It's a Royalty Pain

The bottom line… using graphics on your website that don’t actually belong to you is a big “No, no.” But a website without pictures is worse than boring... it’s a terrible way to communicate. The old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” absolutely applies. So what’s the solution? Simply said, it is two fold.

1. You take the photo.
2. You buy the photo.

Let’s be frank, digital cameras are cheap and no small business should be without one. If you don’t have one yet - get one. Get as many megapixels as you can afford. (If you don’t know what a megapixel is don’t worry. The bigger the number the higher the quality of your photo. I would recommend between 5 and 10. ) Digital cameras are great for documenting all sorts of things: people, products, store fronts, and so on. If you take the photo… it belongs to you! And generally speaking you are free to do with it what you will. As long as you are not photographing something with the intention to copy it (such as taking a picture of a poster) you should be fine.

Artistically challenged? These four words are for you – Royalty Free Stock Photography. Stock photography is simply people willing to sell you their photos, illustrations, audio, video, etc. Royalty Free means that once you buy it you can use it as however you want without paying anyone ongoing royalties - one and done. Is there a catch? Yes. You can’t sell it. You can’t put it on anything you are going to sell (like a tee-shirt). You can’t tell someone you created it. But these are small sacrifices to make for otherwise pretty cheap and really great digital art. Personally, I like to use http://www.istockphoto.com/. It’s free to set up an account and you “pay-as-you-go” rather than large monthly subscriptions where you may not get your money out of the commitment.

Go forth with confidence, take those pictures, and show us what you’re talking about!