As Thinkific has been primarily designed to be a membership, course, and community platform, one feature that’s missing is a way to integrate a blog directly to your website.
If you want to create a blog, you will have to either use Custom Pages, add a third-party blogging platform, or link a WordPress site.
Key Takeaways:
- Thinkific doesn’t currently offer built-in blog features
- You can use its Custom Pages feature if you want a simple blog
- To build a more sophisticated blog, you’ll need an app or WordPress site
Can I Create a Blog on Thinkific?
You can, and there are three ways to do it. Each solution is suitable for business owners with differing needs.
Here are the solutions and who they suit:
1. Custom Pages – You can build them directly on the Thinkific platform, but it is only suitable for basic blogs that require minimal functionality.
To build a blog that has comprehensive features, you’ll need to use one of the two solutions below.
2. Blogging Platform – You can use a third-party app to build a drag-and-drop blog on your Thinkific site.
3. Link a WordPress Site – If you already have an existing WordPress blog, you can link it to your site and integrate it into the header or footer using basic coding.
What Blogging Features Does Thinkific Offer?
Each of the four main subscriptions that Thinkific offers comes with the Custom Pages feature, as well as access to the App Store. Each allows you to attach a WordPress blog to the site.
As a result, you can use any of the following solutions using Thinkific’s free or paid options.
How to Create a Thinkific Blog Using Custom Pages
Custom Pages were designed to be used when adding new content to your site, for example, a Contact Us page, About Us page, and More Information page. As they’ve not been specifically built to be a blog, the features available are limited.
If you do choose this option, here is how to create a blog post on a Custom Page:
- Log in to your Thinkific account
- Navigate to Admin Dashboard
- Click Design Your Site
- Select Site Pages and then Click + New Custom Page
- You must add your Page name, and you can add a Page title if you wish
- Click Create Page
- To add content, select the Edit Page button
- Using its drag-and-drop editor, you can add sections to the page to turn it into a blog post
Sections that you can pick from to add include the following:
- Text and Media
- Text with CTA
- Image and Text with CTA
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Icons & Text
- Image Gallery
Your Custom Page will automatically be pushed live and ready for you to view.
Remember you must link your new Custom Page to the site menu.
To do this, here are your two options:
- To link to your header, open the Home page and add a link block
- To add to your footer, open the Home page and add a link block to the footer
How to Add a Blogging Platform to Thinkific
What Is a Blogging Platform?
A blogging platform is third-party software that integrates with your Thinkific site to enable you to blog.
It gives you the features and tools to run a fully functional and regularly updated blog directly on your Thinkific site.
What Is the Best Blogging App to Add to Thinkific?
As the Thinkific App Store is small, there are few blogging apps for you to pick from.
Currently, when you search “blog,” the top result is an app called DropInBlog, which has been downloaded over 570 times.
It has a 14-day free trial, after which the subscription costs $19 per month.
We’ll use DropInBlog for this example of learning how to add a blogging platform to Thinkific.
How to Add a Blogging Platform to Thinkific
Six steps to get set up:
- Go to Admin
- On the left-hand side of the screen, select Apps
- On the top right-hand side of your screen, click Visit App Store
- Navigate to the search bar and type in “Blog”
- The store will display all of the current results. For this example, we are going to choose DropInBlog
- Once you’re on the DropInBlog app’s page, select Install
After installation, your header and footer will be the same as your existing site, as the app embeds directly into the code.
Now your blog has been set up, you can publish posts directly to your site and start ranking.
For more specific information about its features and how to create posts, you can check out DropInBlog’s video tutorials.
How to Add a WordPress Blog to Your Thinkific Site
If you already have a WordPress site that hosts your blog, you’re likely looking for a subdomain integration.
In this case, you can add a blog link to your header. After clicking, your reader will be redirected to your WordPress site to access the content.
If your WordPress site has the same design and header, your reader can navigate between your Thinkific site and blog without realizing they’re changing websites.
If this is the solution you’re looking for, here’s how to implement it:
- Go to your Admin Dashboard, then click Design Your Site
- Navigate to the Site Pages section, then click Edit Page (the pencil icon) for the Home Page
- Select the Header section
- Then + Add Link
- Scroll to the bottom section on the + Add Link drop-down box and select A Custom URL, then fill out the Text box with your title
- You can now add the URL in the Custom URL section of your WordPress blog and name your link
When someone now clicks on the link to your blog from your Thinkific site, they will be redirected to your WordPress blog.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Do A Blog On Thinkific?
Yes, you can create a blog on Thinkific using Custom Pages, however the features they offer are limited. For a more comprehensive solution, you can add a custom blogging platform to your site or incorporate a WordPress blog.
Can I Link My WordPress Blog To My Thinkific Site?
Yes, you can link a WordPress blog to your Thinkific site. You can do this by navigating to the Site Pages section > Edit Page > + Add Link > A Custom URL. After the information has been filled out, your website visitors can navigate from your Thinkific site to your WordPress site.
Bottom Line
The built-in features on Thinkific will only allow you to make a very basic blog page. If you want to blog regularly, increase your marketing reach, or your SEO, then you should look to link to a WordPress site, or integrate your Thinkific website with a third-party blogging app.
