If you are reading this you probably already know that finding a tattoo design online that you want to keep for the rest of your life is not as easy as it first seems. With too much choice and too much garbage on the net it is easy to see why.

This is easier if you know what to expect and look out for. That said there are 4 basic types of tattoo design sites.

The first of these is naturally free sites. Browsing sites that don't cost you anything is the natural choice for most people. Obviously it is better not to pay anything unless you get something in return. However free designs more often than not have poor artistic and design and image quality. Over use is another big issue with free designs. Lots of people download the same free tattoo designs each day and get their bodies inked permanently. Imagine lying on the beach surrounded by other cheapskates all with exactly the same tattoo as you! Lastly free designs are often illegal copies from the artist who has the copyright for them.

The one-off purchase of a tattoo design online is an option offered by some sites where visitors browse pages of designs on a site and just pay for the one they want. A single design often usually costs half that of a collection download or membership site which give you thousands of designs instead of just one. This is obviously not good value but for may be the answer who know exactly what they are looking for and can actually find it.

Tattoo collection downloads in the form of ebooks can be saved on to your pc so you don't need to connect to the net to browse. With a huge number of designs that you now own you are free to browse at your leisure and when you find what you are looking for the design can then be printed off and taken to the artist.

Membership sites, the last category offer online access to designs, usually thousands, in return for a joining fee. This gives you unlimited access to the site and designs. Members then browse online, enlarge and print off flash to take to their tattoo artist. The advantages of membership sites is that new designs are added to the collection fairly regularly and in most cases they have online communities, forums etc where photos and ideas can be exchanged. Like downloads, membership sites often give added incentives to join or buy usually in the form of tattoo info ebooks. This may not persuade everyone but can be very useful to some. Check out what you are getting beforehand in the package and think whether it is of value to you before making a decision to buy.

The cost of a quality collection download or membership site is around $20 - £30. Is it worth paying this, the price of a dvd or a bottle of wine for something that you will always have and be a part of you?