How to Create Killer Images for Contests, Promotions and Blog Posts

Recently we’ve received a ton of questions about best practices for finding photos for social media contests, Facebook posts, blog posts and more.

But how do you avoid violating copyright when using images? The general preference is to use a photo that you’ve taken yourself, but sometimes that’s not an option. With easy access to millions of photos, it can be tempting to pull a photo from Google Images and use it to assist your efforts. However, this is not a great idea. We recommend using images with defined licensing to save yourself a copyright-violations headache.

Use these tips to find existing killer images you can use legally for your contests, social media and blog posts:

1. Search under Creative Commons License in Flickr.

2. Search Google’s repository of Reusable Images

3. Search Free Stock Photo Sites, including Shutterstock.

4. Create your own images using a source like Canva.

If you want to create your own killer images, this infographic from Blogging Basics 101 will help.

Dana Kilroy

Dana Sullivan Kilroy is a communications professional with more than 20 years of experience delivering compelling content. Her work has appeared in national, award-winning publications and sites, including: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Fast Company, Inc. Reach her on Twitter @dsullyk. Read more articles by Dana Kilroy.