Creating a Blog

Creating a Blog

There are several steps involved to get your blogs up and running on your website.

Step 1 - Set Up the Blog

  1. Go to Website / Blogs / add new blog.
  2. Enter the Blog Name and Title.
  3. Choose a URL slug.
  4. Decide who is able to see the blog.
  5. Home Page Content is usually set to "No" unless you want the blog to replace what is currently on your home page. Note: blog articles only display on the blog itself, as home page content, or in preview blocks.
  6. The default for Page Templates is "Inherit," but you can override this by choosing a different template for the page you are creating.  More Information About Page Templates.

Step 2 - Add Stories to the Blog

Once the blog has been created, you can start adding stories.
  1. Click on the blue hyperlink number in the Stories column. It will be "0" if your blog is brand new.
  2. Select "add new story in Newsletter Articles" or use the drop down to select a different blog.


Content

This is where you will add the Content for the Blog Story. It is set up like a website content page.
  1. Give the story a Title, Published Status, a unique URL slug.
  2. Story Image:  The image Facebook will use if you link to this content page. 
  3. Content Excerpt:  A short paragraph for your blog. This is the only part the reader will see unless they click "read more." This could be a list of topics or the first few sentences of your main content.
  4. Content Body:  The main text and graphics for your blog. This is where the reader will see the rest of the story.


Visibility & Settings

  1. Content Location:  The blog the story belongs to.
  2. Page Template: The page style. Visit our article on Page Templates for more information.
  3. Publish/Unpublish Dates/Times:  Blog content is ordered based on the Content Date of the story itself, NOT the publish date. The publish date (and unpublish date) merely determines when the content is made visible.
  4. Who can see this?  Specify who the content should be visible for.
  5. Home Page Content:  Only select Yes if you want this story to become your home page.
  6. Content Date/Time:  This (which defaults to the date the story was created) is the determining factor in order.


Comments

The purpose of Comments is to provide a way to create an on-going conversation about a particular topic or provide a place to post announcements. Once a comment is posted, users with permission will have the ability to reply to the comment or simply "thank" the user for their post.

Comments are now located on the Communications tab and are called Message Boards. Currently, this feature is available to Premium & Concierge customers only. Get more information in our Knowledge Base about Message Boards.

Step 3 - Set Up the Blog Block in the Structure

  1. Go to Website / Structure / Region "Content" / Blog Block "Blog Content" / Edit Block.
  2. The Blog Block is used to display the list of stories in a blog. If the content page being rendered does not come from a blog, this block will be ignored.
  3. Use the Preamble to place introductory content such as a title, graphic, and brief description of your blog.
  4. # stories per page - Set the number of blog stories you want to be visible at one time.
  5. Previous/Next navigation position - Select top, bottom, both, or none.
  6. "Older Stories" text - What label do you want for blog stories that are older?
  7. "Newer Stories" text - What label do you want for blog stories that are newer?


Step 4 - Add Navigation and Connect to the Blog

  1. Go to Website / Navigation and either add a new menu entry or connect the blog to an existing menu entry.

This is how the blog looks once it is published:

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