish. (Rights managed images mean you negotiate for the period of time you’ll use the images and in what manner.) Another site offering quality images is Getty Images.

However, be warned that images from these two sources can be very, very pricey. Rates start at $70 per image and go up from there. Getty images offers a subscription plan which start at $399 for one month.

There are alternatives. Shutterstock. Shutterstock offers a monthly subscription rate for their images, but their rate is only $199 per month. Using Shutterstock, you can download up to 25 images per day and it’s an inexpensive source for quality images to use on your website.

Another low cost source for images is Istockphoto.  Image costs begin at $1 and you can purchase them individually.

When it comes to images, better safe than sorry. Inexpensive services like Shutterstock are helping to remove the temptation to "borrow" images. Remember, Shutterstock keeps track of the images you have downloaded during your membership.

Helpful Shutter Stock tip: Experienced users recommend you first create and account and build up "lightboxes" in advance so once you activate your membership, then you can quickly access and download the images you need.

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