Jan 21, 2026
Why Build Your Blog in Framer
Most website builders treat blogging as an afterthought — a basic text editor bolted onto a design platform. Framer takes a different approach. Your blog lives inside the same design environment as the rest of your site, which means every blog post, category page, and listing component gets the same level of design control as your homepage.
The result is a blog that looks and feels like a natural extension of your brand, not a generic content feed. And because Framer's CMS powers the blog, you get dynamic content, filtering, categories, and SEO controls without plugins or third-party tools.
This guide walks through the complete process of setting up a blog in Framer from scratch — from creating the CMS structure to designing the blog listing page and individual post layout.
Planning Your Blog Structure
Before building anything, think through the structure your blog needs. Most blogs require three things: a collection of posts (stored in the CMS), a listing page (where visitors browse all posts), and a detail page (the individual post template).
Beyond the basics, consider whether you need categories or tags to organize content, a featured image for each post, author information if multiple people will write, and a short description or excerpt for listing pages and SEO.
Getting this right upfront saves you from restructuring later. A well-planned CMS structure makes it easy to add new posts and keeps everything organized as your content library grows.
Setting Up the Blog CMS Collection
The first step is creating a CMS collection to store your blog posts. In Framer, go to the CMS panel (the database icon in the left sidebar) and create a new collection called "Blog" or "Posts."
Add the following fields to your collection:
Title (String, required) — The headline of your blog post. This will also generate the URL slug automatically.
Date (Date, required) — The publication date. Use this for sorting posts chronologically on your listing page.
Short Description (String) — A one or two sentence summary used on listing cards and as the meta description for SEO. Keep these between 140-155 characters for optimal search result display.
Featured Image (Image) — The hero image that appears at the top of the post and on listing cards. For guidance on sizing and compression, see our performance optimization guide.
Content (Formatted Text, required) — The actual body of your blog post. Framer's formatted text field supports headings, bold, italic, links, images, and embedded content.
Category (Collection Reference or Enum) — How you organize posts into topics. A collection reference to a separate Categories collection gives you more flexibility — each category can have its own page, title, and description. An enum field is simpler but less scalable.
For a deeper dive into CMS field types and relational data, our complete Framer CMS guide covers everything in detail.
Creating a Categories Collection
If you want category pages on your blog (which is beneficial for SEO), create a separate Categories CMS collection with fields for the category title, a page title for SEO, and a short page description.
Then in your Blog collection, add a collection reference field that points to the Categories collection. This lets you assign each post to a category, and Framer can dynamically generate category pages that filter posts automatically.
Category pages create additional indexed entry points for search engines. A "Tutorials" category page can rank for broad terms like "framer tutorials," while individual posts within that category rank for specific long-tail keywords.
Designing the Blog Listing Page
The listing page is where visitors browse your blog content. In Framer, create a new page (or add a section to an existing page) and connect it to your Blog CMS collection using a CMS Collection List.
A collection list automatically generates one item for each entry in your CMS. Inside the list, you design a single blog card — and Framer repeats that card for every post. Connect each element in the card to its corresponding CMS field: the title text to the Title field, the image to the Featured Image field, the excerpt to the Short Description field, and so on.
Designing Effective Blog Cards
Your blog cards are the first impression visitors get of your content. A strong card typically includes a featured image (with a consistent aspect ratio across all cards), the post title (keep it visually prominent), a short excerpt (one to two lines), the publication date, and optionally a category badge.
Make the entire card clickable by linking it to the CMS detail page. This creates a better user experience than a small "Read more" link — visitors can click anywhere on the card to open the post.
Layout Options
For layout, you have several options. A grid layout (2-3 columns) works well for visual blogs with strong featured images. A list layout (single column, horizontal cards) works better for text-heavy content where the title and excerpt matter more than the image. Many blogs use a hybrid approach — a featured post at the top with a larger card, followed by a grid of remaining posts below.
Use Framer's auto-layout with wrap to make your grid responsive. A three-column grid on desktop naturally wraps to two columns on tablet and one on mobile without any extra work.
