At Mojito, our goal is to help you create affordable, loveable website. While we take care of the technical back-end of your website, you need to focus on the copy and images to give your visitors a great first impression.

Professional-looking images and photos on your website are a must. However, finding the right images can be difficult. You may not have access to an affordable graphic designer so this is where you’re going to have to get creative.  As a reminder, if you refer to our previous blog post, we are anti-stock photography!

Today we are starting a series on creative DIY Tips for Loveable Website. To start, our first tip is: Use Flckr Creative Commons to help you find professional-looking images.

Flickr is an online photo-sharing site. Many users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license so it can be accessible to let other copy, distribute and display their images.This is where you will find real-life decent photos vs. Stock Photography with really odd, strange, 1980s flow charts, bubble people and awkward poses.

Pay attention to the different types of licenses on the Creative Commons. There are four licenses: Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works, Share Alike. Make sure you follow the guidelines. You can learn more about what each license means on their homepage.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding images for your website on the Creative Commons:

• Go to Flickr Creative Commons: https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
• Let’s say you need an image of a pizza. From the homepage, go to the Search button and type in pizza.
• Next hit Advanced Search under the search bar
• Scroll to the bottom and select ‘search within Creative Commons-licensed content’
• Make sure you select content to use commercially if you are using it for your business website
• Then hit Search
• A lot of not-so-delicious looking pizzas will come up, along with a few really delicious pizzas
• Click on an image that you like, and from there read what kind of rights are reserved (and be sure to follow the rules as you may still need to attribute the photo!)
• Once you decide on your image, you can download the image by clicking on More Actions (three little circles)
• Select the size you want, and start your download.

Next up in the series, we’re going to share ideas on affordable ways to crowdsource designs for your website. Stay tuned.

As always, let us know if you need any help as you explore the Creative Commons!