Everyone loves free, especially when it comes to tools you can use for your business. Here are 3 places to find free stock photos and clip art.
Stock.Xchng
If you are looking for photos, start with the site Stock.Xchng. The site has a great selection of images and an easy-to-use search feature at the top of the page My search for “tea” yieled 48 pages of images. Just click on the image you are interested in to determine the appropriate license. I reviewed 10 random images on the first page and all 10 could be used royalty free. Here is a sample I liked best for the search “tea”.
Google Image Search
Google now allows you to search for images you can freely use to promote your business. Go to Google Image Search and select Advanced Image Search. Then, go to the bottom of the page and look for the heading “Usage Rights” and “Return Images” then “labeled for commercial resuse”. This will allow you to use the image for commercial purposes. You also can additional options such as image type (photo, clip art etc) and file type (JPG, GIF,e tc). As Google suggests, make sure to verify the license allows you to freely use the image.
Free Clip Art
Artvex offers free clip art that you can use. You can get images by searching or browsing through categories. My search for tea yielded 23 images, such as the one below. Searching for images is a little confusing since the results open up in few window. At first, I thought it was taking to google for a search but it really was my search. Also, when I went to save the image, I clicked on it and nothing. Instead, you have to right click the mouse and save the image. Novice users may have trouble with this, but you cant beat free.
- Sample of clip art from artvex.com
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