Stock and custom photos and images can add a nice final touch to your website and blog when making a point. The prevalence of photo sharing services and new digital technologies has made photos more common across the Web, so your content needs to secure stunning images to keep up with the competition.
Adding photos and creative captions makes your content more likely to be shared, putting more emphasis on the photos you use. This increased pressure tempts many to use photos they find around the Web without proper attribution or sometimes without the proper license. This can harm your reputation and potentially your bottom line.
For WordPress sites, a plug-in named Credit Tracker makes it easy for you to show credits for the images you’re using. The service reaches out to image agencies and photo houses to locate used images and add in proper attribution, that way you’re always compliant with the photo agreements you sign with stock services.
Adding Credit Tracker’s simple code to your site will not only locate information about photos but also allows you to create Media Credit Tables, allowing you to track and properly attribute all of the images on your site. These tables give you a central house to manage all of your photos.
This means that you can properly attribute photos from other sources, such as those from photo publishing services like Flickr that use a Creative Commons license. These licenses often allow you to use photos without needing to pay anyone but require you to properly attribute the owner.
The fields supported by Credit Tracker include:
- Identification/Number
- Source
- Copyright
- Owner/Author
- Publisher
- Link
- License
If your image doesn’t require a copyright designation, you can use the table’s copyright section to craft captions for your photos. This typically applies to photos that are in the public domain.
If your site or service has any connection with the U.S. government, you can use photos from the related branch, agency or military arm. All photos created by U.S. government employees are considered to be in the public domain, but it is good form to attribute the photo to the proper department or, in the case of the military, the proper service member.
It’s very likely that you’ll need to edit your media library at some point, even if it’s something as simple as adding an entry. Credit Tracker will automatically update your Media Credit Table to reflect the changes you’ve made in a media library entry.
For artists and sites that want to potentially share or show-off content, the Credit Tracker plug-in can be displayed on your website. The service provides code so that you can show the Tracker itself, with options to customize it to fit your theme.
Labs64 created Credit Tracker to provide companies with a quick and easy way to properly attribute photos on their websites. This keeps you in the clear with the owners of photos you license. It also shows your visitors that you’re willing to do the right thing and take pride in both your work and the work of others.
