Start a discussion -- post to your site's blog to share your work and experience with others. Your readers can leave comments or share links to your blog posts on the social networks they use.
In your dashboard, go to the content tab and choose blog. You'll see a list of the current posts on your site. Blog postings are displayed in reverse chronological order on your site, so the most recent postings appear at the top.
Under each existing post are links to view the post on your site, edit the post to make changes, or even to delete the post. Any tags you've assigned to the post appear in the second column.
The number of comments your readers have made appear in the next-to-last column. Any new comments -- that is, comments made since you last logged on -- are called out in parentheses.
To temporarily hide a post from the public, just click on the green visible checkmark all the way to the right. It will turn into a red icon, signifying that it's not publicly visible. Click it again to toggle it back to visible.
Creating a Post
At the very top of this page is a command link reading Add a New Blog Post. Click it and the Create Blog Post screen will appear. Enter your posts’s title in the Title box and any tags you want in the Tags box. (What tags you use, if at all, is entirely up to you. Your readers will be able to use these tags to find related posts, so most people use tags to categories their posts in ways that are meaningful to them.)
Type your post into the Body box. Click the “Save” button at the bottom to publish to your IndieMade blog.
Blog Preview Image
On our new themes you have the ability to upload a preview image that will be used on the blog list page, as well as the top of the blog post. This only applies to the new blog layout for those themes. If you had the theme before the new blog layout was added, simply switch to another theme and then back.
Blog Publishing Options
Normally, a blog post is visible to the public as soon as you submit the form. However, you can save your posting as a draft, or even schedule the post for publishing later.
The private option saves your work, but does not make it visible to the public until you explicitly publish it.
To schedule a post for publishing in the future, select the Schedule post option. Two elements, for date and time, will appear beneath it. Simply select when you want to publish the post and push Save. (You may want to review your site's time zone configuration, in website > settings, to make sure it's set correctly.)
Search Engine Optimization
Your IndieMade site will automatically format your post in ways that are friendly to search engines, including creating meaningful URLs, creating a meta description from the body of the post, using the tags as meta keywords, and so on. But if you want more control, you can use the SEO box to make changes as you see fit.
Administering comments
On the dashboard blog posts page, there is a Administer comments tab. This allows you to delete comments on your blogs, or submit them as spam.
By default, comments do not require approval. If you wish for comments on your blogs to require approval, navigate to Design > Basics and check "Require comment approval". When enabled, new comments will instead appear in the approval queue instead. You may also uncheck "Enable blog comments" to disallow blog comments altogether.
Comments
blog posts
It would be great if there were a separate button for saving a blog post and for publishing a blog post. I don't always sit down and write a post start to finish in one sitting. Also, sometimes I have ideas for a few posts at a time. I'd love to be able to type them all out at once, but to publish them each at my discretion.
Thanks!
You can now show and hide blog posts
Since you wrote this comment, Julia, we've enhanced the blog system to allow this. By default, a blog post is visible to the public, but at any time you can click on the green icon in the rightmost column to hide it. Click again when you've completed making your edits.
Show Hide blog posts
Hi,
Blog posts are published when you hit the Save button. Is it possible to change this, so you can control the visibility before you hit Save?
Thank you.
No, they're published when you save
Sorry, Hilary -- they are published when you save. But immediately afterwards you can hide them using the hide mechanism; they'd be up on the site for only a second or two.
I wouldn't want to be a
I wouldn't want to be a reader who can see a post for a moment, if you hit the site at the right time, only to realize it's half finished, or even vanishes. More importantly, I don't want to be a blogger who posts a half finished post, even for 2 seconds. That's enough time for someone somewhere to happen upon it and not return to the site next time because they found an unprofessional half done post the first time. A separate save button and publish button is a complete necessity.
We agree!
We have several blog features (including draft and scheduled posts) to be released late February/March. I hope you can hang out until then. I am so looking forward to this release!
Save as Draft Feature
You can now save posts in draft mode, as requested.
Save as Draft Feature
You can now save a blog post as draft by using the "visibility" option underneath the text editor.
Posting
I'd like to have the ability to modify the date of a blog post.
Adding icons to pages
Is it possible to add twitter, facebook, etc. icons to my pages? There's an RSS feed icon on my blog page, but no where else.
Thanks!
Sharing icons can be added automatically
Yes, we currently have two different social sharing features:
You can change the way these work from your dashboard, under website > promote. Our handbook page on IndieMade's social sharing features has some details.
Word wrap text in blog post
In my blog posts, the text just goes and goes and goes to the right, and the reader has to use the slider button across the bottom to be able to read it before it breaks into another line. Is there a way to setup automatic word wrapping, or is that just a feature of certain themes?
Also, is there a way to Highlight or Color text in the blog posts?
Thanks.
Don't use the <pre> tag
Susan, if you're talking about this post, the cause is a "pre" HTML tag around the content. That specifically tells the browser that you don't want the text to flow. I'm guessing you copied and pasted the text from another source; in the future, you'll want to choose the "Paste as Text" button so that only the text (and not the formatting) comes into your post.
To fix this, just highlight the text and push the "Remove Formatting" button. Our handbook page on the editor shows you the buttons.
We recommend that you use the standard bold and italics buttons for emphasizing text. If you want to call out specific headers, identify them as headers using the "Format" pulldown. That way if in the future you change themes, fonts, or colors, everything will still look good.
Is there any way to
Is there any way to automatically import from another blog, like Wordpress? Or even redirect it to the Wordpress blog?
Sure just send your import to support
Yes, Lyssa, we can import those posts for you. this FAQ describes what to do. Basically you get an export and then email it to support@indiemade.com.
Reply to comment
When I reply to comment, are they notified via email? or in any way?
Writing future posts
Just signed up today, and I've noticed a crucial (for me) function that isn't here. I really need the ability to work on posts before posting them, as another user already mentioned here. I most recently used Typepad and had the ability to have an infinite number of posts pending. I also really loved being able to schedule when a post gets published. This gives the ability to post at say, 5AM so that as readers are waking up, a new post is published and ready to read, without me having to actually be awake at 5AM to hit a button. I moved from Typepad because of the shop functionality in Indiemade, but the ability of the blog to have posts in progress and schedule an automatic post are 2 things I didn't realize I'd be missing here.
Those features on the way
Scheduled posts and save as draft are two very popular feature requests that are on the short list! In the mean time, Casey, you can hide your post immediately after saving it from the blog list, by clicking on the little green checkmark.
Publishing Posts in the Future
Casey, there is now the ability to automatically schedule posts, as described above.
If you have any questions about the feature, just contact support and we'll try to help!
Adding a Comment to Blog Post
Hi,
I haven't seen my question addressed. When people see my blog posts and wish to make a comment, the fields are Your Name, Subject and Comment. Is there a way to take off Subject and add in Email Address? That's how it is on most blog posts I've commented on. The way it is now, there is no way to get in touch with a commenter if say, I'm running a contest through my Blog.
Thanks!
It asks for email and homepage when you're not logged in
Actually the blog comment form looks different depending on who is looking at it! Anonymous users -- people that your site doesn't know anything about -- are asked for name, email address, homepage, and subject. (None of these fields are required.) But if the person is logged in, then the site already knows their name and email address, so they're only asked for a subject.
hide or move tags
can I hide or move tags from appearing on my blog and shop items?
www.raggedrobyn.com
Customer Care can apply custom styles to your site
You can't do that using the dashboard, but customer care can often apply styles that make those sorts of changes happen. Open a ticket and ask.
Tags on Blog home page
How do I add a list of tags to my blog home page and remove the archives list?
Add tags to the most recent post
Jenelle, as soon as you add some tags to a blog post, a list of tags will appear. So just tag your post and you're off and running.
You'll need to open a support ticket to have the archives block hidden on your site.
Landing Page
How do I make my blog page my landing page instead of the About page? I reorderd the pages so that Blog is the first but when I go to my site, the About page is the first thing people see.
Visit the basic navigation page to set the home page
Rayna, it's in the Design > Navigation section of your dashboard, as described in this handbook page.
Blog Posts
When I add a blog post, why doesn't the whole post show up? If I add a picture at all, no matter the size, it's the only thing that you see. You have to click the "read more" button to actually read the post. Is it the layout I'm using? If people have to work too hard to navigate my site, they won't come back. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.
That depends on the theme but you can override it
Rayna, each theme handles the blog posts a bit differently. Some of them only show the first portion of each post (we call that a "teaser") with a read more link. Others show the entire post.
But you can change this using the "teaser break" button in your editor. It is the button with the red dashed line. If you want the entire post shown, you'd set the teaser break at the very end of the post. (In other words, put your cursor at the very very end and then add a teaser break.)
adding a photo to my blog
I want to add a photo to my blog that shows my 'work in progress'. The photo is in iphoto and in my dropbox. I can't seem to figure this out.
Upload the image to your site
Mary, you need to upload the image to your site. To do this follow the instructions on this tutorial page.
