BLOG COLOURFULLY, BUT SAFELY!!!

  

• Dear Readers, It occurred to me today to write a post on 'BLOGGING SAFELY WITH IMAGES'. I was initiated to do so when I read that Google has made some changes in downloading images. Just wanted to write how important it is to have permission to use images on a blog post.
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• Bloggers are writers, they write text in the form of posts. Blogging is just not plain text written on a page. A good article is the combination of text, images and other multimedia elements.
• Writing a blog can be very appealing. It can build social skills, enhance writing abilities and provide opportunities to express personal views to millions worldwide, on the other hand the onus of writing good content, expressing yourself without facing unjust retaliation falls on the blogger himself. 
• With the Internet becoming more and more visual everyday, all the content that people read online is increasingly more focused on being visually appealing. Just like every book needs a cover, every blogpost needs an image.
• PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS!!!! Why a blogger who is a writer needs to add images to his blogposts when his words should be enough to appeal the audience? It's not enough!! Images are supporting tools that can make your content more exciting, interesting and informative. Images add a bit of decoration to your post. They help to make a point or emphasise a statement in your post.
• WORD OF CAUTION!!!!
• You can't just take any image from the Internet and put it on your blogposts. By law, every image and photo on the Web is protected by copyright. You have to ensure if you have permission to use any images you post on your site. Safety comes before anything else.
  
• Never use any search engine and find some random image to use on post, because by doing so, you are likely to violate somebody's copyright. 
• There are several different licences and each defines how you can use the associated image.
• ROYALTY FREE IMAGES.. Not exactly free as it comes with its own terms and conditions 
• RIGHTS MANAGED... a single user license 
• PUBLIC DOMAIN... Images have no restrictions 
• CREATIVE COMMONS... Need to provide attribution to the creator. 
• Besides you can be a registered member of various sites like SHUTTERSTOCK, DEPOSIT PHOTOS and many more. 
• So all those who want to blog, you can engage your  readers by using images and make it easy for them to share your content on visually oriented social networking. BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A SUITABLE LICENCE,  in short, MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT YOU ARE USING IMAGES THAT YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO USE. BLOG SAFELY!!!!!