Kartra’s blogging features are okay for posting occasional content, but if you plan to post often, you will quickly realize its limitations.
Kartra was not designed as a blogging platform, so you are better off using a third-party tool with Kartra to get the functionality you need.
Key Takeaways:
- Create blog posts in Kartra by adding a standard web page
- The platform is missing essential tools like scheduling and auto-update
- Using Kartra with WordPress or DropInBlog is a better solution
Does Kartra Actually Have a Blogging Feature?
The short answer to this is “not really.” Kartra does not have a dedicated blogging feature. However, that’s not to say you can’t create blog posts using the platform.
You can, but it’s just a little more complicated than if it had a straight-up blogging tool.
Kartra provides blog page templates that you can add to your website, but the process is clunky (you’ll see why in a minute) and not suitable for high volumes of content.
If, however, you want to write the occasional post, you will likely find the tools adequate.
Even Kartra admits it’s not intended to be used as a blogging platform.
Okay, I know this social media announcement is super old, but trust me, not much has changed since. Well, Kartra has launched blog home page templates since then, but the index pages have yet to be seen.
Why You’ll Find It Frustrating to Use Kartra for Blogging
Blogging Is Not a Separate Feature
Similar platforms that provide blogging have it as a separate feature (Kajabi, for example), meaning you can create blog posts that are separate from your standard web pages.
Doing it this way gives you access to tools that help you properly organize and categorize your posts. Plus, keeping blog posts in a different place to your web pages makes everything easier to manage.
Kartra, on the other hand, doesn’t distinguish blogging from its web page creator. It’s all in the same place, and you have to create a new web page every time you want to write a blog post.
The blog post templates (of which there are 15) look outdated and “samey,” so if you want a blog that stands out, you’re going to have to customize them quite heavily.
You’ll actually notice on the blog post templates that the date is still 2018, which is when they were launched. So, it doesn’t look like they’ve been updated since then.
The good news is that once you have created your blog page, you can save it as a template to make creating subsequent posts faster.
I also find the page editing tool a bit buggy. For instance, when I tried to change the image several times, it simply refused to update.
Perhaps the platform was having a bad day (it happens), but it’s something that slowed down the whole process and made it frustrating.
It Doesn’t Auto-Update Blog Posts
Any self-respecting blogging feature has an auto-update feature.
For instance, you can have the system automatically re-publish the post to refresh it.
If you want to do this in Kartra, you’d have to create a clone of the post, delete the old post, and then publish the new one.
Even then, you have to manually update the date section. After publishing a test post, I noticed that the date hadn’t changed from what was on the template!
Again, this is fine if you have only a handful of blog posts, but it will quickly become tedious if you have hundreds of pages.
No Scheduling Tool
This is probably the biggest hurdle of using Kartra for blogging.
There’s no way to line up your blog posts and schedule them to auto-publish.
This is a problem for two reasons.
- One is the inconvenience of having to remember to go in and publish your posts manually. If you’ve written ten posts, you have to publish each and every one of them yourself.
- Second, if your audience is primarily in another time zone, the optimal publishing time might be in the middle of the night or some other inconvenient hour.
Setting your alarm for 3 am just to publish a page is not an attractive prospect!
With auto-scheduling, this is never a problem because you can just set the publishing date and time, and the system will do the rest while you sleep soundly.
How to Create a Blog Post in Kartra (A Quick Guide)
- Head to Pages > All Pages > + Page.
- In the Page Type dropdown, select Blog Posts.
- Give your new page a name in the left-hand tab, browse the templates, and select one.
- You can also select which website and category the blog post is for.
- Click Create.
- Edit your blog post. You can overwrite text directly on the page and click on other elements to edit them.
- There are prebuilt sections that you can also add to your blog post.
- Don’t forget to save your progress when needed—Kartra does not auto-save your work.
- When done, click to publish your blog post, and a URL will be generated for you.
You can follow the same process to create a home page for your blog. Select Blog Homes from the Page Type dropdown, and you’ll find the templates.
However, be aware that the entire page requires manual input.
For instance, the Recent Post and Categories sections do not automatically update. So, when you publish a new blog post, you’ll have to go in and add it to the page yourself.
As for your blog categories, you will have to create yet another page and manually add all the blog posts for that specific category to it.
Two Better Alternatives for Blogging with Kartra
You can be forgiven for thinking that blogging in Kartra is probably too much effort.
There are alternatives that will make your life a whole lot easier, but it would involve using separate software.
Use WordPress
If you’re going to another tool for blogging, you might as well use the best!
WordPress was built for blogging and has everything you need to make the process as seamless and frustration-free as possible. Plus, it’s the best in terms of SEO and driving organic traffic over to read your content.
There are two ways to use WordPress with Kartra.
The first is to download the KCSG plugin. This allows you to embed the Kartra page builder onto your WordPress site. Then, you can create blog posts using Kartra’s tools but then publish and manage them using WordPress’s tools.
It’s kinda technical, though, and moderately complicated to use.
The second method is to create your blog in WordPress and then connect it to your Kartra website using a subdomain.
In my opinion, this is by far the easiest way to do it.
WordPress has hundreds of great-looking blog templates (that have definitely been updated since 2018!), and its page builder is way more advanced than Kartra’s.
Additionally, plugins do have a habit of breaking every now and then. Using the sub-domain method instead removes this potential problem.
Try a Third-Party Blogging App
If WordPress is too daunting a prospect (I get it—it’s not really a beginner-friendly tool), a third-party blogging tool may be a better fit.
I recommend DropInBlog because it was set up specifically for this purpose.
How it works is you create your blog in DropInBlog, and then all you do is grab the code and paste it onto a Kartra web page. This embeds your blog straight onto your Kartra site.
There are blog templates specifically designed for Kartra users, so your blog will blend seamlessly with the rest of your website.
You manage your blog in DropInBlog, and it automatically updates on your Kartra site. Plus, you get all the essential blogging features, such as auto-scheduling, advanced SEO, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Blog Posts Can I Create in Kartra?
All Kartra plans allow you to create unlimited web pages. Therefore, there is no limit to how many blog posts you can create.
Does Kartra Have Native Integrations for Blogging Apps?
Kartra does not feature any native integrations for blogging apps. Instead, you can use blogging apps with Kartra by embedding code onto a web page or by connecting the two sites via a sub-domain.
