Setting up a blog on your site

Adding a blog to your website can help:

• Attract new visitors and boost organic traffic as search engines index new articles.
• Build trust with customers by regularly sharing useful information and expert guidance.
• Support marketing initiatives around events, product launches, promotions, and more.

With Ecwid, you can add an integrated blog to your website and manage it from the Instant Site editor.

Adding a blog to your site

The blog section on your Instant Site includes the blog homepage and individual blog post pages that you add. Like any site page, blog pages can include sections, custom links, SEO information, and other customizable settings.

To set up a blog on your site:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.

2. At the top left of the page, click Page: Homepage → + Start a blog.

   

   After your blog is enabled, a new Blog section will be created on your site with a dedicated landing page (for example, store.company.site/blog) where you can introduce the blog, feature news, and add previews.

3. Under Blog homepage, click Edit Page.

   

4. In the Sections tab, click Header or Footer to update visibility of your site's header or footer on the blog homepage.

   

5. Click the Settings tab and update the Blog page web address slug and add an SEO title, description, image, and manage indexing. To hide the Blog page, toggle off Show page.

   If the Blog page web address slug is updated (for example, /blog to /news), the blog post page URLs will automatically update as well (for example, /blog/post.html becomes  /news/post.html).
6. (Optional) Go back to the Sections tab and add more sections to the blog homepage or customize the Featured Posts section.
7. (Optional) Under Posts, click the demo blog post to edit it or add more posts.
8. After setting up your blog and adding posts, click Preview to review your changes. Your blog will appear on your site when you Publish.

Adding sections to your blog homepage

You can add sections to the blog homepage and reorder them as needed. For example, you can add a text section introducing the blog and then place it above the Featured Posts section with the actual blog posts.

To add sections to the Blog homepage:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click Page: Homepage → Blog (or Settings → Pages → Blog).
3. On the Blog page, click Edit Page.
4. Click + Add Section.

5. On the right, under Blog Content, click the text (left) or image (right) section card. You can also choose any other sections you like from the library.

   

6. In the Content tab, add a heading and paragraph (text section card) or add an image, caption, and alt text (image section card).

   

7. Click the Design tab.
   • Click Color scheme to update the section's color palette.
   • Click Background to set a background color for the section.

Adding and editing blog posts

Blog posts are added to the Blog section of your site as nested pages, for example, store.company.site/blog/post.html. By default, blog posts appear in the Featured Posts section on the Blog homepage, where they are sorted by publication date. Currently, you can have up to 15 posts in your blog.

To set up blog post pages, you can add sections with blog post texts and images, as well as any other site sections. Each new blog post you add is initially invisible. You must turn its visibility on and publish the changes to make the post available to the public.

To add a new blog post or edit an existing post:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click Page: Homepage → Blog (or Settings → Pages → Blog).
3. On the Blog page, click + Add post or click the name of an existing blog post to edit.

4. Click Header or Footer to update visibility of your site's header or footer on the blog post page.

   

5. Click Post Intro.
   • On the Content tab, update the headline (blog post title), introduction, author, publication date, and blog post header image as needed. Optionally, click Preview card to add an alternative post title and description for the Featured Posts section.

   • On the Design tab, click the options to update the styling of the post's intro section and visibility of the elements.

     

6. Click Back, then click Add Section.

7. On the right, under Blog Content, click the text (left) or image (right) section cards to add a new text or image block to the blog post. You can also choose any other sections you like from the library.

   

8. Repeat as needed to build the structure of your blog post.
9. On the Blog post page:
   • Click a Text or Image section to update its content or design.
   • Click Post Footer to update the content and design and add sharing options to the last section of the blog post.
   • Click Featured Posts to update or remove the featured or related posts section after the post footer.

   • Click the dots icon next to a section name, hold, and drag up or down to reposition the section in the post.

     

10. Click the Settings tab to update the post's title, page web address, and add an SEO title, description, image, and manage indexing.

    To make the page visible to customers, toggle on Show page.

    

11. Publish the changes.

Deleting blog posts

To delete a blog post:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click Page: Homepage → Blog (or Settings → Pages → Blog).
3. On the Blog page, click the name of the blog post you want to delete.
4. Click Delete page. This action can't be undone.

Configuring the Featured Posts section

The Featured Posts section lets you display a curated collection of your blog posts and other content, such as site pages, online catalog categories, or external links. Each item in the section has its own title and customizable preview.

To customize the Featured Posts section in your blog:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click Page: Homepage → Blog (or Settings → Pages → Blog).
3. Under Blog homepage, click Edit Page, or click a post in the Posts list.
4. Click Featured Posts. 
5. In the Content tab:
   • Update the section title.
   • Select a Preview cards to display option:
     • Newest blog posts: Shows a preview of the newest blog posts. Updates automatically when a new post is added.
     • Select manually → + Add Preview Card: Set up preview cards with specific actions on click, like go to a blog post. You can select specific posts after they've been created and published.
6. Click the Design tab.
   • Click Color scheme to update the section's color palette.
   • Click Preview card settings to update the image, post description, date, and author visibility settings.
   • Click Background to set a background color.
   • Click Title to update the title styling and visibility settings.

Adding the Featured Posts section to your site pages

You can add the Featured Posts section to any site page, including all the blog section pages. For example, if you want to highlight your blog posts on the site homepage.

To add a duplicate of your configured Featured Posts section to a site page:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click Page: Homepage → Blog (or Settings → Pages → Blog).
3. Under Blog homepage, click Edit Page.
4. Click Featured Posts.

5. Click the three dots (More) icon next to the page title, then click Duplicate Section → Homepage (or other site page).

   

6. Click the three dots (More) icon again → Rename Section to update the section name.
7. Update the section details as needed.
8. Publish the changes.

To add a new version of the Featured Posts section to a site page:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. Click Page: Homepage or a custom site page.
3. Click + Add Section.
4. Scroll down to Featured Posts.
5. Click the Our Blog section card.
6. Update the section details as needed.
7. Publish the changes.

Featuring your blog in site navigation

By default, your blog does not appear in the Instant Site navigation. You can feature it by adding it to any position in your navigation menu.

To feature your Blog in the site navigation:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Edit Site.
2. In the Homepage Sections list, click Header. 
3. From the Content tab, open the navigation menu setup, then click Add New Menu Item.
4. In the Title field, enter the menu item title. For example, Our Blog.
5. From the Action on click dropdown, select Go to link and enter the blog page URL on your website. For example, store.company.site/blog
6. Click the dots icon next to a menu item name, hold, and drag up or down to reposition the item in the menu.
7. Publish the changes.