Did you ever think that having images on your blog would actually drive traffic to your blog from the search engines? Don’t overlook this fact. Yes, it’s true that most search engines only find your website with text, titles, and keywords. But thankfully, there are a lot of ways to get them to actually “see” the images you post on your blogs and websites, as well.  I’m not talking about TinEye or Google’s search by image.

Alt tags and title tags are the key. They’re there for a reason, so make sure you use them! Google’s bots and crawlers eat them up like delicious chocolate pudding cups. If you don’t use them, they might just see the default image title, which might be something like IMG_3535.jpg and they’re not really interested in that number (nobody is). The more you describe your images, the more you will be able to ensure they can be found in the search engine image searches. Related text in the post, and related keywords will also assist in getting them indexed and ranked in these image search results as well.

When people browse for images of a certain topic, they might just stumble upon a link over to your website. Then, they might just poke around a while, and like what they see. They might even buy your product or service. This isn’t a longshot, because think about it – you’re doing targeted marketing, all because of your specific stock image selections.  Make sure that when you’re writing an article about dogs that you don’t use a photo of a gorilla.  This is obvious.  Take the general gist of what the blog post is about, and use some royalty free stock images from that same theme or subject.

Blog posts filled with nothing but text might contain great information, great for SEO.  Rich content is always valuable to have.  As you probably already know, we really only have about 6 seconds to capture a web visitors attention, before they decide to leave.  Why not ensure that you aren’t losing people because of a lack of visuals?  You almost have to compare web surfers like toddlers or infants with uber short attention spans.  How long is a baby going to flip through a children’s book that has nothing but text in it?  The images are what gets them to keep turning the pages, as they browse and investigate further.

Here are a few pointers: Make sure the stock images you license for your blog are specific enough to what you are blabbing about. You want stock images that both look good, and that tell a story.  Generally, stock images that are smaller, lower resolution sizes are extra cheap. They are almost always more affordable than higher resolution stock photos or vector illustrations.  You don’t have to break the bank, to breath more life into your blog.  Not only will it be more aesthetically pleasing, but those little images will help drive more traffic to your website.

When it comes to stock photos, trends and the the cool factor have a shelf life. What is cool or in style today may or may not be fashionable 5-10 years from now.  Even so, trends still hold a great niche in the wonderful world of royalty free stock photos.

Here is a stock photo of a young man wearing thick black framed nerd glasses.  It’s funny (when you really think about it) that the styles from the 70s and 80s are all back, and many people see vintage and retro styles as cool again.  This is just what happens in the world of fashion. Everything has been done under the sun, so trends seem to repeat themselves after some time. Nonetheless, these nerd glasses series images have been licensed hundreds of times within the last few years.

Another example is hair feather extensions.  They are the hottest thing since sliced bread in the hairdressing and beauty world.  They might already even be on their way out.  Easy come, easy go.  Will women be clipping bird feathers in their hair a few years from now?  What about 10 or 20?  We can only wait and find out.

When producing royalty free stock images, we have to realize and acknowledge that images like these may or may not have a lasting shelf life.  While some looks and some models (including their clothing and hairstyles) will be able to hold up to the tests of time, others will fall flat on their face.  Not many graphic designers or art directors are going to approve of using stock images of business people wearing plaid suit jackets from the late 70s or early 80s.  Even photos of kids, or senior citizens with certain hairstyles can be considered.  How long until this royalty free stock photo of a skateboarder becomes obsolete?  There’s no way to tell how long skateboarders might be into wearing plaid shirts.

This is exactly why when you’re in the business of shooting and producing stock imagery, it is a non-stop job.  Images, themes, and subjects will require constant refreshing and updating on a regular, yearly basis.  Some of these stock images are going to have a shelf life (like an expiration date on a milk carton), some much longer than others, depending on how generic we can make them.  Covering stock image subjects with both the “cool factor” and the ability to withstand the tests and trials of time, are always on our minds.  We all know what is considered cool today might be dumb tomorrow.

We know how it is – especially when you freelance all by your lonesome, or work in a company with very few other designers.  You can’t always bounce your creative designs and ideas off of another person that easily.

If you’re a graphic designer, web or app developer, you probably have already heard about this sweet website called dribbble (with 3 B’s, yo).  Dribbble is amazing, but being restricted to spectating kind of stinks.  It’s nearly impossible to actually get an invite so that you can post your own work. I’ve been trying to find an invite to the big dribbb casually for a few years now, but they keep the gates tight on that place (and for good reason – they want to keep out the riff raff, like those pesky folks that like to post iphone photos of their cat).  Even without an invite, dribbble allows you to follow people, click like on their “shots”, and also to compile “buckets” (lightboxes or galleries) of your favorite works.  Here are some of mine, to get an idea.  Nonetheless, it’s an amazing place to view the work of other creative professionals, and to get inspiration from.  But, what if you want to actually participate more, by posting some of your work right now?

