Sitebuilder Plus: Add A Blog

Adding a blog to your business's website is a great way to encourage customer loyalty and supplement your visibility to search engines.

You can configure your blog to appear the way you want it to. For example, you can decide how many posts show up on your blog or how big the font size on your blog is.

To add a blog to your site:

Click Websites Manager in the left navigation menu. Then, click Edit Site.

Click Insert in the top toolbar and mouse over the text element. Select blog from the secondary drop-down list.

This will open up a small window asking you to setup a name and description for your blog.

The last step will be to use the Blog Settings editor on the right side of the screen to customize your blog. You can also click on "New" to start your first post.

Tips for creating a successful blog

Post often. The more you post the more "fresh" your website will be, and search engines may rank your site higher because of it.

Keep posts short. Shorter posts are more likely to be read all the way through by your readers.

Promote it. Tell your friends about your blog. Share links to your blog articles in your social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Encourage subscriptions. Your blog has an RSS feed that viewers can subscribe to so they can be alerted when you post a new topic.

Responses

homestead_faq

677 Messages

•

44.6K Points

12 years ago

Hi,

Adding a blog to your business's website is a great way to encourage customer loyalty and supplement your visibility to search engines.

You can configure your blog to appear the way you want it to. For example, you can decide how many posts show up on your blog or how big the font size on your blog is.

To add a blog to your site:

Click Websites Manager in the left navigation menu. Then, click Edit Site.

Click Insert in the top toolbar and mouse over the text element. Select blog from the secondary drop-down list.

This will open up a small window asking you to setup a name and description for your blog.

The last step will be to use the Blog Settings editor on the right side of the screen to customize your blog. You can also click on "New" to start your first post.

Tips for creating a successful blog

Post often. The more you post the more "fresh" your website will be, and search engines may rank your site higher because of it.

Keep posts short. Shorter posts are more likely to be read all the way through by your readers.

Promote it. Tell your friends about your blog. Share links to your blog articles in your social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Encourage subscriptions. Your blog has an RSS feed that viewers can subscribe to so they can be alerted when you post a new topic.

lucilda5962

4 Messages

•

362 Points

Ever since the blog feature has been introduced I have been trying to use it and it seems most complicated to figure out; it looks easy as said, but not so to me, this is the most difficult of Homestead tools I come across over the 14 years I am with the company. However I plan to give it another shot patiently, and if it did not come clear to me I'll not attempt using it again, but if I get it I'll let you all know what was the problem for me.

10 years ago

deannarbeech6233

8 Messages

•

384 Points

With help, I just figured it out. Let me share how I got it up.
1 - start with just a blank page that has your header on it.
2 - click on insert blog
3 - the blog feature will automatically load a template onto the page.
4 - go to the side bar where you get to modify and make your changes. They do not show up on the template till you publish, but they do work. I recommend that you increase the size of the title because it is pretty small in the template. And check your color scheme.
5 - then click on new and fill out the title of your new blog and insert the text.
6 - hit publish.
The weird part is that nothing shows up after you do this. It only uploads when you actually publish the page to the web.
7 - really publish the page to the web and then you will see the blog.

10 years ago

caroline0055

1 Message

•

114 Points

The other thing to note is that you have to hover over the text icon to get the blog icon to appear. It states that in the instructions but I missed it the first time.

10 years ago

lauren5077

19 Messages

•

828 Points

Can someone give me a link to a blog they have on the homestead site so I can see what it is I should be looking for? Thanks for your help

10 years ago

drew_n

1.4K Messages

•

262.9K Points

One of your sites shows a blog in the system, but to display it, you must add the element to a page. In Sitebuilder, go to the page you want for the blog and click on Insert. Place your mouse over Text and a menu with blog should appear. It will place the element.

10 years ago

christine0304

2 Messages

•

310 Points

12 years ago

Where do we find how to subscribe to the RSS feed?

esther4477

12 Messages

•

534 Points

12 years ago

How do you add a blog to storefront? and why does the one above look so simply and with storefront is so complicated.

esther4477

12 Messages

•

534 Points

12 years ago

Does anyone know the answer to this??????

vicki6862

2 Messages

•

212 Points

12 years ago

This does not help at all

timsquest23961

2 Messages

•

170 Points

12 years ago

I can't get my blog to load on my page

deannarbeech6233

8 Messages

•

384 Points

I can't get the text to show up. It puts the template up and when I publish the text does not update

Any help?

10 years ago

drew_n

1.4K Messages

•

262.9K Points

Which site and page are you placing the blog on? What post is not showing up for you?

10 years ago

deannarbeech6233

8 Messages

•

384 Points

Hi, I'm trying to put it on the www.brierpatchkids.com under the page titled - The Brier Patch Blog. I didn't know that it was supposed to have a feedback spot. I can see that the template has this all already fix into the blog. So, I deleted my text and inserted the blog posting. The template loaded. Then I went to make a "new" post and then I published it but the text never moved in to the blog. When I preview the page it just shows the template. I'm afraid officially publish the page to the site since that will kill the good looking page.

