Status: Coming Soon Creating and managing blog posts, categories, access control, and SEO settings.
Overview
The Blog module is TribeCrafter's content publishing layer. It enables community admins to create blog posts for SEO-driven traffic, thought leadership, and content marketing. Blogs can be free for everyone, restricted to logged-in members, or gated behind paid products and plans as a conversion lever.
Creating Blog Posts
Blog posts are created through the admin panel. Each post includes:
- Title -- The blog post headline.
- Content -- The full post body with rich text formatting.
- Summary -- Optional preview text used for premium content gates and social sharing. If not provided, the first 200 characters of the content are used.
- Featured Image -- The main image for the post, used in listings, social sharing, and the detail page.
- Author -- The member credited as the author.
- Categories -- One or more categories for content organization and filtering.
- Status -- Draft, Published, or Archived.
Access Types
Each blog post has an access type that controls who can read it:
| Access Type | Who Can Read | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Anyone, including visitors who are not logged in | SEO content, general articles, community showcase |
| Members Only | Any logged-in member | Exclusive content for registered members |
| Premium | Members who have purchased a qualifying product or plan | Monetized content, gated articles |
How Premium Access Works
Premium blog posts are accessed through "blog access groups" -- admin-defined bundles of blog posts. Here is the flow:
- Admin creates blog access groups and assigns blog posts to them.
- Admin creates products or plans that include those blog access groups.
- Members purchase the product or subscribe to the plan.
- The system grants them access to read the premium blog posts in those groups.
Members never see access group names -- they only see the product or plan they are purchasing. Products and plans can also use wildcard access ("All Articles") to grant access to every blog post.
What Unauthorized Members See
When a member does not have access to a premium blog post, they see:
- The first paragraph of the content.
- A blurred overlay on the rest of the content.
- A call-to-action showing which products or plans they can purchase to unlock the post, or a "Contact admin" message if no products or plans are available.
Categories
Categories organize blog posts for browsing and filtering. Each category has:
- Name -- The display name (e.g., "Technology," "Marketing").
- Value -- A URL-friendly key (e.g., "technology," "marketing"). Must be unique.
Members can filter the blog listing by category, and blog posts can belong to multiple categories.
Blog Listing Page
The blog listing page at /blog provides:
- Search -- Free text search across blog titles, categories, and author names.
- Category filter -- Multi-select dropdown to filter by categories.
- Access level filter -- Filter by All, Free, or Premium.
- Sort options -- Newest (default) or Recommended (featured posts first).
- Sidebar -- Popular posts (featured blogs) and recently active community members.
Blog Detail Page
Each blog post has its own page at /blog/slug with:
- Full content (or gated preview for unauthorized users).
- Author information.
- Categories.
- Sharing controls (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Copy Link).
- Related posts from the same categories (up to 4).
- Estimated read time.
SEO Features
The blog module is designed with search engine optimization in mind:
- Meta title -- Custom SEO title. Falls back to the blog post title.
- Meta description -- Custom SEO description. Falls back to the summary, then to the first 160 characters of content.
- Indexing control -- Public and members-only posts are set as indexable by default. Premium posts are set as non-indexable by default. Admins can override this setting.
- Slug redirects -- When you change a blog post's URL slug, the old URL automatically redirects to the new one, preserving SEO value.
- Open Graph tags -- Automatically generated for social media sharing.
- Canonical URLs -- Self-referencing canonical URLs on every blog post.
Feed Integration
When a blog post is published, it automatically appears in the community newsfeed as a content announcement. This ensures all members discover new blog content through their feed, regardless of whether they follow the author.
Key Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Access type | Public, Members Only, or Premium (set per blog post) |
| Categories | Used for filtering and organization |
| Blog access groups | Admin-defined bundles for monetization |
| Is indexable | Controls search engine indexing (auto-set, admin can override) |
| Meta title / description | Custom SEO fields with automatic fallbacks |
| Featured | Marks blog posts for priority display in listings and sidebars |
Tips
- Use the "Public" access type for blog posts designed to drive organic search traffic.
- Premium blog posts work best as conversion tools -- let visitors see enough to get interested, then prompt them to purchase.
- Always add a featured image -- it improves the appearance of blog cards, social shares, and SEO.
- Organize your content with clear categories so members can easily find what interests them.
- When changing a blog post's URL slug, the redirect is handled automatically -- no manual setup needed.
- The summary field is important for premium posts, as it determines what unauthorized readers see before the blur.