by So you’ve written a 7000 worded article with quality content and lots of keywords to help you rank in Google. But you’ve noticed that your bounce rate (or that rate in which your customers visit then leave your site without doing anything) is pretty high. This is bad news because your visitors probably didn’t care to read your content.
There might be a lot of factors contributing to a high bounce rate, but maybe one of the culprits is that your page looks super boring with all those texts. More likely, your readers will only scan through your website to look for what they need and not read everything. In order to create a compelling website that could really grab the attention of your readers, you should include high quality images or videos related to your post.
Quality content is not enough. In order to stand out from the rest of the competition, visually appealing aesthetics can help you connect with your readers on a subliminal level.
You can’t just grab any pictures from google images though. One of the most important rules in blogging is that everything in your site should be original or you risk being demonetised by Adsense, or worse, you risk being faced with copyright litigations from the original owner.
Here are some of the best royalty-free and no attribution websites where you can download high quality images and videos for your website.
1. Mixkit
Mixkit is a curator of high quality art, illustrations, video clips, music and video templates from incredibly ceative artists. All of their content are completely FREE. Mixkit, from the creators of Envato, offers the most visually modern content out there that is sure to add an aesthetically pleasing touch to your websites.
If you’re looking for clips for your youtube channel or for your instagram or facebook accounts, they have a variety of premiere pro templates that you can also download for free . They have intros, openers, titles, and call outs to name a few.
With their free license, you can download and edit their assets for commercial or non-commercial purposes and attribution is not required (a little shoutout for the artists would be nice though ;). On the other hand, they have a Mixkit Restricted license where you’ll only be allowed to download and use their assets for personal, educational or non-business social media accounts.
2. Pixabay
Pixabay probably has the most extensive collection of high quality images and videos that you can download for free. They have over 1.7 million stock photos and videos that you can use for non-commercial and commercial purposes. Attribution is optional too!
The best thing about pixabay is that they have high quality pictures, illustrations, music, video clips, and vectors for just about any keyword that you can think of. Their content are submitted by various artists from all over the world and their collections are growing day by day!
3. Freepik
Freepik is so much more than a collection of free images and videos. They also have vectors, psd templates, mockups for your products and icons if you’re looking for a logo for your blog or business. You can download their vectors in eps format and their pictures in jpeg or png formats.
You can download their assets for non-commercial or commercial use. Some pictures, videos, vectors and mockups require attribution though. It’s best to check their guidelines first before downloading a specific asset.
It’s pretty easy to add attribution to your blog or website. Just copy the link of the picture or the video from Freepik and paste it to anywhere in your blog where the attribution will be visible. The attribution should be as close to the asset as possible.
4. Pikwizard
Pikwizard is one of the most popular resources as they have a large library of high quality content for your blog, website or business. They have over 1 million+ high resolution pictures and videos and they’re completely free to use for personal or commercial use. Attribution is not required too!
They sort out their content by tags and you can immediately see their most searched and popular tags. They offer premium content if you want to support the artists.
5. Pexels
Pexels is a user generated content platform where people can share their photos, video clips and illustrations for anyone to download and use for free. You can edit the photos and videos however you like and attribution is not required.
What i love about Pexels is that you can show your appreciation for those artists who selflessly post their art on the website by following them or by donating to them. They also have a “leaderboard” where you can check out which artists have garnered the most views, and you can also join challenges where you can win prizes. You can also sponsor a challenge where you’ll become a branded partner and work with them.
6. FreeImages
Freeimages, as the name implies, is a website where you can download and use their high quality stock photos for free! It’s pretty straightforward, just enter a keyword or keywords on their search bar and voila, you can choose anything you’d like to use.
It’s free for personal and commercial use and attribution is not required for their photos. For their videos however, you should include attribution (freeimages.com/Artist’s Name)
7. StockSnap.io
StockSnap.io has thousands of copyright-free high-resolution photos and videos that you can use for your website or blog. It is updated weekly so you have a plethora of choices! They have plenty of categories from business to health, to romance to fitness, and so much more!
StockSnap.io is governed by the Creative Commons CC0 License. This means that you can download their assets, edit them, and use them for personal and commercial uses. Compared to traditional licensings, with the Creative Commons CC0 license, attribution is not required!
8. Gratistography
Gratistography boasts itself as having the most unique collection of stunning stock photos and videos you won’t find anywhere else. It’s completely free for personal and even commercial use, without copyright restrictions and attribution is not required as well. You’re free to edit and modify their pictures and videos however you’d like! They dont have an extensive volume of content as much as the other sites, but their picture and videos are quirky and in high resolution.
9. PicJumbo
PicJumbo has a large collection of stunning stock photos and videos. Just like with the other websites, their content are free for commercial or personal use. Their photos have no watermark, they’re royalty-free and there are various categories for just about any niche that you can think of.
They also offer premium memberships where you’ll have access to their premium stock collections and get 50+ extra content monthly.
10. StockVault
StockVault.net is a well curated collection of free photos, video clips, vectors, logo templates, 3d renders, cliparts and so much more! What i love the most about StockVault is that they add new content everyday and they have a Free Texture Friday!
They’ve had over 26 million downloads and they also have a blog where you can check their photoshop tutorials.
Some content require attribution though so it’s best to check the guidelines of each picture before downloading.
