I don't have to tell you how a nice image can really spruce up your blog post. You can find countless articles in this blog niche that tell you all the reasons why you should add some pretty pictures to catch the reader's attention. Instead, I want to share with you my favorite place to find high quality pictures and how they can not only make your posts more interesting, but also make you some money!

I have been using iStockPhoto for royalty-free stock images a few months now and I absolutely love it. Whenever I am finished writing a post, I usually have a good idea what I want the picture to look like. I always search Creative Commons, Microsoft's ClipArt Gallery, and even Google Image search, but never find the image I want or one that I can use legally. So then I head over to iStockPhoto.com and always find exactly what I am looking for. Their collection of images is huge! Their website is easy to use and you can always find what you need quickly and easily.

Unlike Creative Commons licensed photos, images from iStockPhoto are not free. But they are not expensive either. Once you create an account, you can buy credits for as little as $13.00 USD for 10 credits. You can use these credits to buy images, videos, or even vector graphic files. Images with a size appropriate for a blog only cost 1 credit. I have no problem paying $1.30 to make my posts much more visually appealing. In the long run, it improves the aesthetics of my entire blog.

Here is the best part. Once you open an account at iStockPhoto, you can refer other users to the service. For each user you refer, you get $10.00 as soon as they buy some credits. That is not a bad deal! You can make your $13.00 back plus some after referring just 2 users. Your earnings can also be converted to credits so you never have to pay for images again. Pretty sweet, huh?

Oh...if you are good with a camera or graphic arts, you can also make money by uploading and selling your work. iStockPhoto.com truly is a one stop shop for artists, bloggers, and entrepreneurs!