Why is it used?
The MC Professional Blog is a built in Blogging tool your association can use to create a Blog within your MC Professional solution.
How to Access
Navigate to Community > Blog
Dashboard
The Blog Dashboard is the starting point for any new post. The dashboard includes shortcuts to all the Blogging features you'll need on the left. Those include Entries, Categories, Tags, Comments, and Settings.
On the left, General Stats gives you an overview of the number of Blog Entries - approved and pending - total comments, categories, and tags.
The righthand side of the dashboard shows your most popular blog entries, and their corresponding number of hits (views).
Creating a new Entry
A Blog Entry represents a post on your Blog. Each entry you make will create a separate post, and each one will have its own link.
To begin creating a new entry, navigate to Entries, then click on the New icon in the top right hand corner.
Give the entry a title, then tab down to generate the Alias. Set the entry to published, and select a Category for the entry. Add images, text, and links to create your Blog entry, then click Save in the top right hand corner.
Changing an Entry's Listed Author
When a blog entry is initially created, the blog entry's author will be the admin that created the entry. To change this, click the Metadata Information tab at the bottom of the entry, then add the desired author's name into the Author box, which is pictured below.
Creating a new Category
Categories can be used to help you organize Blog entries. These categories will contain multiple entries each, and will help you keep your content organized on the Blog. Blog categories are similar to Article categories, which you can learn more about here.
To create a new category, start by clicking on the New plus sign in the top right hand corner.
Give the Category a name, and add a Category Slug (optional). A Slug is similar to an Alias, and helps improve your Blog's SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To learn more about SEO, click here. Example:
Category Name: Best Practices
Category Slug: best-practices
Set the new Category to published, and if it should act as the default Category moving forward, select Yes next to Default. Give the Category a Description (optional), then Save.
Creating new Tags
Tags are keywords used to identify Blog entries with particular subject matter. They are best used to help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as using the same tag in more than one Blog entry will allow users to search for entries with that tag. As an example, let's use the keyword "networking." If my Blog has 10 total posts, and 3 of them are tagged "networking," Blog viewers can search for the term "networking" to pull a list of all posts using that tag.
To create a new tag, navigate to Tags and click on the New plus sign in the top right hand corner.
Give the tag a Name and a Slug (optional), then Save.
Now when creating a Blog entry, you'll see the ability to add Tags on the right hand side under Tags. Check the box next to any applicable tags, add new ones as needed, then Save.
Managing Comments
Under Comments, ASA users have the ability to publish and unpublish comments as needed, or delete comments that are inappropriate.
In order to leave a comment on your blog, members must be logged in. Public commenting is not available for the blog.
Once a comment has been added, it will appear at the bottom of the Blog post.
Settings
Configure the specifics of your Blog under the Settings tab.
On the left, you'll see the Main Blog Page Settings:
- Introtext: If introtext is toggled to Enabled, a Blog entry's intro text will display from the home page of the Blog
- Remove objects and images: If Remove objects and images is set to Show, images (and other objects) will be removed from the intro text area to save space on the home page of the Blog
- Number of Introtext Paragraphs: Here, set the number of paragraphs to display as introtext
- Show Read More: If Show Read More is toggled to Enable, a Read More link will display as needed on the home page of the Blog
- Comments per page: limits the number of comments allowed on each blog entry
- Inappropriate Words Filter: If Inappropriate Words Filter is set to Enabled, words listed in the Words to Filter box will be filtered out of Blog comments
- Words to Filter: Words listed here will be filtered in Blog comments
- Replace Inappropriate Words: The symbol or words you add here will replace inappropriate words
Permissions
To give members access to view or comment on the blog, navigate to Permissions. In this area, check the appropriate Group boxes to give specific members access to view or comment on the blog.
Using the Blog
To add the Blog as a menu item, navigate to Website > Menu Items. Click in to the menu you want to add the blog to, then click the New plus sign in the top right-hand corner.
Under Select Menu Item Type, choose Community > Blog.
The Blog on the front of your site will display in chronological order.
Comments
17 comments
Is there a way to create a blog that doesn't require a login?
Hi Eboney - Yes, you can make your blog public facing. This article is for the new MemberClicks platform, and you're using the Classic platform. The blog article for that system is available here and the permissions component is at the bottom of the page.
Hi Kinsey,
I followed the classic platform instructions for creating an open blog, and it's still requires me to login. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Eboney - I'm seeing that same thing, but I don't see anything that looks to be causing the problem. I would recommend emailing help@memberclicks.com to describe the problem so that the Help Team can look into things further and escalate if needed.
Is there a way to change to view of the blog page?
Blog question.docx
Eboney - The blog has the same look and feel across all MemberClicks sites - it isn't able to be customized at this time.
I use the blog and I'm very unhappy to discover that all my blog entries appear on a single page. I feel that looks terrible and don't know what older blog entries can't be archived to another webpage. I hate you have to scroll down constantly to get to the bottom. When I asked about this, you guys recommended using the Category Blog Layout, what's the point of having the blog then??
I don't understand because on the Memberclicks blog, you guys have several entries featured and then at the bottom there's a link to view older posts. Why can't I have that feature also?
memberclicks blog.JPG
Hi Nina - The blog tool was a relatively recent addition to the MemberClicks platform, and is recommended for customers who want a simple blog that can appear along their MemberClicks website in the same template. If you have more in depth needs or want a more flexible blog, we suggest using a blog platform, like Wordpress or Blogger.
The MemberClicks blog on our corporate site does not use the MemberClicks platform. Our platform is designed for associations, who tend to have very different goals and needs businesses, and our corporate site reflects that. Overall, the blog tool inside MemberClicks is optional, and is not currently customizable. Hope that helps!
I would like to create a group with permission to create posts in the blog as well as update article content. If I try to give this group access to Community Admin, it requires they also have permission in Profile Admin. I'm just trying to allow members to contribute content to the website but I don't want them messing with anyone's profile.
Hi Jan - I would recommend reaching out to the Help Team so that they can take a look for you. The Blog is intended to be used primarily by Admins, since accessing it does require signing in on the Admin side, but they may have suggestions for a workaround or other options.
Do gifs work on blog posts? Like, will they be animated, or will it just show up as a still image?
Also, can blog posts be scheduled to go live at a future date/time, or do the entries need to be turned on manually?
Hi Abby - It looks like you're using our Classic platform, and this article is about the new platform blog. A similar article about the Classic blog is available here.
I tested and confirmed that gifs should work on blog posts and will be animated. It is not possible to schedule blog posts to go live at a future date/time - entries do need to be published manually.
I notice an APPROVED and PENDING entries and I would like our blog to have a moderator but I can not seem to find how to set that up. Please advise...
We are at NQA.org
Hey Chris!
"Approved" and "Pending" are equivalent to "Published" and "Unpublished". "Pending Review" relates to if you had a Community Admin on the back-end making entries for another Admin to review. At this time, this is a self-designated label.
There currently isn't a moderation function for the Blog, but I'm submitting that as a feature request with our Product Team so we can further discuss that feature. If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to our Help Team at help@memberclicks.com!
Does the alias for a blog post work the same as an alias in articles, where the alias can be appended to [ourassn].org/____ to create a URL? It doesn't seem to work on my site. (If not, what's the function of the alias?)
Hey Jen! The Alias in the Blog is a carry-over feature from the creation of the system, and does not have significant impact. While it does not create the URL, I usually create my entries with the same methodology just to have a consistent workflow.
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