Protect Yourself When Using Web Images
Using web images in your blog is a great way to add value. Not only is there SEO value to having a picture in your blog, but your readers like to see illustrations as well. It is common for bloggers to go to websites to obtain pictures, such as Flickr.com. The proper way to add someone elses picture to your blog from Flickr is to search for images that have ‘some rights reserves’ and site the source on your website. However, you should beware of using web images in your blogs even if you follow these steps as some photographers will then change their permission status to ‘all rights reserved’ and try to elicit funds from you or threaten to sue you for damages. Therefore, when using web images in your blogs, use the following steps:
Using Web Images in Your Blogs | Finding Photos on Flickr.com
AgentGenius.com wrote the following steps for using web images in your blogs that should help protect you:
First, we only search for images in Flickr’s advanced search and only search within creative commons for commercial use and for attribution. This is the most extreme way to protect yourself and the images that result could technically even be used in your print marketing mailers (meaning no link, no credit, no royalties, no charge).
Here are all the boxes we select:
Click to enlarge.
Using Web Images in Your Blogs | Protecting yourself on your website
Secondly, when using web images in your blogs on the WordPress back end, we type in the description the following and we do it there because it doesn’t show up in your article and is not seen by your readers:
Click to enlarge.
The description has several parts:
- “CC licensed image” which indicates the image being used was searched using only a Creative Commons filter (the first box selected in the advanced Flickr search).
- “for commercial use” is the second box selected meaning you have used the filter that allows you to use the image in advertising.
- “and adaptation” is the third box selected that means you’re allowed to edit the image (which we almost always do).
- “via Flickr.com” notes where we searched for the image because there are multiple places to achieve this.
- “as of 05.19.11″ is the MOST important note we make. It notes when the search was performed so that if any photographer that claims they have “all rights reserved” on their images, you have consistent notes of when you searched in case they changed it to threaten you. If you do this for all images, you can show any judge your pattern of playing it safe.
- “(LR)” are my initials because several of us do image searches and edits and this is a signature of who performed the search which is good if you have multiple team members writing. http://agentgenius.com/real-estate-coaching-tutorials/real-estate-bloggers-beware-of-using-web-images-in-your-blog-tips/
Using Web Images in Your Blogs | Using Alternate Sites like FreeDigitalPhotos.net
When using web images in your blogs, you want to use a site that is simple, legit, and has high quality photos. My personal favorite website that we use for most of our images is http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/. In fact, the photo on this blog is from FreeDigitalPhotos.net, as is the simple attribution below. I recommend them when using web images in your blogs because they are simple to use, simple to add attribution to, they are free, I’ve never had any issues with them trying to scam me for money, and they have the best quality pictures that I’ve seen on the web. You can search by one of their categories or simply type into the search box. Once you decide on the photo you want, you can click on their ‘attribution’ button and it provides the html code that they require you to put on your site. Very simple to use.
Do you have any sites that you recommend for using web images in your blogs?