Where to get the best free images for your website
Nov 07, 2018
Nov 07, 2018
10 min read
10 min read
With over 1.3 billion websites on the web, standing out from the crowd and making a name for yourself in the noise can be hard.
While every website or blog out there can publish content, what really separates the normal from the spectacular is how they make use of visual content.
Content is still king, no doubt about that, but powerful content combined with creative, quirky images can turn it into so much more.
Content creators throw a ton of stuff on the web every day to garner attention, including blogs, web content, social media content and what not. You’d be surprised to know that almost 6.7 million people publish on a blogging platform or website regularly and the number nearly doubles when it comes to people publishing their blogs on social media.
Now, that’s a lot of content! And your audience can only consume so much.
So, grabbing their attention and engaging them before anyone else becomes all the more important.
And apparently, adding high-quality images (and other visual content like videos) to your blog posts and other content (social media or other) is the best way to do it.
According to Forbes’, content with visual appeal gets 94% more views than textual content. And if a reader was to choose a single blog to read out of 6, he would read the blog with the best visual content that appeals to him.
So, yes, visuals are indeed important. That’s why we strive to mix our insightful content with creative imagery in all our digital marketing services. But before we tell you the amazing resources from where you can get your hands on the best free-stock photos out there that don’t require any license, let’s talk a bit more about the obvious benefits of adding images and other visual content to your website -
SEO & Social Media benefits
Social Media is all about visuals. If you want to stand out on social media, work on adding visual elements in every single one of your posts. Simple as that. Doesn’t matter the platform.
According to a Buzzsumo research, posts with attractive images on Facebook received 2.3x more engagement than posts containing just plain text. Buffer, on the other hand, experienced a 150% increase in retweets on their tweets with images compared to plain text tweets.
The story is the same for almost every other social media platform out there as well. Visuals are just great in capturing the attention of users and making an emotional connection with them.
Apart from the obvious benefits of adding visuals on social media, adding high-quality images to your blog posts and website can also help you rank better in search engines.
By adding proper alt-texts, titles, and tags to each and every image you upload on your website, you are letting search engine crawlers know exactly what your image is about and how it’s relevant to the corresponding content, which will obviously help your website and blog posts rank better in Google image search as well.
Lures readers
If you are looking to stand out from the crowd, have a unique identity that gets easily recognized by the masses and make a name for yourself, creating mesmerizing images and other visual elements that are relevant to what you do is your best bet.
While everyone and their grandmother can publish gibberish on the web, it’s the visual elements that can give you an edge in a space that is so crowded.
If your website or blog posts are void of any kind of images, readers will bounce from your website like grasshoppers.
Here’s a stat to prove it.
But if your website and blog posts are studded with aesthetically beautiful images, readers will click on it, emotionally connect with it, like it, comment on it, share it with their friends and keep coming back for more (they won’t do it all at once).
What else could you want from your audience?
If you haven’t already, try putting all your focus on the visual aesthetics of your website and blog posts and keep a close eye on those conversions. You’ll be surprised by the results!
But in order to do that, you’ll have to first find high-quality, beautiful images for your website and other marketing content. If you don’t have a photographer in-house (which most of us don’t), try making use of these free resources for all your visual needs.
The images resources I am about to mention are absolutely free to use and don’t require you to create an account or buy a license. You’ll just have to credit the author of the image you are taking on some of these sites, which I’ll mention.
So, let’s look at some of the best free, high-quality image resources out there-
1.Unsplash
3.Pixabay
4.Pexels
Pexels is our absolute favorite. Their gallery is just stunning. You’ll have to give credit to the authors if you take any picture from this website. The website also shows you an easy way to give credit to their lovely community of photographers when you download a pic from Pexels.
5.Freepik
Hope these resources will help you in finding the best images for your website and blog posts, doesn’t matter the industry niche you are in. If you have any other platform in your arsenal from where you fulfill all your stock photo requirements, do let us know in the comments.
