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Creating a new Blog and Blog Posts [Zipify Pages]

Learn how to create a Blog and add Blog Posts to it using all of the power of the Zipify Pages page editor!

Written by Jeff Maxfield

Overview

Blogging is a great way to build your audience and generate more traffic and sales for your business! This great functionality allows you to create one new Shopify Blog and publish Blog Posts to that new Blog. When you publish a new Blog Post in Zipify Pages, it is automatically assigned to the new Blog you've created in the app.

The blog and blog posts can be built using the same set of awesome page sections available for Landing pages, Product pages and Home Pages.

📝Shopify's native "Comments" feature for Blog Posts is not supported for the Blog created in Zipify Pages and should not be manually enabled in Shopify admin. Instead, it's recommended to use the Disqus or Facebook Comments section on Blog Posts to add a comments section.

Creating your Blog

Follow these quick and easy steps to create your new ZP Blog:

1. Click on the "Pages" link in the sidebar:

The Pages link in the Zipify Pages sidebar

2. Click on the "New Page" button (1) in the top-right corner, then hover over "Blog" there and click the "New Post" button (2):

The New Page button (1) and, under the Blog menu, the New Post button (2) in Zipify Pages

📝If you haven't created your Zipify Pages blog yet, you will be prompted to create the Blog and not a Blog Post.

3. Next, choose either "Blank Blog" or use the pre-built Blog Home Page Template. After you choose, you can then Name your Blog and you'll be taken to the Page Builder for further editing:

Choosing a Blank Blog or the pre-built Blog Home Page Template when creating a blog

4. The process of building your Blog Homepage from page sections is the same as for other ZP page types. The only difference is a placeholder section for Blog Posts (“Posts List” section). This particular section can’t be removed from the Blog homepage completely or edited, but you can use the editor’s functionality to change its placement on the page:

Building a Blog Homepage from page sections in the Zipify Pages editor, with the posts-list placeholder section

📝 If your Blog is published, but with no published Blog Posts, the homepage still shows a placeholder for the posts list. We recommend to publish your Blog only when you have at least one blog post added there.

A published blog homepage showing the placeholder where the posts list appears when no posts are live

5. When you publish your Blog, it will be added to the Content > Blog posts > Manage blogs section of your Shopify admin. 

The published blog under Content > Blog posts > Manage blogs in Shopify admin

⚠️ Only Blog Posts created in the Zipify Pages app should be used on the Zipify Pages Blog. Manually reassigning Zipify Pages Blog Posts to an existing Blog or vice-versa is unsupported and may cause issues.

📝 To edit your Blog page at any time, click the "Blog page" link in the table:

The Zipify Pages Pages table with the Blog page link for editing the blog

Adding a Link to your Blog in your Header Navigation Menu

If you'd like to start using this new blog on your store, you will need to adjust your Navigation menu(s) at Content > Menus within your Shopify admin to point to the new ZP blog instead of your current one. 

The Content > Menus section in Shopify admin for editing navigation menus

📝 For Header navigation for your Theme header, the menu will be called "Main Menu".

If you don't already have a Blog link in your Theme Header and/or Footer navigation menu(s), then you will need to add a menu item to the corresponding menu and then link it to your Zipify Pages blog homepage:

Adding a Blog menu item to a Shopify theme header or footer navigation menu

If you're using a Zipify Pages Header instead (If you are using a Zipify Page as your Homepage for example), you will need to link to your Zipify Pages blog homepage using the "URL" Destination option and then paste in your Zipify Pages blog homepage URL there and Save:

Linking to your blog from a Zipify Pages header navigation menu

Creating a Blog Post

Once your ZP Blog has been created, you can then start creating Blog Posts for it.
Follow the steps below to create a blog post.

1. Click on the "Pages" link in the sidebar:

Clicking the Pages link in the Zipify Pages sidebar

2. Click on the "New Page" button (1) in the top-right corner, then hover over "Blog" there and click the "New Post" button (2):

The New Page button (1) and, under the Blog menu, the New Post button (2) for starting a blog post

2. Next, choose an available pre-built Blog Post Template to go with and then click the "Use Template" button or choose to create a custom post from scratch by selecting the "Blank Post":

Choosing a pre-built Blog Post Template or starting a custom post from scratch

3. Next, the “New Post” popup will appear where you need to specify the post's title (note that your blog’s visitors will see that title on the Blog homepage). Optionally, you can specify the Author’s name and add Tag(s).

