How to Add a Blog to an HTML/CSS Website

If you’re looking to learn how to add a blog to an HTML/CSS website, we can help. However, if you’re still unsure whether you should even add a blog, I think we can settle that question for you. A blog increases your website's visibility online and, in turn, drives traffic to your site.

Increased traffic to your site is a good thing, especially if your website brings in money – whether it’s an e-commerce store or other form of income. Quality traffic can lead to increased revenue.

Blogging is also a clever way to build relationships and connections with your readers. There’s a bit of work behind effective blogging, of course, but once established, this personal voice in your blog is better than any paid advertising. 

So, how do you add a blog to your HTML/CSS website? Let’s go through the options and help you reap the benefits.

Two Options to Add a Blog to Your HTML/CSS Website

There are two ways to add a blog to your website – you either custom code it in or use a third-party blogging platform. 

Custom Code to Add a Blog

If you have some experience with HTML and CSS coding, you can write your own custom code to build a blog. However, you need to be very well-versed in the matter because it’s no simple task. 

Not only is there a challenge in writing the code yourself, but this is also going to be extremely time-consuming. Depending on the complexity of the blog you want, it could take anywhere from a week to several weeks to complete if you’re in it alone. In comparison, a third-party blogging platform can be up and running in a matter of minutes.

DropInBlog: An Easy Third-Party Blogging Platform

There are a ton of blogging platforms available today. Some of these content management systems (CMSs) are free and open-source, while others require a paid subscription. Using a CMS, as opposed to custom coding your own blog, is a far easier approach. 

However, not all blogging platforms and CMSs offer the same features and functionality, so it pays to do your homework when choosing a blogging platform. 

That said, the research is that much easier when one platform offers many more benefits than the others. Enter DropInBlog – a professional blogging app that connects seamlessly with almost any existing website. 

Integration is fast and easy, and the only coding you’ll need to do with DropInBlog is quickly copying and pasting two lines of code. We’ll show you how.

How to Integrate DropInBlog

To begin with, you’ll need to sign up for a DropInBlog account. The good news is that you don’t have to commit to a plan immediately – you can get started with the 14-day free trial. 

1. Go to the Code & Layout tab and copy the code shown in Step 1, which looks like this:

   <script src="https://io.dropinblog.com/embedjs/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.js"></script>

2. You can then paste this code into the HTML of your website just before the </body> tag.
3. Next, copy the code shown in Step 2. It looks like this:

   <div id="dib-posts"></div>

4. Paste the Step 2 code in the body of the page where you want your blog to display.
5. Now, save and that’s it!

Simple, Powerful, and Intuitive

Once set up, what you’ll get is a simple but powerful WordPress-style CMS and content editor. It’s intuitive to use, and you can style your blog any way you choose. In fact, it’s so convenient to use because DropInBlog automatically adopts your site's CSS and style. 

All you have to do is develop and optimize your content, then hit publish. No need to spend time reformatting to make your blog pages match up with the rest of your site.

Feature-Packed

DropInBlog comes packed with everything you need to produce a winning blog. With DropInBlog, you can: 

• Schedule posts to publish at the optimal time. 
• Add multiple authors if you have contributing authors to credit. 
• Manage comments and user interactions. 
• Add social sharing buttons to expand your audience reach. 
• Optimize for SEO – the built-in SEO Analyzer tool is a game changer that will put you ahead of the competition.

Make Great Blog Posts

Once you’ve got your blog built and running, you need to know a few basics about how to create great content that performs its purpose of driving traffic to your site. Ensuring your blog pages and the content is SEO-optimized is a number one priority, but beyond that, there are some additional things to consider that make great blog posts.

Use the Right Words

Spend a bit of time on keyword research before you start developing any content. That way, your blog will already have a head start. Make sure you use language that is clear and concise – plain English. While your blog doesn’t need to be easily understood by everyone – you do have a target audience. After all – you’ll lose readers if you use too much complicated or technical language. 

Finally, the headline is crucial to drawing in readers in the first instance. Make it catchy and to the point.

Consider User Experience

A good blog post starts with ease of navigation. Your site will lose points with search engines if you have a high bounce rate because of slow-loading pages or a confusing site structure. Technical SEO is as important as in-content SEO.

There are a couple of things that improve user experience on a blog. Adding things like a table of contents and reading progress indicators are a nice touch to help with page navigation.

Hit the Mark

Always aim to develop content that is useful to your readers. Research what topics are of interest and what type of content they want. Add your own personality to the content and a variety of media to keep readers’ attention.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

It is a 100% worthwhile investment to add a blog to your HTML/CSS website. Maybe you have the coding skills to develop the custom code yourself, but why spend the time when there are second-to-none blogging platforms already developed? 

You can integrate DropInBlog with any website quite easily, and our customer support is available to troubleshoot any problems you may encounter. 

You can try it for yourself for free for 14 days and then select from two paid pricing plans.