How to Setup Blog Archives on Squarespace
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This will be a quick step-by-step guide to setting up a blog archive on your Squarespace website. It's simple, don't worry!
First things first! Get organized!
If you haven't already, let's setup some organization in your blog. Go through the settings for each blog post you have and (for example) also tag it for the month & year you published it (ex: "April 2017"). If you have a bunch of blog posts, this could definitely take some time, but it will be SO worth it once you're done!
Here are some options to help guide you in the right direction:
By Month - tag each post with the month & year you published it (ex: April 2017). Make sure you include the year if you expect to be blogging for more than one!
By Year - tag each post with the year you published (ex: 2017), if you don't post often, and expect to group your posts by year only
By Category / Subject - categorize each post with one of the subjects you typically discuss in your blogs (ex: Business)
When you categorize and/or tag your posts, it helps your viewers narrow down your posts to those that interest them most. Even from your blog home page, they can click on a tag or category, if that Meta Data is displayed, and your site will open a new page displaying only the blogs that fit that filter information.
This makes it easier for your viewers to see what is most relevant for them, and bypass everything that isn't. You don't want your viewers to get lost in the information they find irrelevant or boring, do you? :)
All done? Okay! Let's move on to the next step.
Table of Contents
1 | Create a new blank page for your Archive
In your pages section of your account, add a new page and name it something like "Archive" so your viewers will know what it is. Make sure you clearly label everything in your page settings also, including the URL. (That's just a good SEO habit to have!)
Once you've done that, on your new page, set up your title the way you normally would, and maybe even add an explanation of what the page is there for right under the title. You don't want any confused viewers!
2 | Add a Summary Block
Depending on how you want your archives to display, choose one of the 4 options from the Summary Block section.
Most of the options are self-explanatory, but in case you're not familiar with their meanings, here's a quick breakdown of the 4 options you have available:
Wall - displays in columns similar to the layout on Pinterest
Carousel - thumbnails in a row, with navigational arrows to flip through the list
List - vertical list, showing details out to the side
Grid - thumbnails & details in a grid layout
All 4 of the choices have their own sets of options within that block's settings. You can list as much or as little information for each item in the summary, as you want.
Don't worry! If you choose something here and then decide you don't like it later, it's easy to change without having to delete the section & start over.
3 | Choose Your Settings
Once you've added a Summary Block on your Archive page, you need to choose your settings within that block.
Content
Here is where you choose where you want the content to come from. In my case, any Summary Block I create will have content from either my Blog, Portfolio Gallery, or Shop.
Content
Layout
In this area, you choose the layout. Remember what I said earlier about choosing what style Summary Block you wanted? You can also choose that here, if you want to change your mind.
The Aspect Ratio, is how your thumbnail image will be cropped. If you don't want it to be, then choose Auto, as I have.
Column width will make your images small enough to fit the width you specify, and Gutter witdth will adjust the spacing between columns.
Below this section you can also adjust the Text Size, Meta Data and more.
Layout
Display
Display (continued)
Display
Choose the number of items you want to display, and uncheck what you don't want to show in your layout. I like a more visual display, so I have everything unchecked, except for the thumbnail image, which is my blog title image.
Below that, you can choose which Meta Data information you primarily want it to display, such as date, author, tag or category. I display mine by date posted, with no secondary Meta Data.
Now here comes the important part!
Make sure you choose one of the tags you created (before Step 1)! If you don't, it won't filter your posts, and will display everything, which won't serve your purpose here.
For example: if you want your archive to display groups by month, then you'd choose that month's tag for each Summary Block you add. In this case, this was my April 2017 Summary Block.
4 | Create ALL the Summary Blocks!
You've got the hang of it now, right? Now add a new Summary Block for each section you want to have in your archive.
If you're organizing by Month & Year, then you'll want to have a block for each month, in each year, you have blogs published for.
Need to see an example? Head on over to my own Blog Archive and check it out! If you see something there, and you want to know how I did it, ask!
TIP: Don't forget to add a Search bar so people can search more specifically!
Want to display Categories with icons too? You're in luck; that's the subject of my next post! Use the sign-up form in my footer to get an email when my next post is published, or follow me on social media!