Click the "Create" button to be taken to the Page Constructor to start editing your blog post. 

The New Post popup for entering the blog post's title in Zipify Pages

📝 All of these fields are available for editing later in the page builder. The page builder’s side panel also contains a switcher to hide the post Author’s name if desired.

4. Within the page builder, you can build out your blog post using the same set of page sections and settings that is available for pages! 

In the Page Settings located in the sidebar there are also Blog Post specific settings such as the following:

  • Show/hide the Post’s Author (1)

  • Set and show/hide the Publish Date (2)

  • Add a Post Thumbnail image (3) that shows on the Blog Homepage

Blog post settings: show/hide Author (1), set the Publish Date (2), and add a Post Thumbnail image (3)

📝 The post's publish date determines the order that the blog posts are listed on the blog homepage, by most recently published date listed first. The default value is “Current” which populates the current date as the post’s publish date. The other option is "Custom" which allows you to set any custom date instead.​

5. Once you're ready to Publish your Blog Post, click the "Publish" button. 

The Publish button for publishing a blog post in Zipify Pages

The blog post will be automatically assigned to your ZP blog homepage and will be added to the Content > Blog posts section of your Shopify admin. 

Blog and Blog Post URL structure on Shopify

Blogs on Shopify have the following URL structure: https://www.yourstore.com/blogs/blog-name

Blog posts on Shopify are assigned to a particular Blog you've created. Blog posts have the following URL structure:

https://www.yourstore.com/blogs/blog-name/blog-post-name

As you can see in the example above, the blog-post-name is assigned to the blog-name and therefore lives at that URL path on the Shopify store.

By default, new Blog Posts created in the Zipify Pages app are assigned to the new Blog you created in the app. If you have an existing Blog and want the Blog Posts created in the app assigned there instead, you are able to change which Blog a particular Blog Post is assigned to in your Shopify admin however that is not recommended and may cause issues.

To do that, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Content > Blog posts in your Shopify admin.

2. Click on the name of the Blog post that you want to reassign to your existing Blog.

3. In the Organization section, click on the "Blog" dropdown menu to choose your existing Blog that you want the Post assigned to instead:

The Organization section of a Shopify blog post, with the Blog dropdown for assigning it to an existing blog

4. Click the Save button and the Blog post is now assigned to your existing Blog.

Clicking Save to assign the blog post to an existing Shopify blog

*Important Notes:

  • If you manually reassign a Zipify Pages Blog post to an existing Blog, the Blog post will be automatically reassigned back to the Zipify Pages Blog instead if you Update the Blog post within the Zipify Pages app. You will need to manually reassign it to your existing Blog (if desired) again by following the steps outlined above.

  • Existing Blog posts can also be reassigned to your new Zipify Pages Blog (if desired). To do that, follow the same steps outlined above, but instead choose your new Zipify Pages Blog as the one you want to reassign the existing Blog post to.

  • There is no ability to edit existing Blog posts which weren't created in the Zipify Pages app within the app. Only Blog posts created in the Zipify Pages app are able to be edited in the app.

Blog and Blog Post Scripts

If you wish to use additional scripts for the blog page then you have 2 ways to do this:

1. Add Global scripts through the Global > Global Scripts > Blog scripts section of the ZP app to run added scripts on any/every Blog post page:

The Global > Global Scripts > Blog scripts section of the Zipify Pages app

2. Add Local scripts to be used on an exact blog post page using the </> Scripts section of the page builder:

The page builder's  Scripts section for adding local scripts to a single blog post

Files Added to Your Theme

The following Template files are added to your theme automatically and are needed for the correct functioning of the blog post page and blog homepage respectively:

article.zipifypages.liquid
blog.zipifypages.liquid

If the "Theme header/footer" feature is enabled for your blog and blog posts, the following files will be added as well:

article.custom.zipifypages.liquid
blog.custom.zipifypages.liquid

NOTE: These template files will not be overwritten/re-created when you disable/re-enable the ZP app in order to preserve any user code injections (if any is added). The only way to overwrite/re-create these templates is to remove these files manually and then click the "Refresh Assets" button in the Settings > General > Advanced Settings section of the app.

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