Plugin 'blog' into Wordpress CMS?

[bluejeans74]

Hello all,

I am attempting to setup a 'blog' inside my website. I have designed my site in Wordpress, and I went into admin and set the correct settings so my site has a static front page.

What I am trying to do now is create a 'blog' within my website (obviously linked to a menu item on my vertical navbar called 'blog' or 'latest news'). I need this blog to be able to look like my site but just have the actual blog inside the template of an ordinary page (ie the home page), and still have my navbars on the page etc.

Whilst I have some skills in setting up the blog part, am I right in thinking that I will have to setup a template page first and then write some code?

I have looked at some tutorials online but I think that I need to insert some code somewhere and do a little more work to tailor it to my particular site.

My site is at http://www.atrium-music.co.uk

I wonder if someone could point me in the right direction to a specific tutorial that covers my particular issue (ie setup a 'template' page that looks like the rest of the site etc)

Thankyou

Paula

[ralph.m]

Hi bluejeans74. Welcome to the forums.

It makes no sense to build a blog within WP, given that it's already a blogging CMS. It is not uncommon to have your WP home page static and have the blog in another part of the site, though. See if this helps:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Static_Front_Page

[Slackr]

Although this isn't strictly true I find it helpful to think of WordPress Pages as static content for the website and use Posts as regular contributions such as a blog. I use Wordpress for mostly static sites but it is easy to incorporate a blog section because the underlying platform is made for blogging.

Essentially you set up pages and your navigation for the rest of your website, then use one section to post your blog entries. You just specify that that page uses the archive-posts layout and it will list each entry one after the other as you would expect.

[bluejeans74]

Although this isn't strictly true I find it helpful to think of WordPress Pages as static content for the website and use Posts as regular contributions such as a blog. I use Wordpress for mostly static sites but it is easy to incorporate a blog section because the underlying platform is made for blogging.

Essentially you set up pages and your navigation for the rest of your website, then use one section to post your blog entries. You just specify that that page uses the archive-posts layout and it will list each entry one after the other as you would expect.

Hi, yes, thank you very much, that's what I meant.... I have a static site that I just want to set the blog up inside. However I think I do not have the skills necessary to do this as I have to go into the code. Thanks for the tutorial. I wonder if you could point me in the right direction of a developer or someone that I can hire to do this for me?

Many thanks

[Slackr]

I've had a little look at your website and it is already running on Wordpress (and looking good). Wordpress began life as a blogging platform so it is within your scope to run a blog alongside the content you already have.

If you have set a Static Page, you'll notice that there is a setting beneath it to set a 'Blog' page.



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You can then populate the Blog page with new Posts. Each Post represents a single piece of news and you can categories those if you wish.

[CMS Dude]

Wow, the day that someone asks for a "blog plugin' for WP ... is the day that WP truly comes full circle.

[Slackr]

It just shows the versatility of the platform. I've been using it to develop websites almost none of which are interested in a blog feature. It is true too that if you approach web development this way that turning on the blogging functionality isn't the most intuitive process.

[bluejeans74]

Wow, the day that someone asks for a "blog plugin' for WP ... is the day that WP truly comes full circle.

Hehe, yes I see what you mean, I should have worded it better.... I meant using WordPress as a CMS but making it look to the casual user like I'd almost 'plugged' a 'blog' into it seperately So...to clarify, I meant that my main (static WordPress) site looks like a 'non-blog' website, but them once the user clicks the 'blog' link on vertical navbar, they enter a new section (hopefully with a different looking template) that 'looks' like how people view a traditional blog. This 'blog' has lots of useful advice and information, but is also reflective of the 'main' (static) site. I'm finding that increasingly the business I'm in that people respond very well to this. When I meant plugin I probably meant the page where you can program or 'set' the part to direct people to the 'blog' section in backend admin.
So... the 2 different ideas I've been having are:

1. (Easy option) The static side of my site is visually the same as my 'blog', when user clicks 'blog' on my vertical navbar, the 'blog' looks the same (no template)
2. (Requires a template, not sure whether I can do this?) when user clicks on 'blog' link, they go to my 'blog' section, but it has a template that makes it look like a authentic 'blog' rather than my normal static site.
3. A separate website completely. Plug WordPress into it and have no static frontpage. Get a nice site template from one of the template stores online.

I'm thinking of the third option, and then creating really great SEO, however, can I buy a template and then just use it for the 'blog' section of my static site?

Thanks, Slackr, you've been a fantastic help, and thanks for saying that you like my site, I've been plannning it and working on it over the last year so that really makes me feel good! That tutorial is exactly what I need and I'm going to go into the admin and see what it looks like when I've set the 'blog' side of things for now (as in option '1' above).

Thanks!

Paula

[bluejeans74]

Thanks Ralph for your help and the tutorial! I am working on setting my blog page and static page now.

[bluejeans74]

Thanks to all once again, I am working on the 'blog' side of things now and have set it up at http://www.atrium-music.co.uk/blog. However what I think I'll do is buy a new domain and plugin WordPress there with a completely new, bought template. It looks like too much of a headache to change the look of the current 'blog' page and remove navbars and replace with the 'traditional' blog widgets etc.