Gary is the Most Successful Man in the World

Have you met the most talented person in the World? His name is Gary. Gary runs a successful accounting firm, has generated millions in game changing marketing campaigns and has personally built global IT infrastructure for Coca Cola. Gary also knows more about the Google algorithm than Matt Cuts. When his sites aren’t on top, he sends a quick email to Larry Page and it’s sorted pronto. Sure he’s a little short sighted, but his family don’t mind. Gary’s a catch that’s always home for dinner and is a hit with his work colleagues and neighbours. Gary has even given the perfect Kris Kringle gift seven years in a row.

You see, Gary is probably the most over used business stock photo image out there. In fact, his image is on the home pages and brochures of thousands of businesses around the globe and has been downloaded from one site over 10,000 times (and they stop counting at 10,000). And that’s just one of Gary’s generic business scenes. There are dozens more.

Each time Gary’s image is used, it becomes a little less special and little less valued. This makes the businesses it represents stale, amateurish and like a commodity. If you use Gary, you become just like everyone else. Congratulations, you’ve broken rule #7 of 10 Questions to Answer Before You Buy Images

Do not use the same images as everyone else or people will think you’re like everyone else. Yes the images are free – and free is a good price– but the cost to your business is hidden in a loss of reputation.

You’d probably think nothing of spending a few dollars on an icecream, a coffee or a softdrink. Images only cost a few dollars too. When you need an image to represent your business and go ‘POP!’ steer towards the more quality images on the paid image sites, but don’t use images that have been downloaded too many times.

See my commercial images listings for a list of free and paid stock photo sites. Glance at the download count and skip the images that have been downloaded thousands of times. Don’t download Gary. He’s friends are sticking it to him enough as it is.

David Moloney
Small Business Planned