This is a paid feature
Contents
Introduction
ChMeetings allows you to easily publish a blog, to both your members and your wider audience. The feature is accessible within the Member Portal area and this guide will show you how to use it.
What is the blog?
The blog is ChMeetings feature that allows you to easily publish articles, announcements, informative content, etc., to your registered members and also publicly. Members can read via their ChMeetings accounts, while anyone can read content you make public, via shared links and articles cards on your Guest View on the ChMeetings login screen.
How does the blog work?
It works just like any other blog: You can simply add your content, choose who can see it, then choose whether and how you want to share it more widely. Note that members are able to copy content from your blog, either on the web or in the mobile app.
Creating your blog
The steps to create your blog are the following:
Go to Member Portal > Blog.
Create a new article and make sure you set visibility preferences.
Share your new article with anyone who has access. If you have set visibility to Public, then you can also use the Member / Guest View to share the article to anyone accessing your login screen, via an article card.
Let’s now expand these steps and look at the process into more detail.
Creating a new article
To create a new article, simply follow the steps below:
Go to Member Portal > Blog.
Click Add Article.
You will now see the article editing screen. Here is where you have the following options:
Add a title.
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Set the visibility: You can set this to:
- Internal: Visible only to users with permission to access the blog.
- Members: Visible on the member portal to those who are logged in.
- Public; Visible to anyone, with no login required.
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Add/Select a Category: Use the dropdown to choose an existing category. To create a new category or manage existing ones, click the gear icon next to the Category option. In the window that comes up, you will be able to:
Create new categories,
Edit or delete existing categories.
Once you add categories, members will be able to use them to filter blog articles.
Allow likes and/or comments: Enable or disable the corresponding toggle to allow or restrict likes and comments. See Allowing likes and comments below, for further details.
Set the Publish Date: This date can be adjusted after publishing the post.
Add the contents of the article within the editor box. The toolbar at the top will help you adjust the formatting. You can use the HTML editor as well, if you like - it is the last option on the toolbar.
Upload a featured image using the dedicated area at the top left. This image will be displayed along with your article.
Choose whether to save a draft of your article, publish it or just preview it.
Blog options
The Blog comes with two main areas:
The articles list
This area allows you to:
See all of your articles at a glance.
- Search and filter through your existing content using the options under Advanced Search. You can use keywords to search by title, filter by ministry, creation date or by status (All, Draft or Published), as well as by category.
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Choose a specific article using its dedicated tile, where you can either delete, copy or edit it using the icons on the top right.
Please keep in mind that you cannot restore an article once it has been deleted.
The blog editor
You can edit any article using the dedicated tile within the article list, where you can click the Edit (✐) option next to the article title. This will open the main article editor where you can add and edit your contents, set and update the visibility or the featured image.
Here is where you can also save or revert the article to draft, publish or preview it.
Publishing and notifying members of new articles
When publishing an article, you can choose whether to publish it with or without notifying members. This means members receive a push notification on their mobile phones if they are logged into their ChMeetings mobile app. Here are the available options:
Choose Publish to opt for publication without notifications.
Choose Publish and Send Notifications to All Members to opt for publication with notifications.
Using Categories
You can categorize your blog articles according to criteria of your choice. Use the Category tab to select one or multiple categories to assign to your article. Click the gear icon on the right side of the option to create new categories, edit or delete existing ones. When browsing your blog, members will be able to filter articles by category. Below is a demo of the categories feature.
Likes and Comments on Blog Articles
Allowing likes and comments
Turn on the Allow Comments or Allow Like toggle to enable the comments or likes features for the post. If the toggles are turned off, then members will not see the option to like or comment.
Viewing who liked a blog article
You can view a list of members who have clicked the Like button on a blog article by going to Member Portal > Blog, and then clicking the Like button under the article for which you want to view this list.
Like and comment features for members
If you enable likes and comments for a blog article, then members will see a Like button and a Comment box underneath your content. Members can edit their own comments after having posted them.
Comment management features are not yet available.
Sharing an article
An article can only be shared once finalized and published. Sharing is possible either via a link which you can add anywhere on the web, or by adding the article to your Guest / Member View.
An article can only be shared once finalized and made available publicly. To see the Share option, please set the blog post visibility to Public.
To share an article, find it in your list then click Share. Here is where you can choose how to share. You can share your post in several ways:
- Using a link you can add anywhere on the web;
- Via Email;
- By posting a link to it on Facebook or X (Formerly Twitter)
The best way to add blog posts to your ChMeetings app for members to interact with is by adding to your Member Portal using the article card or blog card in your Member Portal Builder;
Adding a blog article to a card in your Member Portal
Any blog article that is visible to members or the public can also be added to a card within your Guest / Member View. To do this:
Go to Member Portal > Settings > Go to the Builder.
Drag an Article Card to your view, then choose which article to display and who it should be visible to.
Once set up, your article card will be visible on your main accountURL / Login screen, for guests and/or members to read. Learn more about building your Member Portal