Blogging Module

The blogging module is made up of three components; Articles, Posts and Comments.  An article provides the blog into which blog posts are added allowing everyone to post comments, which are then managed using a different console.  When comments are made to blog post they are not published immediately, you need to authorise the comments before it’s published giving you control over what is seen on your website.  The blog component is not added automatically as there are certain choices to be made but should you want the blog component adding to your website please e-mail support@hammerheadtechnologies.com.

Why use a blog?

Easy, search engine ranking.  A blog encourages people who view your website to add content.  New content is exactly what search engines are looking for to show a website is live and active, and this way you get other people to do the hard work for you by posting their comments.  Befor eyou jump in and start creating a blog, lease read our advice on what a blog is, and more importantly isn't.  You do need a blog but be sure you know the function so that you get bast use of our this very important function.  Our blog advice can be found here - Do I need a blog?

Step One – Create a Blog Article

To get people blogging you need to create an initial blog article, which in Hammerhead CMS is an Article.  To create an Article;

1. Click Articles from the Website menu
2. Click New to create a new Article

3. Click Visible so can be seen on your website - you can always come back later to change that setting if you want to remove it from your website later
4. If you don't want anyone to add comments to a blog, then deselect Enable Comments
5. The Embed option is to allow you to add some embed code to show primarily a sharing widget on the blog, but the choice is yours.  To get a sharing widget go to AddThis or ShareThis.  There are more sharing widget options available, but AddThis or ShareThis are very popular, just copy/paste the embed code provided into the box.
6. When you have finished click Save
7. Click the Cache Refresh button to update your website

This creates the blog article, now you need to add a blog with content on which people will comment.

Step Two - Create a Blog

The next step is to create a blog on which people can comment.

1. Click Open on the Article you just created
2. Next create a new blog by either choosing to create a page using a pre-built template or a custom template by clicking the appropriate New button
3. Add the content and SEO data as required
4. When you are finished click Save
5. Click the Cache Refresh button to update your website

You now have a live blog on your site on which bloggers can post.  Bloggers get to add their name, e-mail address for notification purposes, rate the blog post, select whether to receive notifications and add comments.  The blog will be graphically matched to the rest of your website.

When a post is made your designated e-mail addresses will receive a notification with a link to the approve screen in the CMS.  The designated e-mail address can be configured by chosing Options from the System menu in the CMS.

Linking to a Blog

The blog is now live and can be commented on by people, but they need to be able to find it.  There are two options;

• Add a widget that links to /BlogList.aspx or to the URL of a specific blog
• E-mail support@hammerheadtechnologies.com to request the Blog menu in your root menus.  This will give you a menu like all other that lists your blogs.

Once done your site will have the blogs you create.  Lastly we have to approve blog posts.

Approving Blog Posts

By approving blog posts you can moderate posts before they are published.  To approve or delete posts;

1. Select Comments from the Website menu
2. Use the options to list blog posts by users, then click Edit on the specific blog post or Del to delete the post.  The e-mail notification you will receive will give you a link to the appropriate blog post, so you this gives you extra options.

3. Select Approved to approve a post.  If you deselect then select this option then the user will receive an e-mail saying that the post has been re-approved
4. If a user has chosen to be updated on additional posts to the blog then the Notify On Update will be selected - you can choose to enable/disable a user receiving blog post notifications e-mails if you wish by changing this setting
5. You can also rate a post from 1 to 5
6. Click Save when you have finished
7. Click the Cache Refresh button to update your website

If you have approved a blog post it will now appear on your website.

Notifications

Three different types of notifications are sent depending on whether a blogger chooses to be updated on new posts.

1. Notification to the administrator of new comment
2. Notification to the user of approval of the comment they have made
3. Optionally a notification to the user of a new comment on a blog to which they have posted, if requested

The address from which the notification come is defaulted to noreply@hammerheadtechnologies.com unless you want to change this by following these instructions - http://www.hammerheadtechnologies.com/support/faq/000015.aspx