If you are writing a blog, and want to draw more people to your content, you probably realize that images increase the likelihood that people will finish reading your post, and potentially forward it to others. Images help break up text, help explain the text, and draw eyes down the page. One issue many people run into, however, is finding royalty free images for blogs. Stock photos usually cost money, yet using images illegally can run you the risk of lawsuits. How can you get free photos for blogs? There are several top options.

1. Infographics. Infographics for blogs are a great idea since they help visually represent data, and are often more likely to get spread to other websites than just a plain stock image. For example, if you are blogging about the low number of women in government, an infographic graph can help visually reinforce your message. There are many free blog infographics available online, with most sites just asking that you link their name somewhere on the page. There are also infographic creator tools online that individuals with some design experience might find very handy. The information you show with infographics should not be ad copy, but information the reader will actually find interesting.

2. There are many artists who post images under Creative Commons licenses. This means that their images are free to use, so long as you include a link indicating where you got the photo from. Just doing a search for free photos for blogs on Google or any other search engine will give you the websites of several free applications that search Creative Commons work for what you are looking for.

3. Many artists are actually not opposed to being featured in a blog, especially if it will bring them some publicity. Sometimes just contacting the artist of a photograph or design you want to use is enough to gain permission to use their work as royalty free images for blogs.