A Dummies Guide To Using Images On Hubpages

So im sure we have all been there when you sign up to something new on the Internet and the first thing that happens is you get a terms and conditions window spring up, as you scroll down it with the best intentions of reading it you realise that it is several pages long and it will seriously interrupt your facebook time and this cannot happen!!. So what do you do, you just click yes I have read terms and conditions and to be fair nine times out of ten thats the end of that. However there is always that one time when you do or sign up to something and don't read it and you fall foul of the terms you didn't read.

What happened to me could easily happen to anyone even the very experienced hubbers and certainly the newer members, it concerned an image I used without consent and the story is as follows.

I started hub-pages around four years ago with the soul intention of making extra money, to be fair after a year or so I was making around £150 a month and doing quite well, but then I had what a lot of people will get and is called writers block. I tried to fight through it but no matter what I did I couldn't think of any hubs to write.

This went on for around a month and I was getting desperate. I started to think of things that bugged me and one of those things was getting cold feet, I'm a mechanic by trade and standing in a relatively exposed environment with steel toe cap boots on can leave your feet cold. I thought I would write a simple hub offering tips on how to keep your feet warm in winter.

So about a couple of months after writing this hub on how to keep your feet warm in winter I decided that I was going to strike out on my own and create a couple of websites and see if I could increase my earnings, Well unfortunately for me although I gave it a year of trying it didn't work out to well, I do have a couple of good websites, both being game related and they do ok but as anyone will tell you making money from game websites is hard.

The lure of Hub-pages was too strong though and I decided to come back and give it my full attention and see if I could get my earnings back to what they once were. I had only been back a week or so when I got an email that would make me re-evaluate all of my hubs.

The email told me that I had used an image that wasn't mine to use in a certain hub and that it belonged to a photographer who had his own site and had allowed this image to be used on a BBC website. I had then done a google image search and taken it from there. This turned out to be a silly and naive mistake. The owner was claiming £5 per month for the use of the image and £5 a month for not having the full consent of the owner, All of this plus VAT was to be added and the hub in question was 19 months old, You do the maths.

This was like a blow to the stomach, I quickly went onto the forums and seeked advice, A few people said he wouldn't find me and to not worry as it sounded like a scam but in my heart of hearts I knew it was the real deal. I decided to appeal to the photographers better nature and sent an email apologising profusely. Luckily for me this did the trick and he let me off but it has been a sharp warning, He also stated in the email he knew my name, Not hard to find out, and my address. Below are some tips on staying safe when publishing photo's.

• If unsure use your own photo's, this is the easiest way of making sure you don't get caught out, take your own photo's and if you have an Smart-phone you can then simply upload them to hub-pages.
• Do not type in "copyright Free images" Into google, It brings you millions of results and they are not all copyright free.
• Royalty free sounds good right!!! Wrong, This does not mean you wont get charged, you can use the photo's but must abide by the rules set by the website.
• By all means use sites such as dreams-time and use the free images contained within but please read the terms and conditions for free use as there are bound to be some

If like me your still a little unsure as to how to avoid trouble then the best idea really is to take your own photos. I own an IPhone 4s and as with most modern phones the camera is of a very good quality, this means in my day to day life if I see a picture I think would work well as a hub I simply snap it and using the hub-page app, simply upload it to my site and when I get home it is there waiting for me. This is the only way to make sure you are not going to get caught out and is how im doing it from now on!!. Good luck people.