Best Sites for Stock Photos for Your Business
With everything already on your plate as a business owner, finding photos for your blog posts or marketing materials is probably the last thing on your mind. But it’s still something you need to do. Using professional, branded images is important for upholding a cohesive brand, but trying to create these images yourself is not in your job description.
Enter stock photos.
When you think of stock photos you probably think of cheesy photos of people fake smiling or formal flat lays on a white desk. Oh, and this guy, who became a meme after participating in a stock photoshoot.
While these types of stock photos do largely exist on the internet and have their purpose (besides making us cringe) rest assured there are professional stock photos out there that are a little more subtle. If you’ve refrained from using stock photos in your business because you’ve only found outdated and, let’s face it, basic images, don’t give up on stock photos just yet!
What are stock photos?
Stock photos are images that are licensed for specific uses, often for commercial purposes, like ads, on websites, brochures, social media, etc. They are industry specific photos featuring objects related to the trade in which they are supposed to represent. For example, stock photos for travel brands will probably feature maps, suitcases, and passports and photos for business (which is a huge genre) will incorporate laptops, notebooks, and other office equipment.
They are meant to be customized and repurposed and serve as an asset for businesses so they don’t have to take the photos themselves. In your everyday life you’ve definitely seen stock photos from popular stock photo sites like Getty Images and Shutterstock whether you realize it or not (Which is kind of the point). While those sites are a great resource, and they have ‘modernized’ their photos as of late, we are going to explore some even better options later in this post.
Stock photo from Death to Stock
Benefits of using stock photos
They save you time
Using stock photos will ultimately save you time because taking your own photo, or videos, for marketing materials can involve creating a shot list, buying props, taking and editing the photos, and probably even more steps we don’t know about because we use stock photos! That whole process can take days, even weeks.
With all the stock photos out there (for literally every industry, including pest control) you can easily filter for your needs on stock photo sites and have your photos with a quick download.
They save you money
Per the example above, doing your own stock photoshoot can cost a pretty penny in labor and materials. A good portion of stock photos on the internet are FREE (which is why some of them are corny). If you are paying for a stock photo membership, it will most likely cost under $100 a month for a library of hundreds of images that usually come with other benefits like social media graphics and content prompts.
They help sustain branding
Stock photos can help create and uphold a cohesive and professional brand. Not only do stock photos feature objects related to certain industries, they are also easily customizable for you to add brand elements to make it yours. One downside of stock photos is, because they are free or relative low cost, other people or businesses could be using the same photos. This takes away a sense of uniqueness, but if you are aware of how you use them and put your creative spin on it, it’s worth that one downside, imo.
Ways to use stock photos
There are so many ways to use stock photos that if we went into all of them, this blog post would be way too long. As a business owner myself, here are my favorite ways to use stock photos.
In social media content
Using stock photos for reel covers or carousel images is a great way to add some visual interest and save time when creating content. Adding some text and other brand elements ties it all together and may even get you on the explore page. Check out a few ways I used stock photos on my Instagram page:
Need help with your social media? Start here.
For Pinterest Pins
Pinterest is a visual platform so you have to use some sort of image in your pins, make it a good one!. When you are scrolling through your Pinterest you probably don’t see many stock photos among the outfit photos and DIY home decor. But, they still have their role on Pinterest, especially for business owners and bloggers. Because Pinterest is a search engine and content can circulate for months, even years, it doesn’t really matter if your content is ‘outdated’ if it has the right keywords, it will eventually get picked up by the algorithm.
For bloggers, using stock photos as an asset to promote your blog posts on Pinterest has been done sine the 2010’s, and will continue to be done now.
A clean stock photo + engaging title = link clicks!
Here are a few examples of pins I’ve made:
On your website
Using photos strategically on your website is super important for user experience and appealing design. Our eyes (and brains) can only take in so much words and information before it short circuits, or worse, get’s bored. Images not only break up your website pages to make it easier to take in, but also provide valuable context.
You’ll probably want to use some of your own photos on your website, maybe from a brand photoshoot, but there will be times where you need to look elsewhere for photos. By now, you know stock photos are a resource you can use in this situation. There are a few other places on your website where stock photos will come in handy…
FEATURED BLOG IMAGES
When writing blog posts you will have to set a featured image that will appear on your blog’s homepage or on other specific pages when you make a new post. I usually use the same photo for both the featured image and Pinterest pin for that post, there’s no harm in repurposing. Finding a stock photo that has elements related to the blog post will help key readers in to what they are about to read. For example, for my blog post about mood trackers, I used an image with a journal in it.
