It's a common problem in almost every office. You've just spent the entire afternoon writing the perfect blog post. But before you hit publish, you realize you're having a hard time finding the perfect image to accompany this fine piece of writing.
The Usual Suspects
While Shutterstock and iStockPhoto are two great resources that are commonly used by many businesses (including ours), they have two negative characteristics:
- They can be rather expensive when you blog on a regular basis
- Many of their images are overused and can be seen on many sites across the web
What If I told you that there were other options out there that could alleviate both of these problems... There ARE.
Picjumbo
I’ve been on a bit of a Picjumbo binge lately, and for good reason, they offer quite a wide variety when it comes to subject matter. Which comes in handy when you handle many blogging responsibilities on a daily basis. Picjumbo goes as far as to offer the entire library of photos for just $6/month. The creator of the site, Vicktor, has given everyone access to his images and we think this is very generous of him. 
Sumall
I was recently turned on to Sumall by a colleague and to be honest I've used them quite frequently in the past few weeks. In case you're wondering, the company also offers a service that allows you to see all of your business’ critical data in one place on a very user friendly dashboard… But I digress, they boast an image library that encompasses the lighter side of business.
Compfight
When I initially stumbled upon Compfight, I could have sworn that they were affiliated with Flickr. I came to find out that they have no affiliation aside from taking advantage of their API. Compfight is a search engine designed especially for bloggers to find images. Find many different images with many different licenses.
Stock.XCHNG
Stock.XCHNG offers the most eclectic collection of stock photography. It may lack in overall quality but you're guaranteed to find exactly what you need.
HubSpot
As some of you probably remember, in August of 2013, HubSpot shared their own collection of free stock photos. We took advantage of this offer and hope to see them release another set soon!
Now there are NO excuses for not finding that perfect accompaniment to your stellar blog post, even if you're blogging about a bear using a MacBook.
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Emmett Hughes is an account manager at Stratus Interactive in West Chester, PA. In his spare time he enjoys Philadelphia sports teams, collecting rare vinyl and spending time with his friends and family. Find Emmett on Google+