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The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” still rings true in the digital age.
Tweets with images receive 150 percent more retweets, and Facebook posts with images see 2.3 times more engagement than posts without them. When it comes to blogging, articles with an image once every 75-100 words get double the number of social shares than articles with fewer images.
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With everyone and their mother adding “professional iPhone photographer” to their resumes these days, finding great photography for your external communications is even more crucial. Your readers are digitally savvy, busy and know what an awesome photo looks like. If your photos can draw them in to your content, even for just a bit, it’s worth it.
It’s easy to do a quick Google image search and find pictures to use, but if you use photos without the proper permission, your business could find itself in some hot water.
The safer route involves doing one of two things:
Paying for stock photography. (Adobe, Shutterstock, etc.) Finding awesome stock photography and Creative Commons Zero licensed pictures.
The second option is free.
For those who don’t know, pictures under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license are free for personal or commercial use and require no attribution. Most PR pros love a good bargain—so when it comes to finding pictures, the cheap option has much to recommend it.
Here are four places to find free pictures for