Hi,
I’d like to add a blog to my website and I was wondering a few things. I see that there is a basic blog page included but it doesn’t look like there is much options for making it look great and have some functions like searching. I’ve been doing a bit of looking on the add on section but struggling to find a blog add on that allows me to control a bit of the lay out but more importantly will help with the SEO. I’ve been told that each blog post should be on a separate page. This seems a bit tricky as each page is added onto the drop down menus and that will get cumbersome very quick. Any ideas?
Joe’s Total CMS stacks has a blog option. You can see it in action here:
https://total-cms.com/demo/total-cms/blog/
1 Like
Check out the Poster stack by Instacks. Will address all your concerns/needs. Gives you the full flexibility of Stacks.
No matter the tool (built in, Poster, other options) each blog post has it’s own permalinked page. But only the main blog page shows in the menu nav. No need to worry about each page showing in a drop down menu.
If you want to blog online (instead of natively inside RW) then you might want to consider Armadillo.
4 Likes
I see from the Community site that Yuzool has taken over RW/Writer (https://rapidweavercommunity.com/addons/stacks/writer-stacks)
I don’t have any personal experience with it but just pointing out another option. Poster and Total CMS are both excellent options as well
2 Likes
looks to me that there are 3 options that I’ve found. Total CMS, Armadillo, RW/Writer. Since I haven’t actually started yet I didn’t want to spend too much and Total CMS might be over kill, although I really like the ability to customise the layout. I would like to be able to post from a mobile device. anyone able to compare these 3?
I can’t really comment on the latter two. Total CMS has the advantage of being more comprehensive (which might 'future proof you a bit if you want to use it for other things on your site down the road). I’d say it’s also the most actively developed (though that may change with the RW/Writer ownership change) and has the most integrations. It’s also the most expensive and maybe the steeper learning curve, from what I gather. I’d say it is really friendly for mobile updating as well (but not sure if it is more or less friendly than others).
I’m sure there are a few that have had experience with all 3 (or 2 of the 3).
Pulse CMS is another option - though I don’t know the latest on the pricing structure for that.
1 Like
If it’s just you doing the updates then my vote goes to poster stack:
5 Likes
Pretty sure this is not possible with Poster, but I do not have that stack, so not 100% sure.
For now, would go with RW/Writer from @yuzool - so much easier to set up and more fail proof than the other 2 alternatives.
For the future - you will have to wait and see 
3 Likes
From this thread, I have summarized your requirements so far as… I have limited knowledge about Armadillo and Writer. If anyone wants to correct any of my points below on those products, please do.
Search
Total CMS supports full search of your blog. You have full control over how the results are displayed as well. Its pretty nice…
I am pretty sure that Armadillo has search. I don’t think that RW/Writer does.
Custom Layout
Total CMS definitely provides the most flexible layout and style options. There isn’t going to be much that you won’t be able to do. I think that Writer has some layout/style options but its pretty limited. Armadillo falls a bit short here to my knowledge. I know that many users of it need to style things with CSS if they need more styling.
Posting from mobile
I am pretty sure that all 3 support this. Total CMS supports full image uploads as well. The entire CMS is mobile friendly.
SEO
Total CMS automatically adds all of the SEO and social media meta tags that you will need for every blog post. I actually have no clue what the other 2 do in this area.
Separate pages
All of the blogs allow for (the illusion of) separate pages. Total CMS also allows you to setup pretty URLs so that your URLs can look like this…
https://mysite.com/blog/mypost
instead of
https://mysite.com/blog/?permalink=mypost
Cost
Armadillo is a one time cost.
Total CMS is a one time cost per domain.
Writer is a subscription.
I think that Total CMS is definitely the most powerful solution. I also think that you would be surprised how easy it is to implement. Total CMS does have a 30 day free trial so you should definitely give it a try before you commit to a solution.
1 Like
Thanks for considering Writer @franklyn!
As @jabostick mentioned, we took it over this year and it’s a solid blogging platform. That’s all it does: blogs.
It’s recently had a new lick of paint and new features added. It also has a 30 day free trial for the hosting part. Then it’s $23 a year per blog so reasonable for Pro bloggers.
SEO is a key part of Writer and it has all the correct markup, OGP data and other things to help that.
Be great to have you onboard and any questions just DM me or shout out.
Best of luck with the blogging project 
1 Like
Hi Franklyn
In my use case and having evaluated the available options I chose Poster Stack and have found it addresses my needs and found Jannis to be a very helpful and responsive mentor into the bargain.
The link below illustrates what I at least have done.
3 Likes
I am also using Poster Stack:
https://www.lisasandlerphotography.com/blog/
@instacks/Jannis is very helpful and as lots of people use it here, you will find people in the forum who can help you with questions.
1 Like