10 years ago

drew_n

1.4K Messages

•

262.9K Points

Unfortunately, the blog doesn't preview. You can only publish it to get a look, but I see 3 posts on your blog, 2 published, and 1 a draft.

10 years ago

deannarbeech6233

8 Messages

•

384 Points

Yep, when I couldn't see it. I did it again.
How do I delete the wrong ones?

10 years ago

tedia3946

10 Messages

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936 Points

12 years ago

I agree completely with the above comment. I have been trying for hours to insert the blog that I created in my website account to actually appear on a page in my website, or to create a link to it even, for that matter. Please advise!!!!

donna3039

2 Messages

•

200 Points

12 years ago

Tedia 3946... The blog is simple to set up. On the page you want to place your blog, just go up to INSERT and right beneath the TEXT BOX CHOICE, you will see BLOG. Click on that and it will insert a blog window onto your page. You can expand it or make it whatever size you want. You'll see blog settings over on the right, and you can set your preferences there.

You may be confused because in this mode, you cannot see what you posted on your blog. You HAVE TO PUBLISH it and look at it that way. However, the posts are easy to edit if you're unhappy with what you said. You just go back into your site-building mode and go into Blog Posts and edit. It's easy once you figure out you cannot see the posts in SiteBuilder mode.

decarlo0457

2 Messages

•

210 Points

12 years ago

do we paste the blog text on the page or do we enter it into the New blog section??

tedia3946

10 Messages

•

936 Points

12 years ago

Is it possible to categorize and save old blog posts in some kind of library, or do they all just stay in a sequential order that would have to be scanned through to find old posts?

hugh1071

23 Messages

•

1.4K Points

What I do with a number of things including web-pages is to number them (start at 00001 or 99999) after you URL example www.myblog.com/html.

6 years ago

hugh1071

23 Messages

•

1.4K Points

I should have added that if you want to start with 1 and go forward you have to enter Zero'.s in front or by the time you get to 10 it will fall in beside the 1 and when you start at 99999 the next would be 99998 this way you last post is always on top and you don't have to scroll through a lot files in the years to come.

6 years ago

aline_marie5632

5 Messages

•

350 Points

12 years ago

I've followed the instructions correctly ... but, my page is blank unless in sitebuilder mode ... and my post isn't showing there either ... even after publishing the page and posting to facebook ......... what's up?

cora0597

2 Messages

•

190 Points

12 years ago

I have a question similar to Tedia3946 - I'd like my Blog to look more "professional" and be easier to navigate - ie, organize posts into blog categories

Or at the very least a list off to the side that shows topics of older posts,
Plus a way to search through blog posts.

Any ideas/advice??? (do support people ever check these comments???)

aline_marie5632

5 Messages

•

350 Points

12 years ago

NO! I DON'T BELIEVE THE TECNICIANS DO CHECK THESE COMMENTS ... ALL I SEE IS CONTINUATIONS OF MORE OF OUR COMMENTS REGARDING THE PROBLEMS! ... SO WHERE DOES THE HELP BEGIN?

cora0597

2 Messages

•

190 Points

12 years ago

I was just on live chat with a fellow from Homestead Support. Here's the conversation (hope this helps some of you):

[Cora] I'm somewhat disappointed in the blog. Is there: a) a way to organize posts into categories, b) a way to list titles of either most recent or most popular blogs, c) a way to search blogs entries for a certain topic.

[Support] unfortuantely our blog is pretty basic and none of those are possible

[Cora] Ok. any plans for upgrading in the future, or do you think probably not??

[Support] I have not seen anything, but sometimes we learn about new things same time as you. Definitely go to community.homestead.com and post the request. The engineers and marketing staff do look there and read all posts and suggestions.

[Cora] Ok thanks. I appreciate your candidness. In the meantime, would you have any suggestions.... here's my dilemma: in the past I've had a separate blog through blogger but from what I understand, having the blog an integral part of the site is better for google rankings b/c that's where the new content is being added, etc. Is there any way to somehow incorporate an "outside" blog into my site without just having a link to it???

[Support] I would approach the blog provider and ask if they have a way for you to embed the blog into your site. If wo, it will be better for SEO than just a link to the blog.

darryl6283

2 Messages

•

144 Points

12 years ago

my buttons are showing at top of my page---I will like to move my buttons to the left of page....this will allow me more flexibility when adding new buttons

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
how do i switch my buttons identifying pages from one location of page to another?.

mike_f

782 Messages

•

184.8K Points

This is a great conversation that's separate from the main topic, so I created a new topic to continue the discussion. Please reference the new topic here: Edit layout of navigation menu

12 years ago

homestead_faq

Sitebuilder Plus: Add A Blog

homestead_faq

lucilda5962

deannarbeech6233

caroline0055

lauren5077

drew_n

christine0304

esther4477

esther4477

vicki6862

timsquest23961

deannarbeech6233

drew_n

deannarbeech6233

drew_n

deannarbeech6233

tedia3946

donna3039

decarlo0457

tedia3946

hugh1071

hugh1071

aline_marie5632

cora0597

aline_marie5632

cora0597

darryl6283

mike_f

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