IN BLOG POSTS
Just like it’s important to have photos on your website pages to break up the text, the same applies for your blog. Even more so for your blog as it is way more text heavy than a page on your website. BUT there are some guidelines you should follow when choosing stock photos to include in your blog:
Make sure it relates to the post
Don’t forget to add alt-text
Photos in blog posts aren’t just for visual harmony, it’s also a way to boost your SEO. You do so by adding alt-text to every image. Alt text is what will appear for the visually impaired but also more information for google to use to index your website.
So when choosing stock photos to put in your blog posts, make sure they somehow relate to the post. For example, if you are a fashion blogger, using stock photos that feature clothing, accessories, or closets will be relevant.
IN EMAIL MARKETING
When applicable, stock photos can also be used in email marketing. I typically use stock photos to share about new blog posts but you can also use them for email headers, promotional graphics, etc.
By choosing one stock photo you can use it in multiple places for your marketing to promote a blog or product (on your website + in your emails + social graphics, for example). Now that’s how you batch create some content!
Other places to use stock photos
Landing pages
E-books/digital products
Facebook ads
Mood boards
Best Stock Photo Sites
Now we are finally getting to the good stuff! Where to find these amazing, non-corny stock photos.
Free stock photo sites:
Unsplash
All the cool kids are using images from Unsplash! On here you will find lots of grand nature and landscape images but also architecture, editorial and interior type photos. Whatever you are looking for, it’s going to be clear, crisp, and professionally composed. You can search for images yourself or start in their already curated tabs featuring categories like “Business and work” or “Food and drink”. The sheer amount of photos can be daunting, but when you are scrolling and click on a photo you like, you will also be shown similar photos or collections where other people have saved that photo.
While Unsplash does offer free photos, it would be too good to be true to say every fantastic image on the site was free. I have been able to find a decent amount of usable photos, but of course the best ones are available through Unsplash plus which is usually $20/month or $240 a year. With Unsplash plus you have access to all images, and illustrations, as well as enhanced legal protection for commercial use.
Canva
Don’t sleep on Canva for stock photos! If you are already paying for Canva Pro you will have access to everythang but you can access some stock photos on the free plan too. Just scrolling through the ‘trending’ section of the photos will show you some pretty great photos, but also photos that are being heavily used, so proceed with caution.
My favorite way to find stock photos on Canva is this: when you are scrolling through the trending photos and you find one you like, click on the three dots in the corner, and click on “view more by __” and you’ll be taken to that artists page!
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Instead of scrolling through the trending section or trying to find the right words to search (impossible) you can find collections of photos from a few artist’s work you like. Don’t forget to star some for later!
Pexels
I personally haven’t use Pexels, but whenever I see other people hyping up stock photos (woot woot) Pexels is usually one of their recommendations. To me it’s the knockoff version of Unsplash, it’s dupe, if you will. There are collections of photos already organized for you, which is nice, but out of all the recs, this is the site that is most like the ‘corny’ stock photos you’d find on Getty Images, but still a site to consider if you don’t find what you need with the other options.
Paid stock photo sites:
A personal favorite! For small business owners, by a small business owner. Hautestock offers fresh and feminine stock photos that are curated by color, season, and industry. With each drop you get a series of 10-20 photos in different size variations, and sometimes video, to go along with it! Compared to the other sites, Hautestock doesn’t offer as many photos, but each shoot is created with expert care.
Here are a few I’ve downloaded recently:
As the name suggests, these are not your average stock photos. If they weren’t being advertised as ‘stock photos’ you probably wouldn’t know they could be used as stock photos. These are your modern, angsty stock photos that are revolutionizing the stock photo industry. They monitor and critque trends and have grown into a community of creatives that is focused on more than just stock photos. While they don’t have any free options, besides a few free photo downloads through their email list, membership options start at a reasonable $19 a month for unlimited downloads, monthly drops, and clear licensing.
Because Adobe is considered the industry standard, you can imagine the stock photos are too. The stock plan by itself is $29.99/month BUT the entire creative cloud is $59.99/month, so you do the math, but if you already use Adobe, might as well get the whole cloud with the premium stock photos included.
They do offer a collection of free images, videos, and even vector art.
Are you convinced to use stock photos yet? If not, I hope you’ll come around eventually as they will truly make your life easier!