The old maxim that a picture is worth 1,000 words may be trite, but research shows that content on social media that contains image is much more engaging. According to BuzzSumo, Facebook posts with images see 2.3 times more engagement, and Buffer found that Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images. However, finding the right image makes all of the difference. When the internet was in its infancy, the only options for images seemed to be expensive stock photo sites with awkward, corporate images or the legal gray-area of simply skimming images from the web. There is temptation, even today, to just search the web for related images and post those, without thinking about the copyright status. Fortunately, there are now more options for royalty-free, fair use stock photos today.

One of the reasons I like these selected sites, is that their images are more contemporary, and they avoid some of the cheesiness of some of the older stock photo sites. Striking the right tone, and finding images that fit the feel and message of your blog is just as important as the messaging. Each of my favorite sites below has a good selection of royalty-free photos that are clean and modern. As you night expect, there are tons of tech-related images, but other categories, like food, travel and pictures of people are covered as well.

Stocksnap - This is probably my favorite stock photo site currently. Though not exhaustive, it covers a wide variety of topics, is searchable by keyword, and the photos seem to be uniformly of high quality.
SplitShire - There are a limited amount of photos on this site, but they all have a more artistic bent, and are organized by category.
Pixabay - This site has a huge selection of images on a variety of topics. The quality level can be a little more variable, so make sure to vet your selections. On unique feature is that this site also has clip art, especially related to tech and business topics.
Creative Commons Search- Creative Commons licences enable content creators to share their work with alternative copyright licenses that allow others to remix and share their content. From the Creative Commons search page, you can search popular sites with CC content including Flickr and Wikimedia.

Though these are the sites I am using most right now, the list is by no means exhaustive. The Content Market Institute, Buffer and Freestack also have more extensive lists of resources. Do you have any favorite stock photo sites or resources?