Fotolia is the first worldwide social marketplace for royalty free stock images, allowing individuals and professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustrations.
Fotolia offers the largest image bank of free and affordable royalty free photos and illustrations perfect for any medium, web or print.
Photographers and designers constantly update Fotolia with thousands of new photos and illustrations each day, while photographers and designers receive commission from each photo sold and revenue from advertising on the free section.
Fotolia provides a compromise between photographers and buyers, by protecting a photographer's intellectual property rights and offering high commissions, while legally lowering the price barrier so that everyone may enjoy/afford these beautiful images.
Fotolia challenges the traditional closed agency model by offering the opportunity to monetize their talents to everyone, hobbyist or professional, whatever their fame, status, or size of portfolio may be.
Thanks to Fotolia's collaborative online model, Fotolia is able to offer individuals and professionals (advertising agencies, press, small business, graphic artists, designers) the greatest image collection in the world for free or as little as $0.75.
EASE OF USE
It's fairly simple to navigate around Fotolia. All you do is type in the search box what type of images you are looking for. You can narrow your search down by the category or galleries as well as popularity, image size, etc.
SELECTION & QUALITY
Fotolia offers a great selection of photos in the categories I searched for. I pretty much found all of the photos I was looking for to use on my blog. I usually only post photos that are my own, but it's a nice change to add additional photos that are relevant with the topics I'm posting about. The quality of the images are great. None of the photos I downloaded we at all grainy or poor quality.
PRICING
Click here to view the pricing guide for purchasing credits. The lowest price bundle is $30 for 25 credits. Each photo is available in a variety of sizes. The larger the size of the photo, the more credits it will be. There are photos that are available with one credit, so that would be a little over a dollar per photo. This may be ideal for you if you don't need very many photos. Very large photos will be a bit expensive, so it would be in the best interest to purchase a Subscription for a month, or however long you will need it. Click here to view the pricing for a Subscription.
The pricing may sound expensive, but it's actually comparable to other Competitors like ShutterStock.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I really think Fotolia is a great site and ideal for those who want to really establish their online business. I remember when I was creating a website for one of my friends architectural business, I was having a difficult time finding images through Google images and I didn't like how it looked that I constantly had to source every photo. Someone recommended to me to try a Stock photo website, and although it would have been perfect, the funds just weren't there at the time. I really believe it's an important tool when you're running a website - especially if you don't have many photos of your own. I am really happy I was able to try a free trial of Fotolia and although I won't be re-newing my subscription, I will recommend it and keep it in mind for the future when I have a larger budget for my site.
Now, here comes the fun part!
Fotolia was awesomely generous and is giving away FIVE (5) free trials of Fotolia to my select readers. Your Free Subscription will last for 14 days, and you will be able to download three (3) images per day (largest size).
I think it's a fantastic opportunity to try out a Stock photo site if you're an active blogger or webmaster. You'll be able to not only find images for posts, but for every aspect of your website - such as your background, layout, logo, etc.
If this sounds like something you'd like to take advantage of, post "ME" in the comments below. Also, please include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you have won.
Entries will be accepted up until Friday, July 1st at 11:59 PM CST. I will randomly pick FIVE (5) winners using Random.org and contact the winners within 48 hours.
Disclaimer: I was given a free 30 day trial to Fotolia. I was not paid or compensated in any way for this post, other than the free 30 day trial. This post reflects my honest opinion, as always!
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