Blog subscribe
I have a subscribe button at the top of my site for sales, events, etc. I'm wondering if there's a way to have a subscribe to blog button on the blog page like an rss feed? Thanks
There is an RSS feed; you can turn that into a mailing list
Hi Jo,
Each site automatically comes with an RSS feed of the blog posts, so your readers can point whatever RSS reader they use at it. If you want to automatically push the blog posts to customers via email, there are a number of services that do that automatically -- we have a "tips and tricks" article on how to send blog posts via MailChimp, but the basic approach is the same with other companies' offerings.
Hope this helps!
How can I adjust how much of the post is seen at first?
I blog in two languages, but because the blog post is cut after the first two sentences, the reader cannot know there is another language below. Please help me to make the whole page showing without extra clicks.
Set a teaser break at the very bottom of the post
When shown in a list (in most themes anyway), only a "teaser" of each blog post is shown. This is often just a sentence or two.
You can control how much of the post is a "teaser" by placing a single "teaser break" somewhere in the post. In your case you want the whole post shown, so edit your post, move the cursor all the way to the bottom of the post, and then push the "teaser break" button. The button looks like a dashed red line in the middle of some text, sort of. (See this handbook page for more.) After you do that the entire post will be shown.
Of course if you only want four sentences of the post shown in the teaser put your teaser break after four sentences.
Tags on blog
Hi, someone that was reading my blog mentioned that the tags she clicked on didn't go to that spot in the blog. What have I done wrong?
I don't think you did anything wrong -- works for me
Hi Laurie,
I'm not sure what your reader meant. When I visit your site and click on a blog tag, I get a list of posts that have that tag. At the moment you only have two posts, and there's no intersection of tags, so each "list of posts" only has one blog post in it. But I can click on the "read more" link or the title of the post and then see the entire post.
Did your reader explain any further? I don't get it.
Axel
Tags on blog
She thought that the tag should take her to that exact spot in the blog where the word was mentioned. Is this possible?
No, that's not what tags are for
Nope, that's not what that feature is for.
Tagging is for organizing your blog posts into categories. It lets readers find posts that have been tagged with those words, not find specific text inside an existing post.
date
I used the blog for the first time yesterday and the date was for aug 13 instead of sept 12 . How can I change it ?
blog post images
Hello, I was wondering how or where to add eye catching photos to blog posts so each template photo shows up for each post? When I visit my blog I see each post differently and would like to keep a fluid and cohesive look for each post. I hope I explained this correctly. THanks for your help.
How can I edit a blog post?
I just realized that there is a typo on a recent blog post. I don't see how to get back in to edit the post. Can you please help?
Re: How can I edit a blog post?
Hi Raylene
Thanks for your question! When you're loggedin in, you can edit a blog post simply by clicking on the title and selecting the Edit Blog Post link.
The link should appear beneath the blog post title, as it does in the example below:
How can I edit a blog post?
Thanks for that, Jessica, but I'm not seeing this option. I am logged in. But I am able to click on the title, and there isn't an icon to edit blog post anywhere. How are you getting to this particular screen?
Re: How can I edit a blog post?
You must be logged in or you won't see the option.
You can also edit your blog posts by again logging in and going to the Dashboard link > Content > Blog Posts. You should be taken to the list view of your blog posts where there will be an Edit option beneath.
Thanks!
Correction! Blog link is not available on Edifice
Hi Raylene -- I must report a correction to my answer. That link to Edit is not availalbe on Edifice, so please edit via Dashboard > Content > Blog Posts. Please let us know if you still have questions.
Thanks!
Jessica
How to rotate images
Perhaps you can help with how to rotate images, most of mine are loading sideways.
How to rotate images
Most of my images end up loading sideways. Why is this, and how can I rotate them?
Re: How to rotate images
Hi Raylene
Thanks for your comment! I've turned off auto-rotation for image thumbnails in your backend settings. By default images will auto-rotate when they cannot fit in the designated space (ex. uploading a landscape image when your thumbnails are set to portrait mode). This will at least get your images rotated correctly and you can make other corrections to your image or settings as you see fit.
Take care,
Jessica
How to rotate images
Hi Jessica - I'm still having trouble with images. I went into my settings to be sure that they are set to portrait mode (for appropriately sized images) and they are still auto-rotating when they load. Is there a formating tip you can offer? Something I need to do with my images before trying to upload?
Thanks so much! It looks like many, but not all, of my images are auto-rotating.
Best ~
Raylene
date
Hi, is there a posibility to hide the date of a blog post?
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Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn't show up. Grrrr... well I'm not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say superb blog!
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blog background color
The background color of my test blog post is a yucky pink. A terrible color for me. Can I change it to white?
Thanks,
Sandy
The yucky pink indicates the blog is unpublished.
I realize it would be better to stamp it with a unpublished watermark.
Thank you
Very happy to know. Thanks!
Sandy
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