Website View:
General Blogs are series of posts that can be pushed to the website with different template options. Unlimited blogs can be added in the admin, and they can be placed either on the homepage or an internal page to display their posts.
Before you start creating or managing your blogs, log in to the Website Admin - or the back-end of your website.
Table of Content
Creating a Blog
Select Tools.
Click General Blogs.
Fill the fields in the green Add New Blog box.
Blog Title: Add a name for your blog
Description: Add a short description for your blog
Alerts: If turned on, it will provide E-Club Members an option to opt-in and receive alerts when a new post is made for the blog.
Click the "Add Blog" button.
Note: Creating the blog also creates the page for it. All of its blog posts - new and old - created in the admin will be viewable in this page on your website.
Admin View:
Creating or Editing Blog Posts
Select Tools.
Click General Blogs.
Click the "Pencil" icon next to your existing blog.
Click the "Add New Post" button to create a new post. If you need to edit an existing post, click the name of the post or click the pencil icon on the right side of the post.
Fill out or edit the fields in the post. Listed below are the available fields.
Title: Add a name for the post.
Author: Add the post's author.
Date: Adjust the post's publish date.
Time: Adjust the post's publish time.
Status: Change post status to Draft to save content without publishing, or change it to "Published" to have the post publish on the site once the publish date and time are reached.
Excerpt: Set up a short extract / teaser that will be from the content of your post; it will display in some RSS feed templates on your website.
Post Image: The main image for your post. This image will be displayed on the post's page as well as most RSS/Feed templates on your website, and will be the image attached to your post if you choose to share it to Facebook or Twitter / X.
Post Content: The content of your post.
Newsletter Subscriber Sharing Options: Check this box to share the post to your subscribers via e-mail. This is only available if the "Alerts" option was enabled for the blog.
Facebook Comments: Enable or disable the ability for Facebook users to comment in the blog post on your website. This is only available if the "Facebook" plugin was enabled in the "Plugin Manager" tool.
Social Media Options: Options to push your post to Social Media. These will not show up unless you have a Facebook and/or Twitter / X account connected to the back-end of your website.
Click the "Save Post" button.
Pinning a Blog Post
With blog posts, you can pin at least one within your blog - to push it to the top of the list regardless of its publish date and time. It is useful to display an important announcement, to bring up urgent information, or for however you would like to use this feature.
To pin a post, you can click the "Pin" icon to the right of the blog post. Pinned posts - the ones that are highlighted with a bright color in the blog tool - can be unpinned by clicking the same icon.
Displaying a Blog on a Page
Though the blog will have its own page, you can display the blog in another page or section on your website. As an example, the steps shown below will go over the process on setting up a blog through a feed on the homepage.
Click Menu & Pages > Main Pages > Home.
Add a new Item through the "Add New Item" box.
Type in a name for your item.
Select "RSS/Blog Feed (Manage Under TOOLS)" in the "Select Item Type" field.
Click the "Add Item" button once you are set.
Click the "Gear" icon next to your new item to open its settings in a pop-up.
In the pop-up, select a feed (e.g. your blog) and adjust the settings for the feed under RSS Feed Settings.
For details on the RSS Feed Settings, click here.
Click the Save Changes button in the pop-up once you are finished.
Note: The RSS/Blog Feed stack items can be added to other pages aside from the Home section.
Using the Blog's RSS Feed
When a new blog is made, aside from a blog page our system will automatically generate an RSS feed for it. The feed will be available on the website it was made on, but if you need it on your group's other websites the feed would need to be set up for them first. If you need your blog's feed from one of your websites added on another one, call us at 217-239-0975, or email us at support@envisionwise.com, and we will be happy to help!
Additionally, the feed can be accessed on the blog's page so users can use it on their websites. They can find the link for the feed on the page through an "RSS Feed" icon, as shown below.
"RSS Feed" Icon
Adding a Blog as a Sub-Link
For details on how to add your blog as a sub-link to your existing navigation (or menu tabs) on your website, click here.
Need More Help? Use the Support icon in the bottom right for help,
call us at 217-239-0975, or email us at support@envisionwise.com.