5 Easy-to-Use Online Image Editing Tools You Need to Create Compelling Images for your Blog Posts

In the world of digital marketing, it’s hard to ignore the fact that visual content has become a powerful online tool for brands in running successful marketing campaigns.

Considering that 65% of people are visual learners and articles with images get 94% more views compared to those without, it makes perfect sense to create compelling images in all areas of your digital marketing efforts.

However, hiring a professional graphic designer with a solid contract from a contract maker to give you high-quality images for your blog posts is expensive.

So how do other marketers edit their images without hiring a pro?

Fortunately, there are some truly magical low-cost and free online image editing tools designed for the technically challenged.

Here are 5 online image editing tools to DIY your images:

Venngage

Infographic templates can be a total life-saver.

Venngage empowers you to make an infographic that’s both beautiful and effective without it feeling like an impossible task.

This online tool helps marketers create content for websites, presentations, ads, social media use and much more.

All you need to do is sign up for free to access thousands of infographics, reports, posters, promotions and social media images.

MakeaMeme

MakeaMeme or MAM is a completely free online tool you can use to make your own meme. It includes a library of images you can simply slap on a caption and download after registering. However, the site does not specify if the images are under copyright, so using them may land you in legal trouble if you use it for your business, especially if your post goes viral. It is far safer to use the meme generator, where you can upload your own image or a stock photo for commercial use.

Here’s one using an image from Pixabay, an equally magical site for free stock photos, illustrations, and videos:

Other sites where you can find free and royalty-free images that require no attribution are MorgueFile and Public Domain Pictures.

Stencil

This is an online tool for easily creating images. It has its own library of thousands of royalty-free images that you can simply drag and drop to the work space, manipulate, filter, and a host of other stuff. The tool also provides social media icons, quotes, and templates.

Here is a sample:

You can’t simply copy and paste the image you’ve made, however. You have to save it on Stencil and download it, which takes a while. At any rate, it is easy to use and the free version allows you to create up to 10 images a month, so it’s all good.

PlaceIt

A blog is a useful marketing tool, more so if you can actively promote your brand through your visual content. A great tool for brand placement is PlaceIt, which lets you drag and drop your website’s URL or any landing page for a product in any of the stock photos or videos it has in its library. Here’s a sample using an image mockup:

It is free to use if you only need a small image (400×300 px) like the one above, but if you want high-res images, you have to pay per piece (from $8 up). You can also get 9 images a month for $29 or 31 images for $99.

You can also make demo videos, but there is no free version. You either pay per video ($29 or so) or pay $199 a month for unlimited videos and nine images.

Canva

Canva is a nifty image-editing tool, which makes it easy to make professional-looking graphics without having any graphic design chops.

You can choose from pre-set templates, or create your own. Aside from photos, you can also create infographics. All you have to do is choose among the many design options and start playing! Some photos and layouts carry a small price tag, but there are many of free ones as well. They have over 1 million pre-existing images and graphics to choose from.

And there you have it, the 5 places to DIY your images!

While these online image editing tools don’t really replace a good graphic designer, it’s nice to consider that there are amazing alternatives to help you kickstart your visual content strategy. Play around with these tools and decide which one best suits you image creation needs.

Do you have other online image editing tools that you love? Let us know by leaving a comment!

Originally published in Inc.com