🌠 Stock images are dead! Or are they?

Ever wake up one morning and think to yourself:

“Jeepers self, if only I could discover the bestest stock images around for my blog!”

If so you’re definitely not alone – stock images (especially if they’re free!) are very popular for site usages.

But some people think they’re dead!

That’s why you’ll love the following (and be sure to return back once you’re done so you can benefit from the goodies I uncovered for you):

neilpatel.com/blog/stock-photos/

There, you’ll discover rather controversial takes like:

“…For years, stock imagery was the norm. But, it’s time to move away from those pictures.

Original images offer authenticity stock ones can’t provide. They offer your readers a peek behind the curtain, allowing them to see a deeper side of your content.

Unique blog image content can offer other benefits, including increased customer trust and brand recognition.

According to Brain Rules, a slogan alone only sticks in the minds of 10% of people. When related imagery is added, though, retention rises to 65%. That’s an increase you can’t ignore if increasing brand recognition is on your radar.

Original image content has an often-overlooked SEO benefit, too, and that’s the improvement of Google’s E-A-T score. The E-A-T score lets Google assess content quality based on these three standards…”

and

“You can take your blog’s imagery one step further with interactive graphics.

Interactive graphics are custom graphics that support reader interactions like mouse pointer movement, clicks, or keyboard input.

This form of original imagery is commonly used in infographics, though other display types include side-by-side comparisons, flow charts, and graphs.

The most obvious use for interactive graphics is to catch the reader’s eye.

Perhaps more importantly, they can also be used to break complex information down into bite-sized chunks….”

and more!

Now, personally, I do not agree with the above premise. Certainly, interactive and additional aspects to images can only help… but if you’re just starting out, stock images can really help you set the mood.

Mastering where to find stock and interactive images is a topic that could make for a grand challenge, cheatsheet, tutorial and more. You could structure it like so:

Step 1.) Uncover free stock image resources

Need help with that? Consider:

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-stock-photo-websites

seodigitalgroup.com/free-stock-photo-sites/

blog.twentyoverten.com/10-best-sites-for-free-stock-photos/

Next, move to:

Step 2.) Find free interactive photos

Need resources for that? Consider:

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/interactive-infographic

www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/10-interactive-presentation-software-grab-and-hold-an-audiences-attention

withkoji.com/

Finally, move to: