Online Shopping Guide

Royalty Free Stock Photos for Web Design

Stock photography websites contain thousands of existing photographs that can be licensed for specific uses. A customer who uses stock photography instead of hiring a photographer can save time, effort and money. Typically publishers can either purchase exclusive rights to a single image or they can purchase a subscription of sorts. The subscriptions allow publishers to download a limited number of photos over a specified period of time.

Stock photo websites allow webmasters, marketers and publishers to locate pictures for their marketing and promotional materials without the hassle of organizing a photo shoot. With copyright laws businesses must be very careful in using unlicensed photos.

There are also risks to using “free” photographs. Many of the free websites contain collaborative works from multiple photographers and artists. While the websites attempt to monitor the images in their collections in violation of copyright laws, there are no guarantees. If you opt to use photographs or images from a free portal, it is important to keep this in mind.

The following are a large number of reputable stock photo websites available:

Photo-Wizard.net - The Photo-Wizard’s website contains thousands of fantastic, high-quality photographs, in more than 30 categories. Photos can be used on websites, in promotional materials or educational materials. The Photo-Wizard’s stock photo directory is packed with eye-catching photos that will meet the needs of graphic designers and webmasters looking for exceptional quality images at reasonable prices. The site is filled with inexpensive, professional quality royalty free photographs. There is no longer a need to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a single photograph. Single images can be purchased for $.99 each or subscriptions can be purchased for $49.95 - $ 179.95.

Photo Wizard - http://www.photo-wizard.net

Photos.com - Photos.com contains professional royalty-free stock photographs available via a subscription. Pay only a single fee and download up to 250 photos from the Photos.com collection per day. The photos.com collection contains more than 325,000 professional quality stock photographs. Subscriptions can be purchased for $149.95 - $ 699.95 .

Photos.com - http://www.photos.com

ClipArt.com - The ClipArt website is exceptional, known for its large variety. You can filter images based on file formats, (photographs, photo objects or clipart) so only the specified format appears in the search results. Subscription can be purchased for $ 17.99 - $ 269.99.

ClipArt - http://www.clipart.com

Morguefile.com - The term “morgue file” is popular in the newspaper business to describe a file that holds past issues. The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits. Photos on Morguefile can be used free of charge, but only for personal use; but are not available for commercial or business use.

MorgueFile - http://www.morguefile.com

PixelPerfectDigital.com - PixelPerfectDigital contains 4,000 images. The website uses a forum format to display the images, many of which are clipart rather than photographs. The images can be used free of charge for personal use.

Pixel Perfect Digital - http://www.pixelperfectdigital.com/free_stock_photos/

StockVault.net - StockVault contains photos and logos that are free for non-commercial use. They have additional image packs available for fixed prices.

StockVault - http://www.stockvault.net

Free-Photographs.net - The Free Photographs Network is an online resource for royalty-free stock photographs for non-commercial use. The collection is very limited and a search function specifically for the site is not available.

Free Photographs - http://www.free-photographs.net

FreeStockPhotos.com - Photographs on Free Stock Photos can be used free of charge for non-commercial use, but the photograph must include credits to FreeStockPhotos.com when used on the Internet, in a web page, in printed publications, or in any product, advertising, or packaging. This credit, however, may be cropped out or digitally removed from the photograph if it is included in readable type near each photograph, group of photographs, in the text, or in the credits. The collection is limited and a search function is not visible.

Free Stock Photos - http://www.freestockphotos.net

FreePhotos.com - FreePhotos is a collaborative website that contains photos. The website contains many different image categories, but not a large variety in each category. In order to download an image users must register.

Free Photos - http://www.freephotos.com

ArtFavor.com - ArtFavor contains a limited selection of small high-quality photographs. The images are not available for commercial use.

ArtFavor - http://www.artfavor.com/types.php?type=12

FreeDigitalPhotos.net - The photos on Free Digital Photos can be used for commercial and non commercial interests. If the images are used for promotional items (greeting cards, mugs, t-shirts, screen savers) there is a $ 20.00 charge for the use of each image. Some images also stipulate that they require a link back to the FreeDigitalPhotos website.

Free Digital Photos - http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

FreePhotosBank.com - Free Photos Bank is a collaborative website with a number of attractive photos. Photos contained on the Free Photos Bank are from a variety of photographers and the reprint permissions may vary.

Free Photos Bank - http://www.freephotosbank.com

DesignPacks.com - Design Packs offers free, high-quality image collections that can be used in both personal and commercial web design projects. Each collection features a group of 15 images that share a common theme.

Design Packs - http://www.designpacks.com

ShutterStock - Shutterstock is a large subscription-based stock photo agency. They have an outstanding collection of premium, royalty-free photographs, illustrations, and vectors. Subscription can be purchased for $ 199.00 - $1,999.00 and allow subscribers to download up to 25 images per day.

ShutterStock - http://www.shutterstock.com/

ComStock - ComStock contains a large collection of royalty-free images. ComStock offers three purchase options images can be purchased individually, CD options are available or publishers can purchase a subscription for $299 - $1999.00 which allows them to download up to 50 images per day.

ComStock - http://www.comstock.com

These are all a number of options available for webmasters and publishers in need of images for marketing campaigns or packaging. Regardless of the website selected, be sure to read the agreement terms carefully to ensure that you are adhering to the guidelines.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

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How To Choose A Gift For A Cancer Patient

When someone you know is strickened with cancer, you normally feel shocked and powerless. At the very least, we should lend our support by being there for them. One of the greatest ways to let a cancer patient know that we are there for them is by stopping by to visit and presenting them with a nice present.

How Can A Gift Help Cancer Patients?

Cancer is a very difficult disease to get over. Small tokens of support from friends and family members can let cancer patients know that someone truly cares about and empathizes with their situation. The gifts that you give to a cancer patient in your life should send the message that you care about them and are walking beside them hand in hand.

What are Some Gift Ideas for a Cancer Patient?

There are a lot of brilliant choices when it comes to selecting gifts for a cancer patient. Here’s a tiny list of nice gift ideas for cancer patients:

- Cancer stuffed toys like inspirational stuffed bears
- Apparel like t-shirts,hats or bags that promotes cancer awareness and survivorship
- Jewelry items like cancer bracelets or cancer awareness pins that promotes cancer awareness and survivorship
- Cancer patient journals,which are designed to encourage patients to utilize journaling as a therapeutic means of coping with their disease and its treatment
- Inspirational books about cancer survivors
- Gift certificates for life’s luxuries like massage treatments,manicures,or facials,which they might otherwise overlook during this time
- Gift certificates to their favorite stores to help purchase necessities
- Skin care products that are made especially for those getting radiation and other forms of cancer treatment
- Hats,turbans,scarves,or other accessories that might help offset some of the negative side effects of cancer treatment

Of course there are a lot of other different items that may be perfect present choices for the cancer patient in your life. The most suitable choice depends on the individual person and the relationship between the two of you. Remember that the thoughtfulness of your present will be appreciated just as much as the item itself.

What Shouldn’t I Give to a Cancer Patient?

While it is the thought that counts when giving gifts, it is critical that the gifts you choose do not send an inappropriate impression. Here’s a list of gifts that are bad for cancer patients:

- Gifts that could make a cancer patient feel uncomfortable about themselves such as wigs or false eyebrows
- Gifts that poke fun or humor with regards to cancer in some way
- Gifts that not at all connected to the cancer patient’s plight and are just general in nature
- Gifts that lack compassion or don’t have any kind of meaning
- Books on death and dying

A great gift you could consider is a copy of Natural Cancer Treatments That Work as you’ll find a ton of proven alternative cancer treatments that will greatly benefit any cancer patient. For more cancer general info and alternative treatments, please visit Natalie’s site at CancerArchive.com.

Author: Natalie Williams

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Mystery Auctions Are The New Hot Commodity On Ebay

Quite a few sellers on eBay have found a new gold mine. So much so that eBay has a whole category dedicated to this new type of auction.
Mystery auctions, which now reside in the “Everything Else” parent category, are getting bids in the thousands of dollars. And buyers don’t even know what they’re getting!

The basic premise behind a mystery auction is to create some virtual or imaginary object to “sell” to buyers. To follow eBay’s TOS, sellers must list this item for sale, whether it’s a virtual dandelion or a Wonka Bar, and suggest that:

Anything else you receive is a gift from me to you.

Those magic words are making buyers flock to these auctions. A “tube of sunscreen” recently sold for over $4,500, but I’ll talk more about that later.

There are two major types of mystery auctions.

First is the multiple-item raffle type auction. This is a dutch auction, with each item ranging from $0.99 to $50. Many of these auctions are as simple as the seller sending cash back to the buyer’s paypal accounts. This is a “gift” in addition to the virtual item they actually bought. Some buyers get less than the sale price, some get more. The seller gets to keep the rest.

People love to gamble. As long as the cash remains “a gift from the seller”, it’s ok by eBay.

All you have to do is write an interesting auction, and you don’t even have to have an actual product.

The second type of mystery auction involves offering a silly item, such as Cheez Whiz, or a 7-year old hamburger, as the “item”. Then irresistible gifts are implied for winning the auction. Once a reputation is built up that the seller offers valuable items, bidders just can’t stop bidding.

Not only that, buyers are more than happy with what they receive. Another “tube of sunscreen” sold for $3,500 recently, and buyer feedback reads:

EZ IS THE MAN!100%Genuine&Trustworthy!Amazing GIFTS & MORE!Beyond SATISFIED!:-D

Figure out how to break into the mystery auction market and you’ve got a license to print money. And judging by the best selling items, anything you ever learned about building good looking websites is out the window. These auctions look terrible. Big flashing text, terrible music playing in the background, animated gifs, the whole bit.

