As well as making sure that all of the copy (text) on your website is original (see post for more info), it is vital to ensure that all images on your site are original too.
If you have supplied your own pictures for your site then clearly this isn’t a problem but if you have entrusted your web design company to source some images for you, ask them where they got them from.
Every image on the internet will have a copyright attached. In your search for some nice pictures for your brand new business website, you cannot simply ‘right-click and copy’ every image that you like and use it on your site. You might get away with it for a year or two; you might not, but why take the risk?
Increasingly, large companies are using sophisticated crawlers that scour the internet looking for illegal use of their copyrighted images. If they discover your site is using their images, you can expect some strong letters demanding that you pay them compensation (and we are not talking about £50 compensation; some of these companies are demanding £10,000 +!)
Instead of risking the wrath of one of these companies, there are other ways of getting good quality images.
- Supply Your Own – This is the cheapest option. If you have a decent digital camera and an eye for a good picture, you can very easily create good quality pictures for your site, virtually free of charge.
- Employ A Professional Photographer – If you’re not confident in your own photography skills, you can always get somebody else to do it. Although not necessarily cheap, you are guaranteed to get some great photos for your site.
- Use An Online Image Library – There are lots of image libraries that will let you download pictures from their extensive collection for a fee. The photos are usually organised into categories enabling you to find the right image very quickly. The fees can vary quite a bit depending on the size of the photo you require. istockphoto is a popular, well known library that I like to use. You buy credits that are then exchanged for images. It works very well and they have some really good stuff on there; well worth a look!
By using one of the three options above, you are making sure that no letter is going to come through your letterbox asking you for a very large cheque.
If you have any good suggestions for image libraries or if you are or know of a good photographer, please leave a comment and tell everybody about them.
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