With Pattern's blog feature, you can create and share content that tells the story of your business while keeping your buyers informed on any new updates in your shop.

You must own or have permission to use the content that you upload to your Pattern blog.

How to get your blog set up

To begin the setup process for your blog: 

1. 1. Go to your Pattern Dashboard. 
   2.  Select the Blog tab, then the Let’s go button.
   3. A sample blog post will be displayed for your reference. Select the title to learn more about available formatting and content options within posts. Delete the draft post when you’re ready, or keep it around to reference.
   4. Select the New Post button at the top of the page to draft your first blog post. From here, you can customise your title, content, featured image, and excerpt.

Title and content

The title of your post plays an important part in your Pattern site's SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Try to make your title as specific as possible so that it accurately describes the subject of the post. For example, “New Products & Christmas Market Schedule” is more specific than a broad title like “Shop Updates.”

The Content section is where you'll draft and customise content for your post. The toolbar at the top of this section allows you to format your text in:

• Bold
• Italics
• Underline
• Primary and secondary headings
• Bulleted lists and numbered lists
• Hyperlinks

You also have the option to upload images or embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo. To learn more about embedding videos into your blog, check out these step-by-step guides by YouTube and Vimeo.

Featured image and excerpt

These sections are what readers will see on your main blog page before clicking to read the entire post. The featured image displays at the top of your post, and an excerpt briefly summarising the subject of your post will display below your title.

Excerpts won't appear on this page if you're using the Zephyr theme.

If you choose not to include an image or excerpt, we'll only display your blog post title with a Continue reading link.

What is the maximum image size for blog posts?  

The recommended size for blog post images is 2000px for the longest side of the image, and a resolution of 72PPI.  

Images larger than 1MB in file size may not finish uploading, especially on a slower internet connection. If you're finding that your photo uploads are taking longer than normal (or not successfully uploading), we would recommend downsizing your images and uploading them again.

How to publish and manage your posts

Once you're done composing your post, select Preview to see how it will appear on your site. If you'd like to publish it later, choose Save as Draft. When you're ready to make your post live, select Publish.

To edit a post, go back to the Blog section of your Pattern Dashboard and select title of the post you’d like to edit.

Once you've made changes, you can choose to preview, save as draft, or publish. To cancel the change, select Back to posts at the top of the screen and your edits will be discarded.

To delete a post, go to the Blog section of your Pattern Dashboard to view all of your blog posts. Locate the post you'd like to delete and click the X to the right of the title. Confirm by selecting Delete Post .

Once a post has been deleted, it can't be recovered.

How to enable blog comments

To create more engagement with your blog, give readers the option to comment on your posts through Disqus. This is where you'll manage all of your comment settings for your Pattern blog, and it's free to create an account.

If you choose to enable Disqus, you’ll have the option to turn comments off for specific posts. Use the On / Off toggle under the Excerpt area on the blog post compose screen. This setting defaults to On for new posts.

Learn how to enable comments for your blog.

How visitors see your blog

Once you activate your blog and publish a post, visitors on your Pattern site will see a blog heading in the navigation menu for your site. This link will take them to your full blog, which displays the 10 most recent posts per page.

The location of your blog icon will vary based on the theme you're using.

Visitors will see a preview of each post which displays the title, excerpt, and featured image. They can read the full blog post by selecting the title or the Continue Reading link.

Each blog post also has a unique URL so you can share and promote individual posts with others. Select the post you want to share and copy the entire URL.

How to track blog performance

Your Stats provide a breakdown of blog views and views from individual posts. This will display in the Pages viewed section of your Stats.

If you have Google Analytics enabled for your Pattern site, blog stats will appear there as well. This Help article explains how to set up Google Analytics for Pattern.

To learn more, check out our Pattern Stats Guide.

How to deactivate your blog

From the Blog section of your Pattern Dashboard, select Archive blog at the bottom of the management page. Your blog will be removed from your Pattern site, but your posts will be saved in your dashboard in case you want to reactivate it later.

To turn your blog back on, go to Reactivate your blog at the top of the Blog management page.