Social Media Content Strategies To Improve Your Conversions
We discuss a lot on ‘what to do?’ and ‘what not to do?’ while conversation concerning social media marketing take place. At the end, we end up on similar conclusion like in preceding discussions. Content has been the key throughout all these years for all aspects of digital marketing whether it is social media marketing or SEO. For leveraging content to its full potential, it’s advised to induce quality and consistency in the content. Our recent findings suggest that using quality content can bring gigantic growth in your online business. A quick glance at the success of those who applied the theory to their marketing strategy. According to a case study, published on Robbie Richards website, He claims to have increased his traffic by 272% in 30 days without any marketing effort or paying a single penny. According to Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 42% online marketers claim to be effective with their content marketing efforts. Consistency plays a major role, according to eMarketer, 60% of marketers create at least 1 content everyday without failing. According to DemandMetric, the cost of content marketing is 62% less than traditional marketing and provides thrice the conversion. So, here are few tips that you can follow for effective content marketing, ensuring quality. Recently, I have been reading few articles on how to increase conversions through effective content marketing. I came across two articles and the SkyScraper Technique. The first blog is by Brian Dean, and the other name is Robbie Richards. Both leveraged their content marketing efforts through the Skyscraper Technique. 3 steps for leveraging Skyscraper technique Step 1: Find trending and proven content Task one is to find content topics to write on that can catch the eye of the reader and influence them to share it again and again. Searching for trending topics which are already doing good on the web is something that you can easily do. Content or post that are linkable and share-worthy form the foundation of an effective content marketing strategy. The goal is to create some web pages that can be leveraged from time to time to gain website traffic. There are some web tools that you can use to find the best trending topics to write on: Buzzsumo: Buzz sumo is the top choice to find out the most trending topics. All you have to do is head over to Buzzsumo and log In. In the next step you have to select the content type, the keyword related to your business, and you will get the most clicked topics that you can write on. Topsy, Quicksprout Tool, Open Site Explorer, Google Search, these are the other most influential tools that can help you search for the most trending topics to write on. Step 2: Craft something unique and better. Now, the stage two can only be mastered by developing the content to its optimum level. The only way to overpower all the existing content developed on the same topic is to beat it at every level, whether it’s design, information, and structure. You can do it following three simple steps: Make it lengthy or longer: Providing enough information through your article which is way more than anything available on the web can do the trick. One way to achieve this is through writing long articles providing all A to Z.. information. Updated information: Providing updated information that provides a better insight of the available data to the reader is very important. Better designed: One simple trick that can put you ahead of your competitors is to use a better design for your content. Use pictures, graphics, infographics, and a proper content structure that looks appealing. Step 3: Promote it like your life depends on it Promoting your webpage to your audience, the right one is the last and the most crucial stage. Take to all the social media and other sources of promoting your website. Don’t leave any stone unturned. Where can you do it? Facebook Twitter Linked In E-mail Google plus community If you are successful in mastering these steps, you will observe the change in your website analytics. ...
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Google Revamps Search Quality Raters Guidelines Yet Again
Before we get into discussing the changes in Google’s QGR, let us understand briefly what it is all about. As we know, Google’s search algorithm is updated numerous times during the year. Suffice to say that updating the entire search algorithm for the biggest search engine in the world is no easy task. This is why Google employs dedicated teams of search quality testers, who follow a predefined search guidelines to test each web page and rates them accordingly. This pattern of quality ratings is then translated into Google’s search algorithm which enables Google to perform automated tests and rate each page that we can see in Google’s search index. The first glimpse of significant updates to these guidelines came about back in May 2019. With the recent push on EAT & Page Quality gaining more and more importance for Google, these updates laid special emphasis on how each content and advertisement media is presented on a website. For instance, the pop-ups, information and page relevancy to where the ad is shown, user readability or navigation hindrance due to information obstruction (ad size exceeding specific sizes, incomplete or misleading information, etc). This leads to a very important question for a lot of marketers and webmasters alike. How Does This Affect My Website? Unlike core search algorithm updates like Panda or Penguin which had direct impact on search rankings for website, Search Quality Raters Guideline is more of an instruction manual from Google for websites and Quality Testers alike, to see how Google wants to rate the quality of a website or page. So, this update may not have a direct impact to your overall search positions. However, it still should be treated as a strong checklist to make sure your site content adheres to it to get a strong preference from Google. If Google rates your site content high, then that quality