Welcome to Lesson 3: Write, Design, and Publish Your First Blog Post
Get excited, because by the end of this lesson, you'll have a blog post ready for publishing on your website.
Get ready to:
- Customize your blog post templates in Thrive Theme Builder to fit your unique business
- Set up Thrive Comments to grow an army of engaged readers
- Write your first blog post and use Thrive Architect to build it like a pro designer
Before we continue, here's a quick lesson on the difference between "content" and a "template:
Template vs. Content
A published blog post consists of different sections, which originate from two different sources.
- The header, top section, sidebar, bottom section and footer come from the theme template.
- The content, located in the center of the page, stems from the posts tab in WordPress.
Customize Your Blog Post Template
Let's start with your post template customization.
1. Access your blog post template by visiting Thrive Theme Builder on your Thrive Dashboard.
2. Then click on the Templates tab.
3. Choose a Default Post template (text, audio or video - depending on your needs / business) and start editing.
If you need to, you can choose a new design for your top section. Go to the Section Options, and choose a ready-made design. The new design will update itself to suit your theme color and fonts.
What's important to remember is that certain elements in your top section must be dynamic. For example, each of your blog posts will have their own title, so that is going to be a dynamically produced element in your theme template. For these dynamic elements, stick to stylistic customization only.
The above also applies to:
- Blog date
- Blog author
- Blog category
To learn more about dynamic elements, be sure to check out Thrive Themes' Knowledge Base.
Now, Let's Set Up Thrive Comments
Next, it's time to set up Thrive Comments so that you can supercharge your engagement and get your readers to return to your website regularly.
Most importantly, enable the 'Activate Thrive Comments sitewide', so that your visitors can comment on all your posts and pages.
For more information on Thrive Comments, please refer to the Quick Start video below:
Boost your business growth by using the options in the Comment Conversion tab. This tab allows you to custom-configure settings around what happens after a visitor leaves their first comment. Choose from the following options:
- Display a message
- Display a message and encourage social shares
- Display related posts
- Redirect to a page or external URL
- Display a Thrive Leads opt-in form
For your active visitors, who continue to interact with you via the comments section, make things super interesting by selecting assigning options that really acknowledge their interactions.
For example, a one-time comment can get a "Thank You", and a returning visitor can get a more meaningful message. Alternatively, you can take things a step further and assigning badges to your top readers.
Change the Game with Badges
Awarding badges makes it easier to identify who's new and who's very active, as well as show recognition / appreciation for your visitors' participation.
When a visitor sees "Top Reader" or "Super Commenter" next to their name, it encourages them to come back to your website for more.
Check out our helpful article on How to Award Badges in Thrive Comments to learn more about this super feature.
For related articles head to: https://help.thrivethemes.com/en/
Create Your First Blog Post
It's time to build your first blog post. Let's go!
- On your Thrive Dashboard, hover over the Post tab and click on "Add New
- Give your blog post a title
- Choose a category
- Add some tags - e.g. "sports" and "outdoors" for a post on tennis
- Select a featured image of your choice
- Optionally, add an excerpt
- Important! - Tick "Allow Comments"
- Choose an appropriate Thrive Theme Builder Template (depending on the nature of your post)
- Enable or disable suitable Theme Builder Visibility settings
- Save your settings and launch Thrive Architect
Remember …
You can always make changes to your current blog post template, however, keep in mind that these changes will reflect on other blog posts as well.
Create Your Blog Content
Now, create stunning blog posts by introducing some visual flair.
Browse Thrive Themes' wide selection of designs and choose a click-and-drag block. This isn't just simple but effective in creating visual interest for your visitors.
Also, consider boosting your post's overall aesthetic with images or by embedding a video. Customize your blocks, play around with the Image Effects tab to match your brand or design specifications and be deliberate about how your video will be displayed on your blog post (Video Style).
Take your time, repeat the lesson if you have to, and remember: this is just the start.
Congratulations!
You've built your first blog post!
If you have any technical issues or questions, feel free to contact our friendly support team via email: [email protected]
Don’t forget to join our official FB Group where you can connect with other solopreneurs who, like you, have gone through the process of building and operating their businesses with Thrive Suite.
That's it!
The next lesson is super exciting because you’re going to create your first opt-in form to start generating leads and growing an email list for your business!
Click Next to move on to Lesson 4.