Build your blog from scratch in Webflow — Designing CMS Collections, the easy way

A blog is your chance to not just tell your story but to live it with your audience. It's where your ideas, passions, and expertise can come to life. Create a space that invites readers to engage, learn, and feel connected to what you do (thanks for that intro RatGPT). But really, more than just a tool for SEO, a blog is a stage for your brand’s voice (I’m working on mine) — it's where you can be both a guide and an inspiration, or maybe see a reflection of yourself. By sharing valuable content consistently, you build trust and spark relationships that turn curious visitors into devoted fans. Google might reward you for it a bit too — In a world where content drives connection, your blog could very well be the heart of your digital presence (I don’t think it’s mine, but who knows where we end up).

💡 To hear it from the creators, check out Webflow’s blog about blogging — Inception? Nah, just a company that helps you make blogs blogging about blogs.

If you want help building your blog in Webflow, shoot me a DM! If you’re ready to start building in Webflow, here’s my referral link.

I am a partner, so maybe I’m bias, but Webflow is the best web builder for a brand that thrives on creativity and impact. It gives you the freedom to design a blog that’s as unique as your vision, without the limitations of traditional platforms. Whether you're crafting a sleek, minimalist layout or a bold, vibrant experience, Webflow’s visual development tools let you bring your ideas to life effortlessly. Its powerful CMS is the backbone (completely customizable I might add 💅🏾), making it easy to manage your content and scale as your blog grows. With Webflow, your blog isn’t just a part of your website—it’s a dynamic, evolving expression of your brand’s story.

Meat & Taters

OK - Time for the meat and potatoes you came for — How to build out your CMS perfectly to make blogging a breeze for you and your clients!

Plan your blog structure

1. Never underestimate the power of planning, y’all!
2. I’m a big (LAMY) pen and paper guy (no affiliate code, just dope ass pens)

Make 'relationships' where they make sense

1. This part requires a little bit of database/CMS knowledge. If you use spreadsheets a lot, this is something like using a LOOKUP function.
2. It’s easiest to explain with an example. For my blog, I will use 3 CMS Collections.
   1. The Blog Collection itself, where all the blogs will live.
   2. The Authors collection: right now, I am the only author, but I added my company and my personal, maybe different blogs will come from different voices.
   3. The Category Collection: I will be able to add/edit the categories as I go, but for now, I added some general ones I know I will like talking about. Feel free to ask me a question - maybe I’ll turn it into a blog.

The relationship will be in the form of Reference Fields

1. A Reference Field: Allows you to connect a single item from one collection to an item in another collection.
2. In my case, I’m only using Reference Fields (NOT MULTI-REFERENCE), because I don’t need to connect multiple categories or authors to a single blog. If you do, Multi-reference fields will be your friend. They are a bit trickier to work with though, be warned (especially for things like custom filtering).

‍

‍

In essence, reference fields help you create a more structured and connected CMS in Webflow, making it easier to manage and display complex relationships between different types of content.

OK — you’re pretty much good to go! Get blogging!

We can get into all of the SEO hacks and automations and friendliness that Webflow offers, but they speak to it at length, so I’ll let you do your own research. I’ll tell you that my website ranked #1 for “avianu” on Google at about week 3. I also indexed the site myself - let me know if you need help with that.

‍