Imagine a buyer browsing the internet for their next property… They’d be quick to pass up a home due to lack of visual appeal, and they wouldn’t look twice at a listing without photos.
Think of your real estate site in the same way. You only have eight seconds to make an impression, and images can make or break your visitor’s experience. The same theory applies to your blogs, email campaigns, and print newsletters.
When it comes to real estate marketing images, local is best. Take pictures yourself or hire a photographer. That said, if neither is an option, look to stock images.
You may be familiar with paid stock photo sites like Shutterstock.com and iStockPhoto.com. Many real estate agents are. But, did you know there are free alternatives?
Check out these free stock photo websites the next time you need an image for your real estate business.
Pexels
Pexels is our favorite free photo source. Their library offers the broadest selection of real estate related images.
All images are covered by the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means they are completely free to be used for any legal purpose.
Most images come in hi-res versions for print marketing, but smaller download sizes are available. This can save time on resizing later.
The Pexels platform is very extendible. Instead of going directly to their website, you can access their library through apps for Mac and Windows, or plugins for WordPress, Photoshop and MS Office. It’s worth noting, with their WordPress plugin, photos are downloaded hi-res making for slow load times. We recommend getting images from the website directly.
You can also check out Pexels Video, where you’ll find a wide selection of free videos. Perfect for real estate websites with a homepage video background.
Unsplash
Unsplash is all about “Collections” based on subject matter. This makes finding an image by topic quite easy.
Probably the most interesting aspect of Unsplash is their curated collections. Site members share groups of photos they have compiled while exploring the site. These collections could inspire some creative image choices.
Unsplash photos are free, though they do recommend adding a photo credit. A badge for embedding is available for each image.
Pixabay
Pixabay has a little bit of everything. Their library includes photos, illustrations, vector graphics, and videos.
With so much selection, it’s a good thing their search feature is so advanced. When performing a search, you can filter results by color, category, size, or orientation. This saves time when looking for a specific shot. Plus, it encourages photo consistency across your entire real estate website.
To get a good feel for the photos on Pixabay, browse their Editor’s Choice page. This option offers hundreds of amazing images hand selected by the Pixabay staff.
If by chance, free stock images don’t fit your needs, Pixabay shows paid recommendations from Shutterstock alongside their search results.
Quality photos are essential and your visitors can tell when they’re not. In fact, the human brain can identify an image in as little as 13 milliseconds. Browse each of these websites and get acquainted with their libraries. Each is different in style and subject matter. As you glance over photos, you’ll be able to identify shots that fit your real estate marketing needs.
Get creative. Think outside the box on photo selection. Use images to tell a story. Your real estate website will be picture perfect in no time.
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