Monday, March 04, 2013

Posting Photos on your Website/Blog Middle Ground

This blog was inspired by the Photo Stealers post.

You just found the perfect picture, thank you google, to include on your website, your company's website or blog. This is where I want you to pause. Hands off  the mouse, tablet or whatever contraption you are using to surf the web with. The company who hosts your website or blog most likely has rules against copyright infringement and can take down your website if they receive a valid complaint. This means you could lose your web presence all because you copied a picture.

However, there is a middle ground to this.

The first step to including a picture from another website is
  • Ask for permission :). Most websites have sufficient contact info for you to make the request. Also, make sure that this website has the rights to the photo. If in doubt, ABORT ABORT ABORT :) 
Second step
  • Instead of copying the photo unto your website, link to it via the photo's original URL.
Third step
  • Provide credit for the photo's source, and link back to the original website. Everyone loves traffic :) (web traffic not road traffic grrr).