Below are steps and instructions for creating and publishing your blog. They are sorted based on the various sections of the blog post page.

Step #1: Creating A Blog Post

1. Go to Website > Blogs > Blog Posts
2. Click the New Post button in the post listings table.
3. Enter the title for your blog
4. Under 'Visual Composer' click the Templates button to select a pre-saved template for your blog.
5. Click the Add widget button to add the desired elements for your blog, e.g., Text Block, Photo Gallery, Video Player, etc.

Step #2: Blog Categories

In the right column, under the “Blog Categories” section, select the name of the category you want this blog to live under.

Any blog categories that are 'greyed out' cannot be selected, as this means they have been syndicated from another station within your Company, to this station.

1. All Blog Categories: Displays all available categories that you can post to
2. Most Used: Displays the categories most frequently posted to

Step #3: Tags

1. Add tags to your blog post for SEO purposes. Be sure to separate tags with commas, or choose from the most used tags.

Step #4: Sticky

1. Sticky blog posts appear at the top of blog lists. Check off the 'sticky' box if you want this post to be sticky.

Step #5: Featured Media

This is where you will add the 'featured media' for this blog post. The featured image that is uploaded here, is used for all social previews/posts and is displayed in Blog Lists. The featured media is displayed at the top of the post page. A thumbnail version of the media will be created and used when listing posts. Media should be at least 200px by 200px

If you do not add a featured image, we will display the station/account logo.

1. Set Featured Media: To set your blog’s featured image, click 'Set Featured Media' and choose an image from your computer, the media library or the stock image library
   
   1. Crop Thumbnail: click this button to crop your featured thumbnails, and follow the instructions in the pop-up window
   2. Edit Original: Click this option to edit the original image. A new window will open with the image in the media library system, for you to edit.
   3. Change: Click this option to change the image
   4. Remove: Click this option to remove the image
      
   
   
2. Post Page Image Placement: Choose one of the following: (If you don’t set the featured image, no image will show up with your blog listing.)
   
   1. Full Width: will display the 'featured media' image full width across the top of your blog
   2. Left Wrap: will display the 'featured media' image left wrapped around the text within your blog
   3. Right Wrap: will display the 'featured media' image right wrapped around the text within your blog
   4. No Image: will display the 'featured media' image in blog lists and social posts, but will not display it within your blog post content.
      
   
   

Step #6: Minisite Header

1. Select a minisite header that appears above the body of this blog to navigate between a subset of pages or links, e.g. program or sponsored content, etc. Minisite Headers must first be created under Website > Website Structure > Minisite Headers. The minisite header is not syndicated or included with RSS Feed Subscription.

Step #7: Discussion

1. Allow comments: Check the box next to 'Allow Comments' if you wish to allow your website visitors to comment on your blog

Step #8: Author

1. Author : User who created the post

Step #9: Excerpt

An excerpt is optional text associated with a post, often used as the post summary.

1. Scroll down to the bottom and find the ‘Excerpt’ box.
2. Enter the text you would like to have displayed in the blog list widget.
3. The excerpt will also be used for the preview text in social posts (e.g Facebook preview).

4. The excerpt box also controls what is displayed in Google, and other search engine results.

5. As a reminder, if the excerpt box is empty, SoCast automatically creates an excerpt using the first few sentences of the blog post.

Step #10: Publish

1. Preview On (Desktop): You can preview what your blog will look like on the website
2. Preview On (Mobile): You can preview what your blog will look like on the mobile responsive version of the website
3. Status: This is the status of your blog. (Ex. In “draft” mode, “Published” mode etc.)
4. Publish :
1. To publish your blog to the site immediately click the Publish button
2. Click edit to schedule a date and time for your blog to be published.
   


5. Expiry Date : Choose a date & time for this blog to expire. Once expired, it will go into ‘draft’ mode.
6. Visibility: Who can see your blog. From the drop down choose one of the following:
1. Public: Blog is visible to everyone who visits your site
2. Members Only: Blog is only visible to users who are logged onto the site via the SoCast membership too.
   


7. Save Draft: To save your blog and NOT publish it to the website, click the Save Draft button.

Step #11: Social

This option will only appear once a blog has been published. You can share your blog post out to the social networks you have added in your Social Settings.

1. Click on the 'share this page' button
2. This will open the 'social publisher' from the left side of the page
3. Choose the social networks you wish to publish too
4. Write your message/post
5. Click 'publish' or 'schedule' to schedule the social post to go out at a later time/date.