Right-Click-Save-As May Cost You Money
Here’s the scenario:
You need a picture of a flower to use on your website. So you go to Google, type in “Hydrangeas”, find a picture that’s perfect, You “right-click-save-as” and download that beautiful picture to your computer and use it on your website (or e-newsletter or other online publication). That’s totally fine, right?
Sure…if you want to incur a $1,245 fine like one of my clients just did. Here’s an excerpt from an actual letter they received:
One of the first things we always ask when a client sends us pictures to use on their website is, “Do you have the rights to use that picture?” Copyright infringement is huge and it’s becoming easier and easier for people to find out if you’re using a picture without permission.
In this week’s Facebook Live, we talked all about where to find free images that you can legally use for your website and we share our best places to look for paid stock photos too. And why it’s so important for you to make sure that you aren’t “borrowing” images that you find online.
Because we never, ever want you to receive a letter like the one above!
Here’s what we covered:
When you find a photo you want to use on your website, whether it’s from a free stock photography site or a paid one, you want to make sure that you review the license agreement for how you can use that photo. They will usually be “royalty-free” and allowed for commercial use.
On each stock photo site, there will be a place that outlines these terms of usage. Here’s what it looks like on the free stock photo site, Unsplash.com:
There are places where you can find beautiful, high quality photos that are free.
Here are a couple of sites that we like:
If you’re willing to spend a bit of money, here are a few paid stock photography sites that we like:
We covered all of this and more in our Facebook Live.
Have a favorite stock photography site that you love? Let us know in the comments below!
Until next time!
xoxo,
