When it comes to getting images for your niche site, there are more options than ever before…
Today, I’m sharing the ways I’m doing that for my new site.
Number 4 is a huge opportunity!
But first…
1. Take your own photos
Traditionally, my favourite has always been to snap photos with my phone.
That works fine if you’re a one-person business and only writing about things you have personal experience with.
But, if you’re scaling with the help of a team, as I am with my new public case study site, that doesn’t really work.
2. AI images
AI images are getting better and better.
ChatGPT does a half-decent job most of the time, and MidJourney is even better, once you figure out how to use it.
However, I’m not a big fan of AI images.
They’re a bit cringe.
And I think people are getting sick of them.
Unless it’s exceptionally good, an AI image just screams ‘untrustworthy’ to me.
3. Social media embeds
Social media embeds are a really quick and easy way to use other people’s images without having to ask for permission and wait for a reply.
For example, on my new no-SEO website, I’ll be creating listicles such as ‘The Best Vegan Breakfast Recipes’.
Most recipe sites use the Pinterest bookmarklet so you can hover over a recipe and pin it to your board.
When you hover over an image, it looks like this…
You can click that to pin it to your Pinterest board.
From there, if you click the three dots, you will usually see ‘Get Pin embed code’…
Clicking that gives you the code so that you can embed the image on your website.
Easy!
And this doesn’t just work for Pinterest – you can also embed Facebook posts, Instagram photos and YouTube videos in a similar way.
4. Facebook groups
If you plan to do roundup-style posts like I do, I find the easiest way to get permission to use photos is via Facebook groups.
There are some fantastic groups where bloggers ask for permission to use other bloggers content in roundups.
You just post what you want e.g. vegan breakfast recipes, and bloggers reply with the URL of the post you can take images from.
You get an image to use and the person who owns the image gets a backlink and traffic – it’s win-win!
Some of my favourite groups are:
5. Stock photos
For me, stock photos are always a last resort.
They’re a bit of a lazy option.
You can spot them a mile off, and they just don’t look genuine.
When I see a stock photo, all I can think is – “You have no real experience of this.”
Because why would you use a stock photo if you do?
A shaky, blurred iPhone photo beats a perfect stock photo every time.
Especially if you’re attracting people from social media.
When outsourcing content to a service that includes stock photos, you can always use a real photo for the main featured image that will show on social media, and stock for the rest.
6. Brand image libraries
If your content promotes particular brands, perhaps you work with them as an affiliate, then it’s usually worth asking if they have images you can use.
Most brands have image libraries that they can give you access to, and some just give you permission to take photos straight from their website.
Make sure you ask first, and keep a log of the permission in case you need it down the line.
But having access to brand photos can be an easy way to get a ton of great images for your site.
7. Creative Commons
When you search for images with Google image search, you can click on Tools, Usage rights and select ‘Creative Commons licenses’.
This shows you images that you are allowed to use, provided that you give the correct attribution.
You can learn more about this is creativecommons.org
I’m sure I’ve not covered everything and that you’ll probably have some more ways to get images that I haven’t included here.
Please let me know of any unusual methods as I’m always keen to learn!
The main thing is that you’re careful to always get permission.
(If you use image embeds, the owner has already given permission to the social network when they opt not to turn off this feature).
I hope you find this helpful.
– NSL
P.S. If you need any recommendations, you can see the full list of all the tools and services I use myself here.