Stock photo websites are the destination for professional, royalty-free images designed for commercial and personal use. From vector art and illustrations to professional photography, there’s a wealth of material to be had on these sites.
The question, then, is which ones to use. With so many stock photo sites out there, it can be tough to decide which are worth their weight and which you’ll be better off passing by.
Luckily, you’re not alone in this.
Here are three outstanding stock photo sites that every consignment store owner should know about. Pick your favorite and use it to boost your consignment store sales.
1. Shutterstock
Possibly the top stock photo site on the web, Shutterstock offers fresh, free content, updated weekly.
Complete with a mobile app, a satisfaction guarantee, and more than 79 million royalty-free images available for download, Shutterstock is your go-to for vectors, illustrations, footage, music, and more.
Plans begin at just $49/month and allow you to download hundreds of images for use on your website.
2. Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is a household name in stock photo sites. Offering a massive selection of quality, curated photos ideal for individual and commercial needs, Adobe Stock provides everything from templates to editable vectors and 3D images.
Pricing starts at $29.99 per month and allows customers access to all the site’s images and more. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time, and assets roll over with renewal.
3. 123RF.com
If you’re new to the stock photo scene and want a website that offers 24/7 live support and tens of millions of stock images, 123RF.com is the place to be. The site offers more than 53 million royalty-free stock images, a 100% money-back guarantee, unlimited commercial print returns, and the perk of a $25,000 legal guarantee for each customer who uses the service.
Why Using Stock Images is Important
Many people who are new to the consignment store business wonder why using stock images matters, and why they have to sign up for a subscription to a stock photo site when they could just pull images from the search results of Google. As it turns out, there are a few very good answers for this question.
The first is that you cannot, in fact, just pull images from Google and call them good. In addition to the fact that doing so could land you with a copyright violation, these images won’t be high-quality or personalized enough to reflect well on your consignment store.
When you use stock images, though, you have a more extensive library of material to choose from. This means more options for your company and high-quality photos that put your brand’s best foot forward.
3 Quick Tips for Using Stock Photos the Right Way
Not all stock photos are created equal, and they’ll all have more impact when you use them the right way. Here are a few fast tips for excelling with your stock photo use:
- Insist on quality. Any photo you use should be clear, high-quality, and relevant. Stay away from photos that look grainy, distorted, or cheap.
- Keep them relevant. Your photos, as much as possible, should reflect your audience. Try to find photos that mimic your location, demographics, and more.
- Focus on variation. Stay away from using the same photos again and again. Instead, change up your stock photos and find new ones for each blog post, social media share, and more.
Stunning Stock Photos are Within Reach for Your Company
If you’re looking for an easy, straightforward way to make your website stand out from the rest, merely investing in stock photos is a great way to go. These three sites provide excellent, beautiful stock photos at affordable prices, and are the perfect resource to step up your company’s visual game and ensure you’re keeping pace with the competition.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a great stock photo is worth its weight in gold.
