How to: post a blog on the Avanti website

(Note: this same how to can basically be used for all our websites, just the domains etc would change and there might be some subtle differences in the mechanics of what to click etc, but you can figure it out. I believe in you).

This how to guide assumes that you have already done your due dilligence of getting Kelli, Exec and Legal sign-off before publishing. If you haven't done this already, it is required to have written approval from all these parties before posting.

1. Login to Avanti Finance website admin (you should have already been provided a login at the end of your training, however if you need help with this e.g. resetting your password, you can contact Kimmie, Kelli, Timo or Graphic Detail - whose details are on SharePoint) though https://www.avantifinance.co.nz/gd_dashboard

2. After you have logged in, go to 'Posts' using the right-hand-side Nav, there's an option to 'add new':

3. In the first instance, it will come up with this weird, unfriendly interface that's not what you want - just click on the 'WP Bakery' blue button up the top to take you to the actual place where you want to add your content:

(It should look like this:)

4. Click on the 'Backend Editor' blue button, this will allow you to add/remove/move/change content blocks, instead of just straight text:

Just start with a blank page, it should be fine.

5. All content is contained within Elements. Add an Element (also what I call content blocks) to the page by clicking either the giant blue and white plus button on the top left, or clicking the 'Add Element' button - they do the same thing:

This is going to bring up an overwhelming screen of EVERY ELEMENT YOU COULD EVER ADD EVER, but all you really need is a text box, so you can either just click on that or if you can't see it immediately, you can use the search to filter by 'text' and it will come up:

6. This will take you to the Text Box settings, where you can add your blog content:

If you need to add photos, you can use the 'Add Media' button:

or if you wanted to be really fancy with it and you know how to use Wordpress Elements, you can add another Element as an image:

or if you want to dive into the HTML to change or tweak something like adding a link to a phone number, in the Text Block Settings on the very right-hand-side, you can hit the 'Text' tab and it will take you to the HTML code:

Once you've added your content, you can hit the 'Save Changes' button to go back to editing the page.

7. Below your blog content, click on the grey + button to add another element, it should be called 'Reusable Block':

I have already configured a reusable block for blogs for you to use (there is a separate how to guide for creating/editing reusable blocks if you're interested), it's called 'Disclaimer text':

This is a requirement, so please don't skip it. When you Preview the page before you Publish it, the disclaimer text will look like this:

8. You need to make sure the blog is sitting under the correct category, so on the right-hand-side of the page, select the ones that are relevant to that particular blog (it should look something like this):

9. Finally, you'll want to set a featured image (which both pulls through as the main banner on the page and as the thumbnail, so it'll be worth checking both look okay once you publish (i.e. no heads are cut off):

I'm not sure about the Featured Image dimensions, if I were posting a blog, i'd just google 'featured image size WPBakery Wordpress' and it should come up.

10. Preview the blog (top right)

11. If you're happy with the Preview, Publish the blog (also top right)

12. Do hygeine checks once it's live, check that it works, that it's appearing to pull through to the blog category page it should be on, that the photos & thumbnail look okay, click on any links to check that they go where you would expect them to, view on mobile to see that the experience is still okay, etc

13. Send to all stakeholders in the business to let them know it's live! :)