# Articles > Write blog articles in Markdown, add images and offer links, set the permalink, categories and SEO fields, and publish, schedule, or unpublish. This page shows you how to write an article for your blog, link it to your offer, and publish it now or on a date you choose. --- ## Your articles Go to **Blog → Articles** to see your articles. If you have more than one blog, each blog has its own tab. ![The Blog Articles page with a tab for each blog, and five articles on Roofing Tips with their author, category, status, and date. One is a Draft and four are Published](/images/docs/blog-articles.jpg "Your articles, with a tab for each blog") Each article shows as **Draft** or **Published**. An article scheduled for a future date also shows as **Published**. Readers see it from its publication date. - Type in **Search all columns...** to find an article by any of its details. - Click a column heading to sort by it. Click again to reverse the order. - Use **Columns** to show or hide columns, and **Rows per page** to show more articles at once. - Open the menu on an article's row for **Edit**, **View Article**, and **Delete**. **View Article** appears once the article is published and the blog has a working domain. --- ## Start an article 1. Go to **Blog → Add New Article**, or click **New Article** in **Blog → Articles**. 2. If you have more than one blog, pick it under **Blog** in the right-hand column. You can't move the article to another blog later. 3. Type the title in the **Article Title...** field at the top. 4. Write the article in the editor. 5. Click **Save Draft**. ![The article editor with the title 5 Signs Your Roof Needs Replacing, the Write tab and toolbar, the article text in Markdown with a link to track.yourbrand.com/outgoing, and on the right the Blog picker set to Roofing Tips, the Featured Image, Permalink, and Publication Date](/images/docs/blog-editor.jpg "Write the article in Markdown") An article needs a title and a blog before it can be saved. After the first save, the editor stays open on the draft. The editor doesn't save on its own. Click **Save Draft**, or **Update** once the article is live, before you leave the page. --- ## Write the body The editor has two tabs. **Write** is where you type. **Preview** shows how the article will look. The **Preview** button at the top hides the editor and shows the whole article with its title. Click **Edit** to go back. The body is written in Markdown, a simple way to format text. You can type it yourself or use the toolbar. ![The editor toolbar with Undo, Redo, Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Link, Custom Image, Image, Video, lists, Blockquote, Horizontal Line, Code Block, H1 to H3, alignment, Table, and the Same Tab and New Tab buttons outlined](/images/docs/blog-editor-toolbar.jpg "The toolbar. Same Tab and New Tab add a link to your offer") Hover over a button to see its name. If you select text first, most buttons format the selected text. Otherwise they insert an example you can type over. | Button | What it adds | |---|---| | Bold, Italic, Strikethrough | Text styles | | Link | A link, `[Link text](https://)`. Replace both parts. | | Image | An image, `![Alt text](https://)`. See [Add images](#add-images). | | Custom Image | An image you can size and center | | Video | An embedded YouTube or Vimeo video. Paste the video's address in place of the example. | | Bullet List, Numbered List | A list. Select several lines first to turn each line into an item. | | Blockquote | A quote | | Horizontal Line | A divider line | | Code Block | A block of code | | H1, H2, H3 | Headings. Use **H2** for the sections of an article. The title is already the main heading. | | Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Align Justify | Text alignment | | Table | A table. Pick its size from the grid. If you select text first, rows of text separated by commas or tabs become a table. | | Same Tab, New Tab | A link to your offer. See [Link to your offer](#link-to-your-offer). | | Undo, Redo | Undo or redo your last change | Press **Ctrl+F**, or **Cmd+F** on a Mac, to search the article text. ### What you can't add For your readers' safety, articles can't contain scripts, embedded frames, or forms. If the body contains something that can't be shown, a red message above the editor says what to fix, and the save buttons are disabled until you fix it. The message names the problem, for example a tag that isn't allowed or a link that doesn't point to a web address. Links can point to a web address, an email address, a phone number, or a page on your blog. --- ## Link to your offer To send readers to your offer and track the click, select the text for your call to action and click **Same Tab** or **New Tab** in the toolbar. The editor turns the text into a link to `/outgoing` on your tracking domain: ```html Get a free roof check ``` **Same Tab** opens the offer in place of the article. **New Tab** opens it in a new tab, so the reader keeps your article open. To track these clicks, use the article in a campaign as a Blog lander. See [Landers](/docs/tracker/landers/index.md#blog) and [Offer Redirect](/docs/tracker/offer-redirect/index.md#blog). > **Note:** Ordinary links written as `[text](https://...)