The way and rate at which we consume content is changing.

The world wide web is exploding with information. We are all bombarded with content pretty much from the moment we wake up. So how can your business stand out in the middle of the big, loud online world? By creating amazing visual content that captures your audience’s attention.

While the quality of your content is of utmost importance, an eye-catching visual media is an effective (and quite possibly the fastest*) way to command your audience’s time and attention.

*Fun Fact: According to a study conducted by MIT neuroscientists, our brain can process an image in 13 milliseconds

Creating visual content may seem like an especially difficult task, especially if you’re neither a graphic designer nor a photographer. Don’t worry! I’ll am sharing my favourite resources that help me easily (and quickly) create engaging visual content that will help your remarkable content shine.

Free Stock Photos

Before you roll your eyes at stock photos, I’ve carefully picked sites that curate photos that don’t instantly make you yawn.

1. Startup Stock Photos:  High resolution photos presented in blog form. As the name suggests, the photos which are office and work themed, are great for startups. Creative Commons Zero (CC0)–this means you can download the photos and do whatever you want with it without asking for permission or including attribution.
2. Magdeleine: Free high resolution photos with amazing landscape and nature photography. A feature that I love about Magdeleine is the ability to search photos by colour. Photos are licensed under either CC0 or with attribution.
3. Unsplash: Provides a wide variety high quality photos, contributed to the site by many talented creatives. Unsplash commits to providing 10 new photos every 10 days, all licensed under CC0.
4. Gratisography: Download high resolution photos free of any copyright restrictions. Use any of the photos however you want for whatever you want. New photos are added every week. Gratisography is a project of Ryan McGuire, a visual artist.
5. Death to Stock: This is my personal favorite (although I could be biased because I adore Allison Lehman, one of the creative minds behind Death to Stock). They send free photo packs to your inbox after signing up. Alternatively, you could also subscribe for $15 a month to access their complete library.

Free Product Mockups

Originally intended for design prototypes, online product mockup generators allow you to place screenshots across different devices like a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet. It’s a great way to showcase product or design screenshots in a real-life environment.

1. Magic Mockups: Free mockups under CC0 license. It’s relatively new though so the selection of environments/ photos are limited. The selection will probably get better soon because Magic Mockups is looking to expand, calling for submissions and soon offering premium mockups for a small fee.
2. Place.to: All small images (420px × 280px) are always free but you have to pay for large and high-resolution mockups. Rather than a monthly payment plan for large and high resolution images, you pay using credits, which you can buy at any time.
3. Dunnnk: A good selection of mockup environments, available in high resolution for free (even for commercial use, unless otherwise stated).
4. Placeit: Is not exactly free for everyone but is worth mentioning because it has the widest range of realistic mockup environments I’ve seen. Bonus: Placeit allows you to create videos as well! Note that they do have a free program for bloggers with at least 3,000 unique visitors per month. Read more here.

Free Tools to Create Graphics:

Let’s be honest, as amazing and powerful as Adobe products are, not everyone can afford them. Also, sometimes you don’t even need all that sophistication to create eye-catching images for your business blog.

1. Skitch by Evernote: Allows you to markup, annotate or basically doodle on any image or document with your iphone. It works seamlessly with Evernote but also works as a standalone app.
2. VSCO Cam: An app available on both iOS and Android, VSCO allows you to shoot, edit and publish your images. VSCO filters are a quick and simple way to add your (or your business’) personality to an otherwise generic photo. If you use Instagram as part of your social media marketing, you can easily publish your photos on Instagram directly from VSCO.
3. Picmonkey: A long-time personal favourite for when I just do not have time to play with illustrator or photoshop. Did you know you can easily and quickly create text masks with PicMonkey? You can use it for free without signing up or you could upgrade to Royale for less than 5 bucks (in USD) and have access to more effects, tools, fonts, overlays and a bunch of other good stuff.
4. Canva: I recently learned about Canva and I’ve been hooked since! Similar to PicMonkey, Canva allows you to create wonderful designs and documents. The layouts and templates are also particularly useful. Canva is free to use while premium design elements are available for $1 each.
5. GIMP: An open source alternative to Photoshop (PS) that works with many different operating systems. While it does come with all the bells and whistles that PS does, it is free and a good place to start if you want to play around with photo manipulation, retouching, etc.

Now go on and start experimenting with a few of these tools and resources. Developing your business’ visual content that’s aligned with your brand aesthetic is challenging; it can take a lot of time but it’s another great tool to help your business stand out and attract attention.

Did I miss something? What are some of your go-to tools for visual content?
Let me know in the comments. I’d love to try them out.