The easy way to find free images for your Squarespace Nonprofit Blog
When you run a nonprofit, you’ll need images to go along with your blog posts and other materials. Ideally, all of your images are from your events and services, but sometimes, there’s just something else you need a photo for.
This dilemma is actually one of the biggest reasons I recommend Squarespace to my clients - it simplifies your life so much!
We all know what it’s like - you need a new image, so you head to Google and type it in a Google Image search. The results pop up, and you sift through looking for what you need. But there’s that twinge… am I actually allowed to use this photo? Will I get in trouble for using it?
The answer is usually that legally, you’re not allowed to grab that image and throw it on your blog. Not unless the person who made it has declared it as a royalty free. You’re looking for something attached to the photo that says it is CC0 Licensed. Don’t be afraid to ask - it’s important to protect the rights of the artist and use only what they’ve intended to be used for free!
But…
What if there was an easier way, where you were assured that all the images you’re looking at are free for use, and you don’t have to worry about repercussions?
What if the images were all high quality, so you knew your website would still look great using them
What if the images were easy to search and find exactly what you’re looking for?
Good news for you - this is now super easy in Squarespace! Check it out!
How to add free images to your Squarespace Website
First thing you need is to add an image block to a page or a blog post. This also works as blog post thumbnails in the settings - see my post about blogging in Squarespace 7.1 too!
Adding an image block to your page
After you’ve added that image block, instead of clicking “Add Image”, click the “Search for Images” beneath it.
Click on “Search for Images”
This will open up a dialogue box with three tabs. The first tab is the images you have in your own website already. Instead of re-uploading an image, you can reselect one you already have.
“My Library” is full of your website’s existing photos
But, we’re going to click over to the “Free Images” tab, which will bring up a bunch of images from the website Unsplash. Unsplash is a website that is full of royalty free, high-quality CC0 licensed images that you can use in your website for free! You don’t even need to leave your Squarespace site - you can do everything you need from inside your site!
“Free Images” is where you can search for what image you need in your website
Let’s search for what you’re looking for. Say you’re a nonprofit for animal welfare. Searching for “dogs” will bring up lots of images for you to use.
Search using terms you’ve already established for your SEO
What words to search for nonprofit free stock photography
If you’ve already determined what your keywords are for your SEO, then you’ll know what to search for. However, sometimes with stock photography, you have to get a little creative to find a lot of image options for your organization. Too specific can lead you with too few options, and too broad can leave you with irrelevant photos.
Let’s say you're a kid’s art nonprofit website. Start listing off descriptions of what you offer/who you serve. For example:
Children, children happy, child drawing, child painting, watercolors, art therapy, children’s art …
The more options you try, the more likely you are to find just what you’re looking for.
TIP: I recommend saving this list somewhere so you don’t have to think each time you search what to write. The more creative you get, the more you’ll find your perfect combination of images.
Once you find an image you love, click on it, and a second dialogue box will appear. Click the “Add Image” button, and it will be inserted in your site - voila!
The “Add Image” button will place it in your site for you!
Need to touch up the image a bit? You can do it right here too!
Click on your image, and enter the editing tab marked by the little pencil.
In the new dialogue that opens, click on the “Image Editor”.
Now you can choose if you want to edit the brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc in the Adjust Tab…
Change the image composition in the “Adjust” tab
The Crop of the image in the Crop tab…
Change your crop, and flip and rotate your image. Consider following a consistent crop for all images across your site.
And even add a filter to the image if needed (go easy on applying filters - less is more with images usually.
Save to exit, and you’ll see your new image in your page. I’ve added spacers on either side to make the image smaller.
That’s it - easy to use and on your website. Enjoy!
That’s it - easy to use and on your website. Enjoy!
If you’re not using Squarespace for your nonprofit, check out my blog post about free stock photography sources for nonprofit websites. There’s lots of options of where you can find stock images online that you can still use for free!
Ready to brainstorm?
If you’re ready to get specific about your nonprofit website, you can download your free fillable PDF of this blog post to help you brainstorm with your board or by yourself first.
Once you’ve filled it out, if you want to run it past someone, get in touch with me! I offer free Consultation Calls to all prospective clients to help them streamline their goals, needs and projects. Then you can present it to your board confidently and get your project underway, organized and completed in no time!
I look forward to hearing all about your organization!
