Our blogging tool is similar to how you would edit a regular page. This style offers a lot more flexibility and allows you to build out a unique-looking blog.
At the top of the screen, you will want to click the Blogging Button.
Then you can click New Article. It will bring up the option to Create Custom Article, you will want to click on this option.
The next screen will be the Title screen so you can name your blog and create the link similar to our other Site Tool Pages. As you type the Title the permalink below will match the title. Once you are happy with the title you will want to click Create Article:
Now you will see your new Blog title showing in the list as a draft. This is an empty shell of your blog. The next step would be to click the Edit button for your new blog:
The editor is going to look different if you are used to using our old Blog Editor but it's easier than you may think. It's going to be a shell when you first come in so that will show the title and the side menu if you have one on your blogs. There are 2 main buttons to use on this screen.
The Plus circle will open the available blocks you can add to your blog like the text box and media block.
The Gear icon is the settings tab. This is where you can access all the tools you might need to help with publishing, and setting the format or featured image. In the past, this was located on the side of the screen but now it's located at the top.
To add blocks to your Blog you will click the Plus Circle icon. This will bring up the available blocks for your blog. There are 3 options. We have the Spark Creator block for any custom options you want to create, but the 2 main blocks to focus on are the Text Editor and the Media block.
To add text to the Blog you will want to click on the WP Rich Text Editor block. That will add the block and bring up the toolbar. You can go to the Content tab in the Toolbar to start adding in the Blog text. This will give you a toolbar to format the text as well.
Then you can click the plus circle symbol again and click on Media to add a photo into the blog. This will bring up the toolbar for the Media block. You can go to the Media tab in the toolbar to either upload an image or add a video url or embed code for a video in this section.
Then you can keep adding additional blocks of text or media until your blog is finished.
Settings Breakdown:
We offer different setting options for your blog but the most important one to make sure you are updating is the Featured Image for the Blog. This is used as the thumbnail on your Blog Feed and shows in the Blog as the first photo. You will want to go into the settings icon at the top to add the Featured Image and make a any setting updates.
Additional Sections in the settings:
Publish section:
This section is where you would go to change the status of the Post and the Visibility. If you click on the status box it will bring up the option to save as Published, Draft or Pending review.
The Visibility Tab works similarly and will give your available options for how visible the blog can be.
Excerpt Section:
The 2nd section is the Excerpt Section where you can write a brief description of the blog details.
Format Section:
The next section is the Format Section. This would be a section to come to if you are planning on creating a video blog with a YouTube Video. The default is Standard, but if you plan on using a video you can switch the Format to Video to use the front of the video as the featured image for the blog:
Categories Section:
This section can also be an important section to update for each blog if you would like to feature certain blogs on other pages. Categories act as a way to filter your blogs so you can use the Featured Blog block and choose the category to show in that section. You can create your own categories or use the common ones that are already created.
Featured Image Section:
As we mentioned above this is an important section to update. The photo saved in this section is used as a thumbnail on the Feed Page and it's used as the main photo at the top of the blog. When you hit the Select Image button you can pull from your Media Library or upload a new photo.
Discussion Section:
You have an option to allow comments for this blog if you check the box.
If you are used to using the Limited Yoast SEO tool from our previous Blog Editor you can access this section from the Actions tab and go to WP Settings similar to how you would access it from one of our other pages.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about our Blogging Tool you can reach out to our Support team at support@agentfire.com.