Module 4 · 4.4

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Posts and a second language

Module 4: Pages, look and features · Reading time: 8 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can write, organise and publish posts (news and blog), with or without help from the AI. You can also translate your site into a second language and keep that translation up to date.

Key concepts: post (article), news overview, category, summary, draft, Go live, RSS feed, main language, translation, language switcher, address per language, updating translations, hreflang

Why posts

A site that never changes soon looks abandoned. With posts you show that your business is active: a new service, a finished project, holiday closing times, a tip. Schildersbedrijf Example writes a short post with a photo about a job every month ("Window frames of a 1930s house restored"). That helps visitors who are hesitating, and it gives search engines new pages with the words people search for.

In the builder, posts are called articles. You write them in the Articles panel in the rail. Writing, saving and publishing posts is free; only letting the AI write costs an edit.

Writing a post

In Articles, click New article. You will see a writing screen:

Title: short and concrete, like a newspaper headline.
The text itself, with a formatting bar for subheadings, bold, italics, lists, quotes, links and photos.
Category: for example "Projects", "Tips" or "News". Use New to create a category. Visitors can filter by category. Keep it to a few categories.
A photo at the top with Choose a photo: it makes your post stand out more in the overview. Choose from your site's photos or upload a new one. Images you paste from another website are removed by the builder, because your site doesn't load images from elsewhere; upload them first.
Short summary: one or two sentences that make people curious. It appears in the overview and in Google. With Let AI summarise the AI writes it for you.
In Google: how the post appears in search results. With Edit title and description for Google you write them yourself.
Address: the web address of the post. Better not to change it once the post has been shared: just as with pages (lesson 4.1), the old address stops working.

Write with AI offers three options: Write the article (based on your title and notes), Improve my text (same message, easier to read) and Summary and SEO (a short summary and the texts for Google). Writing and improving cost 1 edit; a summary is free. You read the result and save it yourself; nothing changes without you.

Give the AI real notes. "Write about painting" gives you a generic story. "Job in May: window frames of a 1930s house, wood rot repaired with epoxy, two coats of primer, colour off-white, customer happy with the clean lines" gives you a post that only you could write. Then check every fact: the AI may add things that didn't happen.

Saving and going live

A post has a status: Draft (only you can see it) or Online. Save stores it. If your site is already online, you will also see Go live (for a post that is already online: Update). That button saves the post and puts your site online again straight away, so the post is visible immediately.

Pitfall: Go live republishes your whole site. If you are working on your homepage at the same time, those changes go live too. Finish your other work first, or undo it, before you put a post online.

If your site isn't online yet, an online post appears on your site as soon as you put the site itself online (lesson 5.1).

Every online post gets its own page under /nieuws/, for example www.example.com/nieuws/kozijnen-jaren-dertigwoning/, and appears in the news overview at /nieuws/, with a separate overview for each category. If nothing links to that overview yet, the builder adds News to your menu when you publish your first post. You can move it afterwards in Menu.

Your site also gets an RSS feed automatically at /nieuws/feed.xml. This is a list of your latest posts in a fixed format, which people can follow in a news reader and other services can read. You don't need to do anything for it.

Note: posts have no versions. If you delete a post, it is gone ("This cannot be undone."). A site can have at most 200 posts.

A second language

If Schildersbedrijf Example also gets German customers with a holiday home, a German version of the site is useful. You set up a second language under Settings > Languages.

This is how it works:

Choose a language under Add language. The builder knows 24 languages, from Dutch, English, German and French to Polish, Greek and Estonian.
Click Translate into German. Your site is translated in about a minute: all pages, the menu, the buttons, the footer, the texts for search engines and the photo descriptions. Names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and links stay as they are.
The result arrives as a proposal first. Choose Apply or Discard (lesson 3.1). A translation costs 2 edits per language.

Each extra language gets its own address: the main language is at the normal address, German under /de/, English under /en/. The page addresses are translated too, and you can change them per language with Addresses. The structure, photos and house style are the same in every language; only the texts differ. The builder adds references to the other languages to every page (hreflang), so search engines know which version belongs to which language. More on this in the course Getting found online.

For visitors there is a language switcher in the menu: a drop-down menu with flags. You choose how it looks (flag and language code, flag and name, code only or name only) and whether the languages are also shown at the bottom of the site. If you switch on Language suggestion for visitors, a visitor whose browser is set to one of your site's languages sees a bar once, with a link to that language. Nobody is redirected automatically.

Posts stay in the main language. They are not translated. If you also want to give German customers news, write a separate post for it.