parameter would go a long way in boosting your site’s visibility on the SERP. To summarize, you can say that quality guidelines doesn’t impact the ranking signals but rather helps in predicting algorithm trends. This makes these updates a lot more important as it can help you identify the change in trends for any core algorithm updates that have or will be taking place in the near future. This is because the algorithm changes affecting ranking signals or site evaluation for search engine positions, would be governed by these QRGs. What Changed in QRG The major chunk of changes this time round has been centered around YMYL, EAT and Main Content (on the website) and it is quite significant for all marketers and seo professionals. These changes are bound to keep SEO experts and online marketers on the edge as they can use these updated guidelines to predict the next set of changes that could be coming in the Google’s core algorithm. Let’s take a closer look at the changes and updates in the recent Quality Rater’s Guidelines. Your Money Your Life (YMYL) The first set of changes can be noticed in section 2.3 of the QRG under YMYL section. With special focus on the News and Government topics available online. The news topic section now gets its own section as against earlier when it was clubbed under Public/Official Information Pages. With this latest update it becomes clear that Google wants to emphasize information available on news sites and evaluate it more consistently based on the merit of the content and information sources. “Civics, Government & Laws” were also categorized under their own category further reflecting Google’s intention on evaluating these sub-sections separately than just as another news and information content. Some of the other significant categorizations in the YMYL sections are: Shopping and Finance to get separate categories Medical Information section has been renamed to Health & Safety Groups of People has been added as a new section ‘Main Content’ Evaluation Content quality guidelines across the world have a subjective nature to it when being evaluated by human beings. But for a machine or program to set the benchmarks, a specific set of guidelines needed to be administered. This time round, the QRG has been updated with new paragraphs about evaluating and rating content across various industries. News For any news based sites, Google has indicated that it will be looking at the source, relevancy and bibliography of citations that can verify the authenticity of a particular news article. Creative Content Focusing on content like videos, photographs, vlogs, infographics, etc. Google would ascertain the quality of the content, uniqueness and skillset of the content creator/publisher posting these content. Google algorithm is programmed to evaluate visual content quite capably. Research Content Setting examples of scientific research papers & a simple stamp collection article in terms of given weightage of evaluation, Google has signaled it would rate these types of content on the basis of consensus and expertise to validate the claims and information being presented in the article. Adding to this Google would also set different evaluating parameters for each of the content depending on nature, purpose and importance. Linguistic Change in “Hate Pages” Some of the changes in language of their evaluation checklist for websites/pages that promote hatred or violence. Citizenship, Socio-economic, political beliefs, victims of atrocities were removed from their evaluation parameters. Gender was renamed to Gender or Gender Identity Ethnicity was changed to Ethnic Origin Reputation Checks for YMYL Content Creators Let’s take an example of ecommerce sites to best explain this point. Based on the updates on QGR, Google is suggesting that it would evaluate the authenticity of the site based on user reviews of people who have made a purchase on the site. This small instance would apply according to each service or product based business or informational website available online. However the degree and nature of authenticity would vary depending on the details that are on offer and value proposition of each site. Reviews, Testimonials and trustable citation sources will become strong parameters that validates the quality of a site which should be a food for thought for all content creators across all domains and industries operating online. Journalist Quality Parameter Expands Uptil the last guidelines, Pulitzer prize was the predominant benchmark based on which any journalistic piece was measured on the basis of credible citations or accreditations to Pulitzer prize winning authors or publishings. This has now been revamped with significant change to the language of the guidelines now suggest “...Newspaper (with an associated website) has won journalistic awards. . . . “ where as previously it didn’t feature extension of the newspaper in terms of its association with one or other award winning site. Source Outcome While it is still early to comment on these changes as they don’t reflect directly on your websites performance as of yet, but we are sure to see some incoming changes and patterns of shift in terms of the overall content and trust evaluation of each website and thereby its’ positioning by Google. Popular influencer Glenn Gabe has taken to twitter to highlight some of the more indepth changes and sections and shared his opinion with his followers that has been sparking constructive debates. Source With these latest updates, Google has cleared the shroud of ambiguity on content quality evaluation and reinstated that it is going to give importance to YMYL and EAT parameters for evaluating the quality and trust of the website which consequently could have a long term impact on your site’s visibility on SERP. If you’re concerned or even worried about what these updates could mean for your business, you can schedule a free consultation call with our SEO experts today. ...
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How Can SEO Help DTC Businesses Reduce Their Cost of Customer Acquisition?
