Blogging

RediSite, like many web platforms, offers a blog feature. If your school intends to blog, we often incorporate this into the website design process. This article will guide you on how to blog on your RediSite and customize your blog. The Blog feature allows you to create, manage, and publish articles on your site. It offers tools to edit each post and design the blog, enabling you to deliver a steady stream of personalized content that attracts visitors and generates interest in your site. While creating and posting a blog entry is quite straightforward, the overall Blog setup and its numerous settings can be complex, which is why our team usually handles the installation for you. If you have any questions, please reach out to support@rediker.com.

Please note there is a limit of 1500 Blog Pages

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What are they, why use them, and best practices
• Managing Blog Posts and Post Mode
• To Add/Edit a Blog Post
• Displaying Blog Posts
• Post Settings
• Blog Set Up (Advanced)
  • Blog Settings
  • Blog Layout
  • Permissions

What are they, why use them, and best practices

What are they?

In short, promotional human interest stories about your community. Blogs have been around for decades. A blog (short for "weblog") is an online journal or informational website that is regularly updated with posts (blog posts). It typically features content displayed in reverse chronological order, with the newest posts appearing first. Blogs can be personal, like a digital diary, or professional, focusing on specific topics like technology, fashion, or travel. In the case of schools, these are often human interest stories that highlight and promote the school community. For example, if a student achieves a perfect score on their SATs, or receives a large academic or athletic scholarship, you would want to highlight that on your website with a blog post. Another example, could be that you have a big event coming up and you want to call attention to the importance of this event and why people should support it. 

Why use them?

Blogs have been used for many years by large and small business alike, as well individuals or community institutions like schools. There are quite a few reasons that blogging is recommended and are helpful for your website. For starters, they help to enhance search engine optimization (SEO), and drive more website traffic. They also help promote your digital narrative and tell your story. Think about stories that would help prospective families see who you are and why they should choose you. Or highlight the great projects and experiences that donors and their donations have made possible. You could even blog about successful Alumni, showcasing how your school prepares students to be successful. Blogs could also just help call attention to important information, like your enrollment dates/events and application process, and be a call to action directing prospective families.

Best Practices

There are many practices you can follow to make your website blog effective. 

• Keep them short and keep them interesting. 
• Address a target audience, and make it clear that this is a post for Prospective Families, Donors, Alumni. 
• Make it appealing by Including images, videos, and links (calls to action) to engage your reader. 
• Make it a habit to post regularly, like once every couple weeks. 
• Share your posts on social media to help drive traffic. 
• Be sure to use keywords and fill in the meta description for the post.  

Managing Blog Posts and Post Mode

The Blog area acts as a sub-section of your website. It has its own pages (limit 1500 posts) and page layout that are separated from your normal content pages. To Add or Edit Blog Posts you need only to click on Blog from the left Panel of the Editor

There is also a short-cut available on the dashboard when you log into the Editor

All Blog Posts (Blog Pages) are contained in this special Blog management area. Once opened you will see the option to create a New Post, you will also see the existing Blog Posts under Manage Posts, as well as Blog Settings, Edit Layout (if permissions allow), and Import Posts. If you are just starting out there will be 3 default blog posts contained here (which can be deleted).

When you enter into creating or editing a Blog Post, you are in Post Mode. A special mode that focuses on editing just the blog post.

While editing a blog post in Post Mode, you will be dealing with a small inner row where your actual content is contained, the rest of the page is set up in the Layout Mode (see section of article) and would not be editable directly. This is done to streamline the process and keep the posts consistent. While in Post Mode other areas of the left Dashboard will be greyed out and inaccessible for that time. When you have completed your Blog Post/Edits you will need to Publish/Republish the Post and Click Done to exit Post Mode. 

To Add/Edit a Blog Post

1. In the Editor click on Blog from the left panel
2. Choose +New Post or Click the Pencil Icon to edit an existing blog.
   
3. For a new post enter a Post title (required), choose a Post author (optional; no author is a valid option), and add a Post Image (highly recommended). You can click the Gear Icon in the Manage Posts area later to Update these settings. Post Authors are a list of website users created and assigned permissions access to your site (even if blog only permission).
4. Click Start
   
5. You are now in Post Mode (as indicated in the upper right corner; previously noted in this article).
6. Edit/Add your Content (Text/Image etc). There should already be an existing text widget for you to paste in your story.
   By Default a Blog Post is a special page, you will only be able to edit a small defined area to create the content of your actual post. As noted further on in this article, the Blog Layout controls the rest of the page. The actual content area is often a small defined Inner Row segment with some Text widgets and or an image widget. Other area will be greyed out and not editable.
   
7. While in Post Mode, you can access the Post Settings by clicking the Gear Icon in the upper right corner.
8. When done click either on Done (keeps the post an unpublished draft), Schedule, Or Publish Post (will be immediately visible if displaying posts). Choose done if you are not yet ready to publish the post. 
9. If this is a new/unpublished post, you can Schedule a date for the post to publish, click the Clock Icon and next to/below Publish will be a Schedule Post option.
   
10. If you are displaying posts via an All/Recent Posts Widget a published post will show up automatically (no site republish is required). Scheduled posts will not display until the scheduled date.
    