Keeping a translation up to date

If you change a text after translating, the translation falls behind. For every text, the builder keeps track of whether the source text has changed since. It skips a translation whose source text has changed: the German page then shows the Dutch text until you update the translation. In Languages you can see, per language, how many texts are translated and how many have changed.

There are two ways to update the translation:

Automatically: with Translate new texts when going live switched on, the builder translates new and changed texts as soon as you put the site online. This is free for up to 40 texts per language each time, and at most three times per language per 24 hours. Beyond that it costs 1 edit per language.
Yourself: with the Update German button (the button shows the name of the language).

With Review you see the text in the main language on the left and the translation on the right, and you correct anything you want to change. You can also choose the language above the preview and click a text directly in the preview.

An AI translation is very usable, but not flawless. Trade terms ("sealant work", "wood rot") and the tone can be slightly off. Have a native speaker read the most important pages, especially your services, prices and contact page.

Summary

You write posts in Articles; Write with AI costs 1 edit, a summary is free.
Go live republishes your whole site; posts have no versions.
Posts appear under /nieuws/, with categories and an RSS feed.
You set up a second language under Settings > Languages: 2 edits per language, its own address per language, a language switcher in the menu; posts stay in the main language.
Changed texts are translated when you go live, free for up to 40 texts per language each time; have important pages checked by a native speaker.

Quiz

1. You are working on a new homepage that isn't finished yet, and you click "Go live" on a post. What happens? Only the post goes online
The post is saved as a draft
Nothing happens until you put the site itself online
Your whole site is put online again, including your half-finished homepage

Go live saves the post and republishes the whole site. Finish your other work first.

2. What does it cost to let the AI create a summary and the Google texts for your post? Nothing
1 edit
2 edits
1 edit per category

A summary is free. Having the post written or improved costs 1 edit.

3. Your site is in Dutch and German. You write a new post. In which language does it appear? In both languages, the builder translates it automatically
Only in German
Only in the main language, posts are not translated
In the language of the visitor's browser

Posts stay in the main language. If you want German news, write it yourself.

4. After translating, you change the text "Free quote" to "Free quote within two days" and switch off automatic translation. What do German visitors see in that spot after you go live? The old German translation
The new Dutch text, until you update the translation
An empty space
An error message

The builder skips a translation whose source text has changed. The source text is shown until you update it.

5. How does a German visitor reach the German version of your site? They are redirected automatically based on their browser
Only through a separate domain name
Through the German version of Google; there is no language switcher
Through the language switcher in the menu, its own address under /de/ or, if you switch it on, a one-time bar with a link

Nobody is redirected automatically. Each language has its own address and there is a language switcher.

Exercise

Exercise D4.4: A first post. Write a real post about your own work and put it online.

Checklist:

[ ] post with a concrete title and your own photo;
[ ] category chosen;
[ ] short summary filled in, or created by the AI and checked;
[ ] if you let the AI write: every fact checked;
[ ] other changes to your site finished first;
[ ] post online and checked on your site and in the news overview;
[ ] checked that visitors can find the news overview (menu, footer or news section).

Questions:

What is the title of your post and who did you write it for?
Which category did you choose, and which categories do you expect to add later?
Do you have a second language or are you considering one? Why or why not, and who checks the translation?

After "done" you will see a sample answer: Schildersbedrijf Example wrote "Window frames of a 1930s house restored" for homeowners in the area, category Projects (later also Tips); News is in the menu; a German version will only follow once real German enquiries come in, and then a German acquaintance will check the services page.

Exercise D4.4: A first post

You do this exercise yourself; no one checks it. Tick off what you've done and mark the exercise as done.

post with a concrete title and your own photo
category chosen
short summary filled in, or written by the AI and proofread
if you let the AI write: every fact checked
other changes to your site finished first
post online and viewed on your site and in the news overview
checked that visitors can find the news overview (menu, footer or news section)

What is the title of your post and who did you write it for?

Which category did you choose, and which categories do you expect to add later?

Do you have a second language or are you considering one? Why or why not, and who proofreads the translation?

Also save my answers in My courses (so you can view and download them on any device). Don't include any passwords or other secrets.

Here's how you could approach this

Schildersbedrijf Example wrote "Window frames of a 1930s house restored" for homeowners in the area, category Projects (later also Tips). News is in the menu. A German version will only follow once real German enquiries come in; then a German-speaking acquaintance will proofread the services page.

Your ticks and notes only stay in this browser; we don't send them anywhere. If you're signed in, we only save in My courses that you've done the exercise.

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