Using "The Machine"

First post of 2008, wishing everyone a happy new year..

To start off the year I wanted to talk about how you can "Spit shine your web site" with stock images like the one at the top of this post.

One of the easiest way to spruce up any site is through the use of stock photos, graphics and animations.  If you ever wondered how many corporate sites have such beautiful pictures of people or other graphics on their site it is because they leverage a huge library of stock images. Stock images usually only have a one time fee associated with them and are often considered royalty-free.  However, whenever you use a stock image that your purchase make sure you understand the exact type of license and the appropriate uses for the image as it can vary depending on the service and even the actual image.

There are several companies that offer stock photography and images on the Internet.  I often use iStockPhoto which works on a credit system where one credit is equivalent to approximately $1.30. However, pricing can vary for each specific image, often the image price is determine by the photographer or the artist so it can vary but often the price for photos also depends on the resolution.  The larger the resolution the more expensive the image usually. This does not pose a problem for web sites as usually the lowest resolution is more than adequate. For example, the image at the top of this post only cost 1 credit so I paid $1.30 for it essentially.  This means that the most you probably will ever need to spend is $20-$40 to get a rich set of professional quality images for any standard "Small Business" web site.

If your a service organization get photos of individuals in your industry, like landscaping professionals or constructions workers. Restaurants can get great shots of fresh ingredients or other food items.  Another great idea is to use seasonal images, especially if you have an online store that is visited more during the holidays.. add some snowflakes and other winter images to look just like the big boys.

Here are some stock photo sites:

iStockPhoto - Recommended

BigStockPhoto - Also has good deals and leverages a credit system

Photos.com - Uses a subscription model, if your small this is probably overkill but if you need many hundreds of images for some reason this might be a better choice. 

Corbis.com - Once the gold standard of stock image providers.. probably still is actually and prices reflect this. 

Remember, Using the Machine is the great equalizer the small can now be big!