Selling D2C or DTC products or services on the foundation of SEO is far better than spending a fortune on ad campaigns. According to Statista, the average monthly spending of 46% of most visited eCommerce companies on advertisements is up to 1,000 U.S. dollars. The other 16% of companies spent between 20 and 150 thousand U.S. dollars per month from January 2019 to April 2020. That shows businesses are spending huge bucks on gunshot ads for customer acquisition for a short period. Spending this much is not in the hands of small businesses, especially start-ups. So, why not tweak your SEO strategies to translate visitors into loyal customers. SEO is the hero of digital marketing! If you get the hands-on search engine optimization, you'll better engage new customers and dominate over the SERPs (search engine result pages). If you're a newbie into this digital marketing ecosystem, you should learn the below SEO hacks to dig the gold mine while saving a lot of bucks that you might spend on ads. But before that, let's take a look at SEO to curate better device strategies to turn your website into a magnet. What really is SEO? SEO plays a significant role in the digital space, where you 24/7/365 compete to get that #1 ranking on SERPs. It's the hero that will help you dethrone your competitors and taste the gem of eCommerce supremacy. As per Zerolimit, around 67.60% of clicks come from the first five organic results. That shows that having an online presence is not enough; you need to gamble with the marketing strategies to optimize your digital space. In other words, you need to understand the customer's query and showcase yourself as the best solution to their problem to get the king's throne on SERPs. You can think of SEO as an acquisition channel to organically drive massive traffic that converts into your customers. SEO is not about wildly stuffing keywords and creating lots of backlinks, but most of the so-called "Digital Marketing Agencies" think so. Instead, SEO is a ladder that will help you climb on SERPs only if you provide legit content to your customers. But playing with SEO is not a game for everyone. Only experts can amplify your content and website to reach out to the big audience of Google without wasting too much money on ads. However, professionals always recommend understanding the working of SEO to kickstart your digital space or DTC SEO journey. How do Google crawlers and algorithms work? As per a study, about 90.33% of online content gets no Google traffic. Many factors play behind Google's algorithms to rank a website on SERPs. A website or blog with low-quality content or poor search engine optimization often fails to get placed on Google's website directory. Some websites say that Google has more than 200 secret ranking factors that decide the ranking of websites. Falling to optimize your content and website according to the set criteria of Google's algorithm will not help you cater your services to a more significant business. So, how to do SEO for your DTC business to reduce the customer acquisition cost (CACs)? This question often arises in our mind; here is a complete guide to activating SEO strategy to get the eCommerce boom. Become a legit source A study reveals that 39% of visitors stop engaging with the websites if the content/layout is unattractive. That shows people like to spend more time on legit websites instead of random websites. Serving your customers with the best and proven solutions to their queries will help help you become an authority that will convert your prospect's customers into regular ones. As you become a legit source, the new bloggers will take you as a source for their content, which means free and authority backlinks that will automatically improve your website image on Google's lens. Care about your customers Catering your services in the way you want will not help you. It would be best to think about what your customers want for massive customer acquisition. The more you care about your target audience, the more quickly you get closer to customer loyalty and top ranking on SERPs organically. As we say, "customer is the king," so if you provide them with the best service, they will love to come back to you and also work as a free promotor for your DTC business. What can be better than this? You can color the keywords often searched by users to showcase yourself as the "best solutions" for their frustrations. Use keyword research tools to know what's on your targeted customer's mind and fit those rich keywords in your content to keep yourself in the "good books of Google." Conduct a competitive analysis Google search console is not enough to get data insights other than your website's search data. For this, there are various tools available online. Once you get ideas of organic searches, you should check out what your competitor's searches look like. Now, mold your website's content and product line-up to fit into the search engine optimization criteria. And get the advantage of ranking on the number one position organically. Takeaway SEO is the ultimate foundation of websites. If your foundation is correct, you can roll up massive revenue. But you can't do this job on your own. You need to join hands with the SEO experts to play with the search engines algorithms and rank in the #1 position. These professionals will butter up your website and make it ready to cater to your customers. If you are also looking for a digital marketing agency for your DTC business, Saffron Edge is an ideal choice. We have a team of digital marketing experts who know the SEO hacks that will help you acquire a massive share of the eCommerce market without breaking your bank. ...
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