The entire web has shifted. Instead of being hungry for information, we're smothered in it. Instead of looking for something interesting to ponder, we're looking for something to give us a mental break. This may not be the case ALL of the time, but it's happened enough to change user behavior across social media and the web in general.
It's not just new content that users are looking for either, it's new brands, products, and experiences. That's great news for a startups and entrepreneurs everywhere, but there's something else you need to consider. Because the web has shifted towards visual communication, users and consumers aren't giving you much time to make a good impression. They'll often make their judgement on whether or not you're worth more of their time within a few seconds of being exposed to your brand. This impression could happen within a social network, on your website, or through an ad, so it's important that you put your best foot forward on all of those media. Most of you are probably asking, "How do I do that?" The answer is simple -- get sexy. 
By "sexy" I don't mean that you should add half-naked pictures of attractive people to everything you put out there. I just mean you need to look good. Your overall visual presence needs to be attractive to the audience you're after or you'll lose them before they read a single word about you or what you're selling. Luckily, there are a handful of cheap and free tools out there to help you do this and I'm giving you a list of my favorites.
For a Better Looking Website
Check out WordPress if you haven't already. It's a great CMS with tons of plugins and great premium themes to help you build (or update) a website that has a visual and functional flow that fits your brand and appeals to your current and potential customers. I'm not going to dive into how to use WordPress or how to build a website but you can grab a great collection of resources here and you can check out some of the themes (templates) that are available here.
Note: Make sure you're using a responsive theme or have a mobile-friendly site. Mobile traffic is going nowhere but up and mobile commerce isn't far behind.
For Better Looking Social Profiles
It's important that you're using consistent imagery across all of your social profiles so that users can identify you at a glance. This not only helps with growing your following but also for increasing engagement. This Timeline Slicer makes it really easy to update your Facebook Page, but don't forget that the dimensions will be changing soon if they haven't already. For all other social media channels you can use this Social Media Image Maker for quick resizing.
For Better Looking Social and Blog Images
There are a ton of tools and resources that fall into this category so we'll have to break it down. First, there are a few tools that help you piece together a complete image. Canva is a user-friendly design tool with plenty of free layouts and resources for you to use for everything including social posts, blog images, coupons, presentations, and posters. Plus, Guy Kawasaki just joined them as their Chief Evangelist, so you know it's good. I also really like tools like Infogr.am and Visual.ly for creating fun infographics.
The next part of this section is actual imagery. Many of the pre-mentioned resources have the option to upload your own images into a template. Most businesses don't have the resources to build a high-quality visual asset library so they default to low-quality stock photos that might actually be hurting more than they're helping. If you are able to budget for high-quality images, I recommend looking into BigStock as they are much more reasonably priced for small businesses, publish really helpful content, give free resources, and offer a free trial.
If you're looking for free high-quality images to use there are a couple sites you should bookmark. The first is Unplash.com. It's a site with a collection of creative images from great photographers that you can use however you want. The next is the Sumall image library that has some fun illustrations and images to choose from. Also free to use. The other site to consider is Getty Images, as they just made their images free to embed across the web.
If you're more hands on and have a bit more design experience, take a look at my list of apps and resources here. The good folks at Buffer also put together a similar collection of resources that you can reference here. Here's a list of some other design-focused sights I rely on pretty regularly.
The Noun Project - Great icons for almost anything.
Paper and Pencil from FiftyThree - Hands down the best drawing app for iOS, so if you've got some artistic ability this is the way to go.
MightyDeals - Great deals on design resources.
Doodly - A fun app on iOS for adding doodles and text to your photos.