Sorting and Filtering
Sort your collection list by Date (descending) so the newest posts appear first. If you've set up categories, you can add filter controls that let visitors view posts by category. This can be done through separate category pages or through interactive filtering on the main listing page.
Designing the Blog Post Template
The detail page is the template that every individual blog post uses. In Framer, this is a CMS detail page — a single design that dynamically populates with content from whichever post a visitor clicks on.
Create a new CMS page connected to your Blog collection. Framer will generate a unique URL for each post based on the slug (derived from the title).
Post Layout Best Practices
Keep the content width readable. A max-width of 680-720 pixels for the text column is ideal for readability. Wider layouts force the eye to travel too far across the screen, making long articles tiring to read.
Use clear typography hierarchy. Set distinct styles for your H2, H3, body text, and block quotes. Consistent heading styles help readers scan the content and find what they're looking for. Your H2s should be noticeably larger than body text, and H3s should sit between the two.
Add breathing room. Generous spacing between paragraphs, headings, and images prevents the page from feeling cramped. Whitespace is one of the biggest differences between a professional blog layout and an amateur one.
Include a featured image. Display the post's featured image prominently at the top of the article. This can be a full-width hero image or contained within the content column — both approaches work, depending on your design style.
Show the publication date and category. Readers want to know when content was published (especially for technical or time-sensitive topics). Display the date and category near the title, either above or below it.
Navigation Elements
Add navigation elements to help readers explore more content after finishing a post. Common patterns include a "Related Posts" section at the bottom (using another CMS collection list filtered by the same category), previous/next post navigation, and a back-to-blog link at the top of the post.
SEO Configuration for Your Blog
A blog without SEO is a blog nobody finds. Configure these elements for every post:
Meta title: Use title case, keep it under 60 characters, and include your primary keyword near the beginning. Don't add a trailing period.
Meta description: Write a compelling summary between 140-155 characters that includes your target keyword and encourages clicks from search results. This should match or closely align with your Short Description CMS field.
URL slug: Framer generates slugs from the post title automatically. Review them to ensure they're clean and keyword-rich — remove filler words like "a," "the," "and" if the slug gets too long.
Open Graph image: Set the featured image as the OG image so posts look good when shared on social media.
For a comprehensive SEO setup, our Framer SEO guide covers meta tags, structured data, sitemaps, and everything else you need to rank.
Writing and Publishing Your First Post
With your CMS structure and page templates in place, adding new posts is straightforward. Go to your Blog CMS collection, click "New Item," and fill in the fields: title, date, short description, featured image, content, and category.
Framer's formatted text editor supports headings (H2, H3, H4), bold, italic, links, images, and embedded content. Write your post directly in the CMS, or draft it elsewhere and paste it in. If you paste from Google Docs or another editor, Framer generally preserves basic formatting.
Before publishing, preview the post on the detail page to make sure everything looks right — check that images display correctly, headings are properly styled, links work, and the layout looks good on both desktop and mobile.
When you're ready, set the post's draft status to published and hit Publish in Framer to push the changes live.
Adding a Blog to Your Existing Navigation
Don't forget to make your blog discoverable. Add a "Blog" link to your site's main navigation so visitors can find it from any page. If your blog is a significant part of your content strategy, consider adding it to the footer navigation as well.
You might also want to feature recent blog posts on your homepage — a small "Latest from the Blog" section with 2-3 cards that link to your most recent posts. This drives traffic to your blog from your highest-traffic page and shows visitors that your site has fresh, regularly updated content.
Maintaining and Growing Your Blog
Setting up the blog is the easy part — the real work is in consistent publishing. Search engines reward sites that regularly publish high-quality content. Even one well-written post per week can significantly improve your organic traffic over time.
A few habits that help: Plan content in advance with a simple editorial calendar. Optimize every post for a specific keyword rather than writing about broad topics. Cross-link between posts — every new article should link to 2-4 related existing posts, and you should go back and add links from older posts to newer ones. Update older content periodically with fresh information, new examples, and current dates.
Your Framer blog is now a fully integrated content engine that matches the design quality of the rest of your site. Every post you publish builds your domain authority, drives organic traffic, and establishes your brand as a resource in your space.