` always open in a new tab on your blog. --- ## Add images Upload your images first, in **Blog → Media Library**. See [Media Library](/docs/blog/media-library/index.md). To place an image in the body: 1. In **Blog → Media Library**, hover over the image and click **Copy URL**. 2. In the editor, click **Image** in the toolbar. 3. Replace `https://` with the address you copied, and `Alt text` with a short description of the image. ```markdown ![Granules collected in a gutter](https://media.yourbrand.com/blog/hail-damage-checklist.jpg) ``` The description helps readers who can't see the image, and helps search engines understand it. ### Featured image The **Featured Image** is the picture on the article's card on your home page, category pages, and author page. It is also the picture shown when someone shares the article. Click **Click to upload** under **Featured Image**. The **Media Manager** opens. Hover over an image on the **Media Library** tab and click **Select**, or add a new one on the **Upload** tab. ![The Media Manager with the Media Library tab open, a sort menu set to Newest first, and eight roof images, one of them showing the Select button and a delete button](/images/docs/blog-media-manager.jpg "Pick the featured image") The featured image isn't repeated at the top of the article. To show a picture inside the article, add it to the body. --- ## Article settings The right-hand column holds the rest of the article's settings. ![The article settings: Blog set to Roofing Tips, Featured Image, Permalink /signs-roof-needs-replacing, Publication Date, Categories with Guides and Roof Replacement ticked, Excerpt, and SEO Settings with Meta Title and Meta Description](/images/docs/blog-editor-settings.jpg "The settings column, from Blog down to SEO Settings") | Setting | What it does | |---|---| | **Blog** | The blog the article belongs to. Shown only if you have more than one blog. | | **Featured Image** | The picture on the article's card and when it is shared | | **Permalink** | The end of the article's address, such as `/signs-roof-needs-replacing`. If you leave it empty, it is made from the title when you save. Click the link icon to make it from the title now. | | **Publication Date** | The date shown on the article. A future date schedules it. See [Publish an article](#publish-an-article). | | **Categories** | The categories the article belongs to. Tick as many as apply. See [Categories](/docs/blog/categories/index.md). | | **Excerpt** | A short summary on the article's card. Search engines show it too, unless you write a **Meta Description**. | | **Meta Title** | The title search engines show. It copies the article title as you type, until you change it yourself. | | **Meta Description** | The description search engines show. Aim for 150 to 160 characters. | A permalink can only use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. Proferex turns anything else into a hyphen as you type. A few words are kept for your blog's own pages, such as `articles`, `categories`, `authors`, `privacy-policy`, and `terms-of-service`. An article and a page on the same blog can't share a permalink. > **Note:** Changing the permalink of a published article changes its address. The old address shows a page-not-found error, and links to it from ads, emails, or search results stop working. Set the permalink before you publish. --- ## Publish an article Click **Publish** at the top of the editor. The article goes live on your blog and its status changes to **Published**. Readers see it within a minute. Once it is live, the buttons read **Unpublish** and **Update**. Click **Update** to save your changes to the live article. If you leave **Publication Date** empty, the article is dated the moment you publish it. You can also pick a date in the past, for example for an article you wrote earlier. ### Schedule an article 1. Set **Publication Date** to a date and time in the future. 2. The **Publish** button changes to **Schedule**. Click it. The article goes live at that time. Until then, the permalink card shows **Scheduled for** the date, and the buttons read **Unpublish** and **Save**. > **Note:** **Save Draft** keeps the article as a draft and clears the **Publication Date**. To schedule an article, use **Schedule**. To open the live article, click **View published post** under the permalink, or **View Article** in the article's row menu. Readers can only reach the article once the blog has a working domain. --- ## Unpublish or delete To take an article offline and keep it as a draft, open it, click **Unpublish**, and confirm. The article's link stops working and its status changes back to **Draft**. Unpublishing a scheduled article stops it from going live. To remove an article for good, open the menu on its row in **Blog → Articles**, click **Delete**, and confirm. Deleting can't be undone. You can't delete an article that a lander still uses. The confirmation lists the landers. Delete them, or point them at another article, first. --- ## Next step Add pages such as About, and write your privacy policy. See [Pages](/docs/blog/pages/index.md).