Finding the right keyword combinations for your royalty-free images may take some doing.

If you’ve ever searched for royalty-free images to purchase for your website, you may already have discovered that it’s easy to  become caught up looking for images for hours and hours, and still not find that one special image you are looking for.

The trick is to find the right keyword combination: the one that will yield appropriate (and provocative) images that you can purchase for your website — images that will complement the information that you provide on your web pages, and set you apart from your competition.

Consider keyword phrases that are specific to your industry or the service that you provide. Clues as to what words might be appropriate might be contained in your site description or on the About Us page of your website.

In general, it’s better to invest more time and energy  into selecting a wide variety of  keywords phrases, rather than simply going through pages and pages of images for one or two keyword searches. Be sure to write down keyword phrases that yield good results: it’s easy to forget them.

Specifying the proportions of the image that you desire can help to narrow down the search quickly. Royalty-free image websites usually contain “advanced search” options where you can specify portrait, landscape or panoramic format (panoramic views can be especially helpful in developing mastheads).

The word isolated, when used in combination with other words, will yield images that can be used against transparent backgrounds, allowing for a more seamless look and feel.  For example, try entering

apple isolated

into a Google image search. In your search results, you will see many images of apples against a uniform, white background. The uniform background color makes it possible for you to select just the apple itself, instead of having to select the entire image.

Whenever you search for royalty-free images, be sure to keep track of the image numbers that are used to identify the images that you want to consider. It’s very easy to forget which images you wanted, and then later, when you come back to look at the images you selected, to forget where they were, and then to have to start searching again from scratch. Lightboxes are useful for keeping track of images that you may want to consider. Warning: sometimes images may be withdrawn from royalty-free image websites after you have chosen them, but before you have purchased the rights — if you absolutely need a specific image in order to complete your website design, consider purchasing the rights to that image sooner, rather than later.

Avoid search words and phrases that are too general — the more specific you can be in your selection of keywords, the more likely you are to find interesting material.

You can make cost effective choices by knowing in advance how much detail you need (and how much you don’t need) for the images you purchase. For website purposes, 72 d.p.i. is sufficient. In general, it’s better to purchase images that are slightly larger than what you need, rather than slightly smaller.

Some royalty-free image websites are:

istockphoto.com
shutterstock.com
gettyimages.com

Questions? Contact Chicago Web Designer Christopher Merrill.

The Internet has SPEED; a library has ACCURACY. Both are important

Which is better: a library or the Internet?

Well, it really depends on what you are looking for — and how up-to-date you need the information you’re looking for to be.

If accuracy is what you need, then go to a library; but if what you want is speed, the Internet is better.

Why? Because it takes more time to print information and distribute newspapers, books and magazines that contain that information, than it takes to post that same information to the web.

A daily newspaper is only as current as its last edition; but an Internet post can be up-to-the-minute (as long as the webmaster keeps it that way).

Needless to say, some web sites are more worthy of your trust than others — but the same is true of printed material as well.

The best way to ensure the accuracy of any material that you find on the web is to verify it. By verification, I mean cross-referencing online sources so as to compare results (one should always do this online and with printed material as well). The good news here is that it’s much faster to cross-reference information online than it is in a library. Also, you can copy and paste information you find from web sites (this is not possible with printed material).

Another significant advantage (more important than most people think) is that any web page is searchable by keyword through your browser — printed material, of course, is not.

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Think of your website as one posting on a large bulletin board that many, many people can see.

Think of the Worldwide Web as a large, messy bulletin board that anyone with a web connection can see.

You can tack your notice to the board on top of all of the other notices and — for a few days perhaps — other people will be able to see what you have posted.

However, if you return to the bulletin board two weeks later, you might find that your posting has long ago been covered by other postings that people have tacked to the bulletin board on top of yours.

Or, perhaps your posting can be found under the first few new postings, but it has been defaced or ripped up. Or, worse — someone has removed your posting from the bulletin board completely.

You see what has happened to your posting, and perhaps you become angry: “How dare they! Who do they think they are, taking down my important posting? What right do they have?”

Well the answer to “What right do they have” is this: they have every right in the world because they are the last ones who visited the bulletin board.

People often forget the cyberspace is accessible to everyone: this means that everyone can contribute if they just “come to the board.” And, yes, some people (many people perhaps) are out to do mischief — or to simply show off or play pranks or to just try to call attention to themselves.

Your website files reside on an actual, physical machine in an actual location at your web hosting service. This machine can be destroyed or sabotaged by people who are up to no good, despite firewalls and security.

For best results, check your postings regularly — and keep them updated. With regular, careful attention, your website will reach the right audience and help you grow your business and attract new customers.

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The following text is courtesy of Michael Samec:

1. Most photographers charge either 1/2 day or full day. Be sure to be organized beforehand to get as many shots in as possible. Try to use up the entire time getting as many photos as you can think of even beyond what you obviously need right now.
2. Prepare the location and clean the products. Set up a shoot area in your facilities for moveable objects and have them arranged so the photographer can shoot one after another without having to re-stage the lighting.
3. Be sure your photographer does NOT charge royalties. Royalties mean you agree to pay for every use of a photo — every new ad, mailer, Website, etc. is a separate charge.
4. Get hi-res photos that you can then reproduce for print use. You can always convert a hi-res image to low-res for Web use, but you cannot go the other way around. This allows you more mileage for the price.
5. Get hi-res photos that you can then reproduce for print use. You can always convert a hi-res image to low-res for Web use, but you cannot go the other way around. This allows you more mileage for the price.
6. Think about background: setting a staging area with a neutral background, where possible, can save you on retouching costs later.
7. Lighting is everything with photography. A good photographer will be very careful to avoid casting shadows. Consider this when creating a shoot area. Daylight is better than industrial lights. It may be necessary to turn off fluorescent lights. The photographer will be able to determine if this will be necessary.
8. Vibrations can affect photos. It may be necessary to shut down a machine or two, depending. Keep this in mind when scheduling the shoot to be sure you don’t interfere with critical production!
9. About retouching: Find out if the photographer is willing to provide retouching in the price. Many photographers will offer to provide a low-res version of each photo and may offer to “outline” images so that professional designers can “knock out” the background. This is of significant value that would cost a fair amount of money if a designer were to do it: something worth considering when factoring photography fees.

Questions? Contact Christopher Merrill Chicago Web Designer.