Keeping your members informed and your website content fresh is a key component to member engagement. So, we made it really easy to add new content to the Blog/News section of your website.
Sections in this article:
Video Tutorial - Creating Blog Articles
Create Blog Category
On the backend, click Site Content in the left sidebar.
Next click Blog Categories.
Click Add Blog Categories.
From there the Blog Category Modal will open, allowing admins to add information. Fields in the screenshots explained:
Inactive Toggle (upper right corner)
This toggle defaults to Inactive to allow admins to hide the category on the frontend until they are ready for users to see it. Once ready to share, admins can toggle this to Active.
Name
This is the name of the category that is visible to frontend users.
Parent Category (optional)
Blog categories can be nested. For example an association may have a general blog category called "Recorded Webinars", but would like a sub-blog category in "Recorded Webinars" called "Safety Trainings" - in that example, the admin would create a blog category called "Safety Trainings" and the Parent Category of it would be "Recorded Webinars."
Make sure blog categories are created first before trying to add one as a Parent Category.
Display on Member Compass Dashboard checkbox (optional)
Check to show the blog category in the Member Compass.
Tagline
Add a tagline describing the blog category.
Description (optional)
Admins can describe the contents hosted in the blog category.
Icon
Blog categories must have an icon selected. Icon selection can be repeated in multiple blog categories.
Featured Image (optional)
This is the image that will display on the blog listing page.
If a blog article does not have its own Featured Image set, the blog category's Featured Image will be used on the blog listing page and if the blog article is displayed in the Top Featured section or Homepage Slider section.
Only Accessible By These Groups/Committees (optional)
Add existing Groups or Committees from the dropdown to limit visibility of blog articles in the blog category to only those in the Group(s) and/or Committee(s).
If someone who does not have access (in other words, they are not in selected Groups or Committees) tries to view a restricted blog article/category, they will be directed to the "Restricted" message.
Show preview to public checkbox (optional)
Locked down categories can have preview "teaser text" visible to the public. This allows website visitors to see a "preview" of the content, but only make the content of the full article available to the restricted Group(s) and/or Committee(s).
Checking this box allows the category to be seen by the public in a list view only. When unauthorized uaers click to view the article they will see the "Restricted" message.
Page Title
This is the information that will display in a browser tab
It is replicated from the blog category name, but admins can overwrite this.
Description (optional)
Description appears on search engines, although a search engine can override content put into this field.
Friendly File Name
This is the domain that will be used to display the blog category. Friendly file names must be unique from other blog category friendly file names.
This is populated from the blog category Name, but admins can overwrite this.
Once finished, click Save & Close.
When ready for the blog category to display, change the toggle from Inactive to Active!
If a blog article is in a blog category that is Inactive, the blog article will not be shown.
Create New Article
On the backend, click Site Content in the left sidebar
Click on Blog Articles
Then click the Add Article button in the top right corner
Article Settings
Title
This is the article title that displays on the frontend.
Author (optional)
Author must be a record in the database and is chosen from the dropdown or by typing in the name of the record that is in the database.
Category (optional)
A blog article can be in more than one category; check all relevant categories.
If a blog article is listed in multiple categories, be aware that if one of those categories is restricted to a Group(s) and/or Committee(s) and another category is public, the public will be able to view the article.
Published On
Add the date the article should be published on. If this date is in the future, the article will not show on the frontend until that day.
Make sure the article is toggled to Active for the Published On date to trigger.
Unpublish On (optional)
If an Unpublished On date is selected, the article will be hidden on the frontend on that date.
Featured Image (optional)
Overview Text (optional)
This will show as "teaser" text on the main blog page; if left blank the system will automatically show the first 150 characters from the article.
Blog Article Featured Images
The image that is displayed on the frontend website for a blog article is determined by the following priority:
Blog Article Image
Blog Category Image
Blog Default Image
What does this mean?
If the article has a specific Featured Image assigned, then this image will always show as the image for this article on the frontend.
If the article does not have its own image, but is in a blog category that has a Featured Image, then the image from the category will show.
If the article is in more than one blog category the system will determine the image based on:
(1) if only one of the categories has an image set, this is the image that will be displayed
or (2) if more than one category has an image set, the default from Association Settings will be used.
If both the article and blog category do not have an image assigned, then the default image in Association Settings will be displayed.
Article Details
Add the content of the blog article (i.e. text, images, links, etc.).
If the content was previously crafted in a Word doc or similar, you can copy & paste the details in the HTML box. Be sure to paste as plain text or remove the formatting.
Once the article is set up, admins can click View Frontend to easily view the article on the frontend even if it is Inactive.
Finish with SEO (optional)
The SEO information section will automatically populate from the Title field, but admins have the option to edit the SEO information on any article.
Click Save & Close OR Save & View, either of which opens the article to proof and edit the text!
Make the Blog Active
Set the blog article to Active so it can be seen on the frontend immediately! If setting a Published On date, the blog article will still need to be set to Active to allow the posting to occur.
Blogs with a Published On or Unpublish On date that are set to Inactive will not automatically post or be hidden.
The blog article can be made Active from within the modal or from the Article List view.
