Blogs

Blogs are used to engage with customers, share updates, and promote services. They provide a platform to showcase news, offers, and expert insights, helping to build brand awareness and improve customer relationships. By regularly posting relevant content, dealerships can drive traffic to their website and enhance their online presence.

How to Add a Blog

For instructions on how to create a blog, read our article How to Add a Blog.

Dealership Blog Posts Page

The Blog Posts page on a dealership dashboard allows you to manage all blog content created by the dealership. Here, you’ll see a list of blogs by title, category, status, featured, category, and last edited. You also have the option to take action on each post. To organise your blogs, click the arrows next to the column headings to sort them by your preferred criteria.

Image: Displays a snapshot of the key image used for the blog.
Title: The title assigned to the blog post.
Status: Indicates whether the blog is live on the site or not.
Last Edited By: Shows the date it was updated.

The Actions button provides several key features for managing blog posts:

Edit: Allows you to modify the blog, whether it's live or not.
View Live: Opens the blog as it appears on the website, giving you a preview of how the public views the post.
Show/Hide: Controls whether the blog is visible on the website. "Show" makes it live, while "Hide" removes it from public view.
Audit Trail: This tracks and logs any changes made to the blog, including who made the changes and when. It’s useful for maintaining a history of edits and actions taken on the post.
Destroy: Permanently deletes the blog post from the system.

Blog Settings

Dealer Studio offers a variety of options for customising the appearance of your blog listings and individual blog pages on your website. You can adjust these settings to ensure your blog layout matches your site's design and user experience goals.

Blog Listing Template

The Blog Listing Template controls how the blog posts are displayed on your main blog page (the page that lists all your blog posts).

Grid Layout: This setting displays blog posts in a clean grid format, where multiple posts are shown in rows and columns.
Sidebar Layout: This setting displays blog posts in a vertical layout with a sidebar that can include additional widgets or navigation links.

To update a blog listing template:

Navigate to your Blog Settings under Blogs on the Dealer Studio dashboard.
Locate the Blog Listing Template dropdown menu.

Select either Grid or Sidebar from the available options.

Save your changes.

Once saved, the layout of your blog listing page will reflect your selection.

Blog Page Template

The Blog Page Template controls the design of individual blog post pages. This determines whether the blog post content appears alongside additional elements like sidebars.

Article Layout: This layout displays the blog post as a standalone article, with the content taking up most of the screen space. Sidebars or additional elements may be minimized or excluded.
Sidebar Layout: This layout allows the blog post content to be displayed alongside a sidebar, which can include related posts, advertisements, or other widgets.

To update a blog page template:

Go to your Blog Settings section in Dealer Studio.
Find the Blog Page Template dropdown menu.

Choose between Article or Sidebar layout.

Save your changes.

After saving, your individual blog posts will display according to the layout you’ve selected.

Building Blog Category

The Build Blog Category Pages feature allows you to create separate category pages for different types of blog content. This is particularly useful for organizing your blog posts into categories (e.g., "Car Reviews", "Maintenance Tips", "Industry News") so visitors can easily navigate through content based on their interests.

When this option is enabled, each category you create will have its own dedicated page, displaying only the blog posts that belong to that category.

To enable or disable Build Blog Category Pages:

Go to your Blog Settings section in the Dealer Studio dashboard.
Find the Build Blog Category Pages checkbox.

Check the box to enable the feature or uncheck it to disable category pages.
Save your changes.

Once enabled, category pages will be automatically generated, and you can assign blog posts to specific categories. These pages will appear as separate sections on your website, helping visitors navigate blog content more effectively.

Actions Dropdown

In the top-right corner of the blog settings page, you'll find the Action dropdown. This dropdown provides quick access to three essential options:

Open Website (in New Tab): Opens your website in a new tab, allowing you to view the changes you made to the blog templates and settings in real-time.
- To use this, simply click Action > Open Website. The site will open in a new browser tab.
Edit: This option allows you to edit the current blog settings. If you want to make changes to the templates or settings, click Action > Edit. This will return you to the editable blog settings page.
Revalidation: Clicking Revalidation forces a revalidation of the content, ensuring that the blog settings and templates are refreshed and that any recent changes are applied correctly. It can be helpful if you're experiencing issues with how changes are appearing on the site.
- To use this, click Action > Revalidation.