Uploading member news on the Beta Chamber member website

Introduction

Once logged in to the member area, you will be able to upload news posts. You will have the option to upload content to the new Beta Chamber member website which has been built on WordPress.

Before you start… 

Do you have the appropriate permissions to be able to upload news? In the Beta site, we are setting all members as an ‘Author’. Authors can create, publish and manage their own posts meaning there’s no need to wait for it to be approved. 

Do you have a suitable image for your news?

Please note it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct image rights/license for the image you upload. The Chamber will not take any responsibility for images that are uploaded which infringe on copyright. 

Posts with an image will really help you stand out from the crowd! They’re more eye-catching and if an image isn’t selected, a grey box will be displayed. Images should be at least 1200x440 pixels in size (landscape). Larger images will be resized and cropped automatically. For best results crop and resize before uploading. Due to the variation in sizes images are displayed some undesired cropping will occur. 

If you’re struggling to find an appropriate image, visit unsplash.com where you will have a choice of images that can be used for free. 

Now you’re ready to upload news... just skip to the section you’re looking for guidance on:

Step 1: Logging on

Step 2: Access to WordPress through the website

Step 3: Add a news article in WordPress 

Step 4: Headline and copy

Step 5: Inserting links (optional)

Step 6: Feature image

Step 7: Categories

Step 8: Excerpt (optional)

Step 9: Preview

Step 10: Adjusting feature image

Step 11: Publishing

Step 1: Logging on

• Login to the members portal: https://members.neechamber.co.uk/ 
• Click on the Manage News panel:

Step 2: Access to WordPress through the website

• You will be directed to our welcome page:

• You can click on the ‘Upload news’ button
• Alternatively, you can access it from the left side panel ‘Upload your news’. If the panel is only showing the logos (see previous image), you can click on the menu icon at the top of the panel, and it will show the section and titles

Step 3: Add a news article in WordPress

• You will be directed to the WordPress admin site 
• Click on ‘Add New’ either at the top of the page or side panel:

Step 4: Headline and copy

• Click on ‘Add title’ text and type/paste in your news headline – this should be fairly short and no more than 50 characters
• Click on ‘Type / to choose a block’ and type or paste in your copy

Step 5: Inserting links (optional)

• You can insert links to other websites within the copy. To do this you need to highlight the text you want to link from, a menu will appear, and you need to click on the link icon

• Paste in the url and click on the toggle to open in a new tab
• Click on the curved arrow to submit the link

• The text will now be linked
• To make any changes, click on to the link and you can edit the details

• You can follow the above process to add in an email address

Step 6: Feature image

• Upload an image to your article
• In the right-side menu, click on ‘Featured image’ to open up the menu

• Click on ‘set feature image’

• You can upload or drag and drop your image

• Your image should be either jpeg or png and should be at least 1200x440 pixels in size. Larger images will be resized and cropped automatically. For best results keep the focal point within the centre of the image. Due to the variation in sizes images are displayed some undesired cropping will occur.

• If there is an issue with the image (e.g. the wrong file type) a warning message will appear, and you’ll be able to upload a new image.
• Once the image has uploaded you can click ‘Set feature image’ and it will appear in the draft news post

Step 7: Categories

• Select a relevant category for your news article
• Click on ‘Categories’ in the right panel and chose from the options
• If there is a category you’d like to suggest, please use the contact us form in the bottom left of the screen

Step 8: Excerpt (optional)

• You can add an except which will show up in search results and can be viewed in the members news page
• Click on ‘Excerpt’ in the right panel and type in a short description

Step 9: Preview

• You can preview your post by clicking on the preview button
• select desktop
• then preview in new tab

Step 10: Adjusting feature image

• Sometimes the image might need adjusting so you can go back into the draft and click on the featured image
• Click on the image in the library then click on edit

• Click on crop
• And select the area you want to focus on
• Click on the crop icon again
• Click save
• Then click set feature image

• Preview your news article again to check you’re happy with the layout and to make sure any links work

Step 11: Publishing

• Once you are happy, you can click ‘Publish’ to go live immediately

• You can also set it to go live on a specific date and time by changing the publish setting from ‘immediately’ 

• This will open up a calendar where you can select the date and enter the time – make sure you double check whether it’s marked as AM or PM

• Once you make any adjustments it will update in the side menu

• If you change your mind and want to publish it immediately, you can click reset button at the bottom of the calendar

Once your article has been published you will be able to view it in the member news area: