Are your images legal?
Images can communicate better than words as well as adding interest to your website. But where have you sourced your images?
Many people use Google Image Search to find suitable images but read the small print – “images may be subject to copyright.
We have recently heard of cases where people have been sent a bill of over £600 for using an image owned by Getty images. We looked into this and found that in most cases you have to pay! We have head similar stories from people using images from newspaper websites.
How to source suitable images?
- You can buy stock images from shutterstock and iStock. Shutter stock images cost £32 for 12 high quality images. These images are best for the main content pages on your site, but be prepared to spend hours looking at images of beautiful models.
- You can take your own photos. Remember to get signed permission of anyone in the photo, especially if they are children. Adding a gallery of an event is a good way to get people visiting your site.
- There are several free image websites. We like freepix.com
- Instal a plugin onto your website. We are using Image Inject a WordPress plugin that allows you to find free Flickr and Pixelbay photos directly from your WordPress dashboard. Just type in a search term and choose an image.
SCIP never knowingly publish a website with images from unsuitable sources. Any stock images we use are purchased by us and can be used on multiple websites.