Displaying Blog Posts

IF your school stated you would be blogging, then the blogs would be displaying as part of your site design. By default a Blog Page would be created in your Pages Menu. Then depending on your school's site design and preferences that page may be moved, renamed, and or hidden, possibly even deleted (if the school stated they would not be blogging). The Default Blog Page is nothing unique, technically any page can become your Blog page by simply adding the All/Recent Posts Widget from the available Widgets. This widget is what is used to display blog posts. It is often used on your home page to display the most recent 3-4 posts, then also placed on a Blog Page to display a larger number.

There are 2 Blog Widgets:

1. All Posts & Recent Posts (technically these are the same widget)
2. Search Posts

To display Blog Posts

1. Go to any page
2. Either click on Widgets and Search for Blog or click on an existing blog widget to edit it.
   
3. Drag and Drop the All/Recent Posts Widget on to the page.
   
4. Set the Content and Design Settings as desired. The Design Settings have specifications for the number of visible posts, posts per row, etc.
   
5. Note that the Widget will always display the Most Recent Posts in order of Publish Date. It will not display draft, unpublished, or scheduled posts.
   
6. IF you have added "Tags" to your Blog Posts, the widget will offer a "Filter By Tag" in the Content Settings. Note this option will NOT appear if NO tags have been applied to any posts. To add Tags, please access the Post Settings of the individual posts.
   
7. Be sure to preview your page and republish the site. 

Post Settings

These are settings of the individual blog posts. You can access the post settings of any of your blog posts. Go to the Manage Posts area by clicking on Blog from the left Panel. Then click the Gear Icon to access the individual post settings. You can also access these setting while editing the post in Post Mode, there will also be a Gear in the top right corner. Some settings will require you to "Republish the Post" for the setting to take affect. Note that in the Post Settings you can navigate between posts without closing the settings panel, making it easier update multiple posts.

Post settings include:

• Post URL: This the domain/blog-name by default, it becomes the link to the post (for sharing on social media etc). It is best to use short blog titles to also ensure this post URL is short.
• Publish Date: This is the date the post is published. Most recent posts always appear first in the widget. By default the publish date is the day when the article was published, but can be edited for any post. Posts can be unpublished any time. Changing this date will require you to republish the Post.
• Schedule Post: This is only available for new and unpublished posts. This option allows you to pick a publish date.
• Post Details: Title, Author, and Image. It is highly recommended that you always include a Post Image. Can be updated and edited any time.
• Post SEO Settings: This included the Meta Title and Description as well as image Alt-Text and Post Tags*. It is highly recommended that you fill in the Meta Description and image Alt-Text both for SEO and accessibility. Post Tags* while also an optional are highly valuable for filtering and searching blog posts.
• No Index:  As it implies, this setting hides the post from search engines.

*Special Note on Tags

This option allows your to apply a category to your post which can then allow the posts your create to be both filterable and searchable by those tags. For example, if you tag posts with "Athletics" the All/Recent Posts Widget can be set to filter for that specific tag, so your an Athletics Page you could display only those posts which are tagged as Athletics.  

To add Tags to a Post

1. Access the Manage Posts area of the editor (click on Blog)
2. Click on the Gear Icon for any post
3. Scroll down to Post Tags
4. If any Tags exist already you will see a drop down option to choose from those options
5. Otherwise you will type a new Tag into the box and hit enter.
6. Any applied tags would appear in darker grey with an "x" (to remove the tag)
7. Note that Tags are applied individually, there is no way to apply a tag in bulk.
   

Blog Set Up (Advanced)

Blog Settings

These are settings that affect the Blog as a whole for example Blog Name, Next Post link, Older Post link, and RSS Feed Settings. These are accessed in the Blog area under Blog Settings.

Blog Layout

All posts have the same layout for improved SEO, easier management, and better user experience. Changing the layout will automatically apply to all your posts. This layout can be customized/personalized and updated. If a school includes a Blog as part of their site design process, the Rediker Team would typically personalize your Blog Page layout for you as well as create or import your first blogs posts for you.

Please note editing the blog post layout affects ALL of your blog posts pages, please proceed with caution. Please email support if you need assistance (support@rediker.com). Typically, this layout page is done for you IF your school requested a Blog as part of the site design. 

To Edit the Layout

1. Enter Blog Management area by clicking on Blog from the left panel.
2. Then choose Edit Layout
   
3. You are now in Layout Mode.
4. Make your Edits to the layout. The layout is essentially edited like most pages, by dragging and dropping widgets and editing their content and design. Typically items like Post Title are a connected widget.
5. Click Done to Exit Layout Mode
6. It is highly recommended that you go view a recent blog post to see how the layout now looks for your posts.
   

Permissions

Blogging is tied to the user permissions. By default a full editor on your site would also have Blog Permissions. It is possible to create a user with blogging only rights on your RediSite, or to remove blogging rights from a user. If you would like Rediker to create a Blog Only user or remove Blog rights from an existing user, please contact support@rediker.com. We need the name and email for the user you would like created, and please specify Blog Only Permissions.

Blog Only Permissions Include

• No access to Layout Mode, access to Post Mode only.
• User can edit connections to post settings.
• No access to other menus within the site editor.