Make it as ugly as possible, and rake in the cash. I’m gonna go write one right now.

Joe LeKostaj is a seasoned webmaster and runs several sites including Weird eBay Auctions You can find links to many well established mystery auctions on his site.

By Joe LeKostaj

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9 Tips for Free Paid Surveys - Success Tips in Making Money with Free Paid Surveys

Thousands of people are quietly earning between $500 to $1500 or more a month by completing “real” free paid surveys, reviewing free offers and other get paid to (GPT) programs in their spare time. Here are 9 tips for success in making money with real paid surveys programs:

1. Signup using your paypal account email address. If you do not have one, you should get one for free at paypal.com. When completing offers, use a free email account like gmail.com (google mail). I prefer gmail.com because you can have a multitude of email addresses with just one email account.

For instance, if your gmail email address is myemail@gmail.com, you can put a “.” in between any of the letters of the email address (before the @) for a different email address that goes to your central account. As an example – my.email@gmail.com will go to your myemail@gmail.com account.

2. Concentrate on 4 or 5 Free Paid Survey companies. This way you can add up the dollar amounts and reach minimum payment faster. If you do this you will not be spreading yourself, and your time, too thin among tons of free paid survey companies.

3. The biggest problem people report concern getting offers to “clear” which means to show up from pending to will be paid. This is sometimes caused by doing too many offers from one offer grouping. Therefore, it is advised to only do at most, 3 email offers and 3 zip code offers at once from one of the same offer groups, and use different email addresses for each.

4. Clear your computer’s “cookies” often and between logins of different paid survey companies.

5. Once you signup with a free paid survey company, go to their forum or FAQ’s page and review it. Most companies have standard rules and terms, but some may have specific rules that must be followed.

6. Always use real and correct information. Never supply an incorrect email or zip code or fake information. You can usually use alternate email address, but they must be live, working email addresses. If you use fake information, your account will be terminated and earnings forfeited.

7. Setup a certain time each day to complete surveys – whether it’s 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc. Focus during this time on getting the surveys and/or offers completed. It is easy to get side-tracked!

8. Choose free trial offers, surveys, free offers that you are truly interested in. Free trial offers usually pay more than free offers, yet I try to stay with “free” offers.

9. If you do not wish to be contacted by telephone, do not complete survey’s or offers that say “you will receive up to 5 phone calls or emails regarding this request” — or something of that nature. These are usually “make money” or “work at home” offers. Alternatively, setup a free voicemail account like AOL’s AIM free voice mail and use that phone number instead. That way your home phone will not be ringing all day long.

Using these 9 tips for success with free paid surveys can help you with these programs. This is an excellent way to make money online. Thousands of people are earning an income with reputable Free Paid Surveys – you can too.

By Anne Dixon,
Copyright 2007. Anne Dixon writes about a variety of topics including how to make money online. If you wish to read Getting Started Step by Step to Making Money Fast With Free Paid Surveys, then visit FreePaidSurveyz.com.

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Home Equity Loan: Preferred Source Of Consumer Credit

A home equity loan is easier to and comes at a lower interest rate than other forms of credit; plus it can save you money at tax time.

Home equity loans remain a preferred source of consumer credit. Home equity loans can give you a lump sum of cash at relatively low interest rates, along with certain tax advantages not available with other kinds of borrowing.

 Some home equity loans come with low introductory rates and variable interest; others come with fixed rates. Some loans have balloon payments at the end of the term as a way to keep the monthly payments lower.

 The Right Time For A Home Equity Loan

A home equity loan makes financial sense when,

  - you can pay off high-interest debts like credit cards, car loans or medical expenses with home equity refinancing that’s not subject to rising interest rates.

  - there is enough equity built up in your house so you can borrow less than 80% of the home’s value. This means you won’t have to pay Private Mortgage Insurance.

  - you won’t be moving anytime in the next few years. That way the loan expenses—closing costs, loan fees, discount points—on the new mortgage will be paid back cost-effectively.

  - interest rates are a percentage point or more below what you are currently paying on your mortgage.

you want the convenience of consolidating your bills into a single monthly payment with a fixed repayment term.

 Anytime you get a loan using your principal residence to guarantee repayment, federal credit law gives you three days to reconsider a signed credit agreement and cancel the deal without penalty. This “right to rescind” is guaranteed by the Truth In Lending Act. You have until midnight of the third business day to cancel the credit transaction.

 You can learn how to avoid Home Equity Loan scams, plus get a free quote at Easy Mortgage Refinancing.This is a no-risk way to see how much you might be qualified to borrow with a home equity loan.

By Mike Hamel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Hamel is the author of three business books and several articles about mortgage financing. His material is featured on sites like Easy Mortgage Refinancing.

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