As much as we love content writing at Firefly HQ, we understand that to really make a piece pop, you’re going to need some killer stock imagery.

Pictures are important in helping to boost those engagement stats. Adding images to your tweets can generate 150% more retweets than those without, whilst Facebook posts that include pictures will receive twice as much engagement than text-only posts.

We’ve all been there, trailing through pages and pages of Google images under the search terms “edgy marketing pictures” or “abstract artsy photography”, wasting hours of time we don’t have and what’s the outcome? You can never find the right image; the photo looks like it’s been taken on a Nokia 6120 or you have to ask permission from the photographer to use it.

Luckily, there’s a solution! Enter, Pexels: a stock image website which allows you to search through over 30,000 stock images, all in high quality. And the best thing about it? All of the images are free to use! Whether it’s for your client’s blogpost, website or Facebook cover photo, all images on the site are covered under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, so no attribution is required (although Pexels like it if you mention them).

Just like Google Images, you can use the search bar if you have something specific in mind or you can browse through a plethora of categories, including my favourite, photos organised by colour.

Perhaps you need a bit more inspiration? Pexels also has a chrome extension to transform and brighten-up your chrome browser with a different stock image every time you open a new tab.

Whatever your preference, Pexels probably has it!