Beautify Your Blog With Free Stock Photos From Unsplash

Nobody said content creation was easy.

After all, it's not enough to be a good writer—whether you like it or not, you're also going to need an aesthetically pleasing blog if you want to win over new readers.

But let's face it: most of us aren't designers, let alone graphic designers. And creating beautiful banners for your articles requires a whole skill set unto itself.

Thankfully, there is another way—and we here at Hashnode just made it easier than ever!

Introducing Our Unsplash Integration

With our new Unsplash integration, you now have the option to add a cover photo to your articles by directly sourcing it from one of the internet's largest free stock photo libraries.

Unsplash is an indispensable resource for anyone who needs to add visual appeal to their blog posts.

That said, if you were to source your stock photos directly from Unsplash, you could encounter issues associated with photos that don't have the ideal dimensions.

With Hashnode's Unsplash integration, photos are automatically cropped, zoomed, and/or otherwise optimized to be used as cover photos. No photo editing skills required!

How to Use the Unsplash Integration

When you click Set Cover at the top of a new draft, you will now be presented with two options: Upload or Unsplash.

Type in some keywords into the search bar and press Enter on your keyboard. Scroll through the search results and click on the photo that speaks to you the most.

Hashnode will then do the heavy lifting of optimizing the photo to be used as a cover image, including the proper attribution to give credit to the creator.

This photo will also be used as the OG image for social media posts by default, unless you choose to replace it with a custom OG image in the post's Settings.

Why Use Stock Photo Cover Images?

• Articles with cover images are much more likely to grab a reader's attention
• Cover images help set the tone and define the style of your blog posts
• Free stock photos are the best option for those of us who don't have graphic design skills
• Posts with eye-catching OG images get significantly more clicks on social media

Show Us What You've Got

Eagle-eyed Hashnode users may have noticed that this new integration was shipped several days ahead of the official announcement here...

Have you already put this feature to use? Do you have any old articles in your blog's archive that could use a stock photo makeover?

We would love to see how you're using it! Try out the Unsplash integration and share a screenshot of your stock photo covers in action on your blog in the comments below! 👇

And be sure to keep an eye out—who knows, you could be among the first to notice the rollout of additional new features that we haven't even announced yet... 👀