Here are 5 of our favorite websites similar to dribbble that you can post your design work to without an invite.

favwork
The first cool site, very similar to dribbble called favwork. I definitely have to post some more of my own personal graphic design portfolio, once I can get around to it. The only main difference to is that there are no gallery or lightbox creating options, and you can’t follow certain artists. You can like pieces, comment on them, and even rework them just like on dribbble.  The traffic is decent, as I’ve been following it regularly these last several days.  It’s not as hopping as dribbble, but I think it will get there once people keep spreading the word.  You would think that this would be the “dribbble for all of the misfits” but I think you will be really impressed with the selection of work on the website.  The site is called favwork for a reason – you’re only supposed to post your favorite and best pieces, for discussing.  Favwork is my favorite dribbble alternative

behance network
Ease of upload on Behance net isn’t as smooth as the others, but the social design community is crazy big, and covers a slew of creative fields.  If you’re a photographer, videographer, illustrator, painter, this website covers it all.  You can submit your work as much as you’d like, without an invite.  This is also another one of my favorite places to browse when I’m bored for inspiration, or just for fun.

deviantart
It’s another website similar to behance, but with a lot more anime and teeny boppers mixed in.  I call it the myspace of creative social networks.  Behance would probably be more like the linkedin of design social-networks.  Deviant is still a fun one, and really well trafficked.  If you haven’t at least browsed the site in a while, we’d highly recommend it.  They have everything from crazy retouching examples, to cool photography, awesome vector illustrations, pencil sketches, paintings, and even more traditional artwork.

forrst
I’ve applied but have to wait to see if I get in to forrst. You can do the same.  While I was waiting, I had a few friend send me an invite.  I am loving Forrst!  This is probably the best dribbble alternative I’ve found, to date.  The community is hopping, and you’ll get lots of honest feedback and critiques.  The site is very easy to use, and allows you to enable email notifications, if you care about that sort of thing. 

psdbucket
This place is similar to favwork, with very quick and easy signup and uploading.  The main difference is (this coming straight from the owners on twitter) “Psdbucket is more to promote your best work/sell good items and favwork is more to get feedback”.  So there you have it.

Honorable mention:

Coroflot
This website has been around for a while, and is more of a personal portfolio tool.  It also allows users to follow one another, leave comments, and like each others’ work.

Yes, there are many other places similar to these we’re sure, but these were the major ones that stood out.  Graphic design related forums can also be a good place for feeback, but the problem with most internet forums is they’re full of trolls (at least most of the recent ones we’ve visited).  We hope you enjoy these free online services for sharing your work and hopefully getting the type of quality feedback and criticism you yearn for. Have any thoughts about these places, or want to link up with us? Chime in below with a link to your profiles on each.

We live in the age of the SHARE! People of the masses generally think that they have the right to freely share everything and anything, digital. It’s all good, just SHARE it all. You had to have heard about the SOPA dilemna by now, partly involving these issues.  While sharing content can be great, in some ways; in other ways it hurts businesses. Some reason: why pay for something when you can get it for free? That’s what mothers have been saying all these years to their daughters. Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free? If you run a business of your own, you probably already know that it’s always good to give a little something away for free.  I’m not talking about being free and loose with your goodies, whoring out the whole store.  It’s a simple fact that quality content helps you to get more traffic, to advertise, to get backlinked to, and even to grow a large following. We do that here using giveaways, coupon codes, even by posting creative inspiration and tutorials, or maybe even some funny stuff.  Content is key, with any online business. Free samples work great in grocery stores, and restaurants. You need to woo potential customers over with a little something something, in this age of information overload, and fierce competition.

Pinterest is one of the hottest social bookmarking networks right now, along with Tumblr as another major blogging and bookmarking platform.  Both platforms are really cool, and many actually enjoy using them.  Another similar one is VisualizeUs, and there are probably a slew of others.  What’s the big deal about them?  These websites make it a cinch to “reblog” or “repin” anyone else’s posts.  That means you can easily take; no wait, “SHARE” someone else’s post with a few clicks of the mouse, so that you will then have that content on your own page.  You don’t know where the content of the post really originated from, but it’s all in good fun… right?  Sharing and hotlinking random images with these services right now might seem innocent to most.  If you have a Pinterest or Tumblr account, you’ve probably done it yourself.  Maybe you’ve reposted a cute comic, or a photo of an adorable kitten playing with string.  Maybe it was that really cool car photo, or the hilarious stock photo that nobody can find any real use for, other than to laugh at it.  Guess what?  This is going to change a lot about the way most people think about hotlinking. Read the rest of this entry »

So a friend of mine from the UK (Bob Davies of PicWorkflow) was shopping in a local bookstore.  He was waiting in line near the check out register, and suddenly glanced over at this end cap display of ridiculousness.  After bursting out in laughter, and getting a bunch of crazy stares from everyone else in the store, he had to explain to the strangers around him, “I know that guy on the box there.”  Yet another funny example of how you just never know where, when, or how certain stock photos might get used, and might turn up.  It seems that this man flu gag gift set has been sold out everywhere online, including amazon UK.  If I could get my hands on one, I probably would.  Thanks again to Bob for finding this; more importantly, snapping a camera phone pic and sending it to me

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