Stock photography can be a vital resources or a huge distraction to your intended message. Here are 5 tips to help you in selecting stock photography.

Avoid clichés. Lightbulbs, steps, puzzle pieces, smiling people with a ‘thumbs-up.’ While these images have become somewhat universal in portraying ideas, success, teamwork, and satisfaction, they are less likely to convey expertise or trustworthiness because of their overuse across several unrelated industries.

© Dreamstime

Evoke emotion. Images are powerful because that they have the ability to relay a mood or feeling that words often cannot. Selecting photos of people expressing the feelings associated with with your product or service is an excellent way to accompany photos of the product or text about the service.

Be real. Show images that most accurately reflect your top buyers (fans). Diversity is a wonderful thing, but not every product or service is genuinely sought after by persons of every gender, age, race, culture and creed. Choose images that look like your audience and your organization.

Set a budget. Although the picture quality of some free resources has improved, it is still difficult to find images that follow the four suggestions above in a believable way. Free photos also tend to be limited in selection, so you also run the risk of choosing an image that is commonly used across a wide range of sites and advertisements.

Here are a few of our favorite resources that won’t break the bank:

$1 to $30 (per image)
http://www.dreamstime.com | http://www.istockphoto.com

$49 and up
http://www.corbisimages.com | http://www.gettyimages.com