Can I create a public facing website blog option in Sharepoint 2010 Online (Office365)

Question

Hi,

I have moved my wbsite to Office365 and so far so good. The only limitation that I am seeing is the ability to easily create a blog. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

Answer 1

Ok, I think i figured this out.  Go directly to the Create All Site content page by typing it in your browser at https://youraddress/_layouts/viewlsts.aspx.  For example mine was at http://dotnetmafia-web.sharepoint.com/_layouts/viewlsts.aspx.  From there, you can create a new blog site.  Here is what mine looks like: http://dotnetmafia-web.sharepoint.com/Blog/default.aspx.  Hope that helps.

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Corey Roth blog: www.dotnetmafia.com twitter: @coreyroth

Answer 2

Thanks for the response Corey. This method does indeed allow me to create a blog site that can be accessed anonymously. It may even solve my immediate problem. However, what I'm actually trying to acheive is to have the blog site created within the public facing website of Office365. The blog should appear in the public facing website menu structure and should automatically inherit the breadcrumb and styling from the public facing website.  I don't seem to have much control of the public facing website and can't easily add navigation options that direct to the blog except as a link on a page.

 

Thanks again for your response. I appreciate the insight you have provided.

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Jason Janes http://www.sharepointpm.net twitter:@PMSharePoint

Answer 3

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your post.

I suggest you create a new thread in the Office 365 forum: http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/default.aspx

There are many experts in that forum.

Answer 4

Hello CoreyRoth.

This helps. I've followed your suggestion and it seems to work. But I'd like to have my blog same look/feel as my main site. Currently the blog looks too "Sharepoint-ish".

 

Anyone knows how to do a branding of your blog site, when exposing it on the internet?

 

Thank you.

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Pinaki

Answer 5

Hate to be a buzz kill and recommend big reading, but there are branding books. I could not quickly find any blogs on how to brand a blog site.

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-SharePoint-Branding-Interface-Programmer/dp/0470584645/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306248531&sr=8-1

Answer 6

Thanks for the great feedback. This does seem a little complicated to simply be able to add a blog to a public facing website. It would be great if it was one of the page options or a gadget you can add to an existing page. I'll keep digging.  I do have another thread going on the Office365 Forum site as well. Getting pretty much the same info there.

http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/154/p/3907/14497.aspx#14497

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Jason Janes www.SharePointPM.net Twitter @PMSharePointPM

Answer 7

The issue isn't how to create a public blog sub site-I've had one up since November- but how to get all the associated content (categories/comments) to allow anonymous access. Right now, even though the permissions for the lists are set to anon, they still trigger a log in which makes the blog useless. 

I've asked the question at the 365 community a couple of times but never got a response.

http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/154/p/4177/15772.aspx#15772

If anybody can throw some light on this it would be worth pursuing branding/design options.

Answer 8

Hi All,

Thanks for your feedback. I do have a public facing blog created in Office365 and it was easier to create then I thought it would be. The issue that I now have are Office365 specific so I'll update that thread going forward. (http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/154/p/3907/14497.aspx#14497) Feel free to join in there if you want.

Again thank you ll for your help.

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Jason Janes www.SharePointPM.net Twitter @PMSharePointPM

Answer 9

Hi CoreyRoth and Jason ,

Could you please tell us how to make a blog that can be accessed anonymously  in office 365 ? what is the trick?

Answer 10

I spoke with a Microsoft 365 customer service rep and their is a way to do it but your entire site will become vunerable to vistors. I personally hope they take the time to look at some of the features offered by office live. You can put a link to your blog and keep your site secure.

 

Hope this helps.

Answer 11

see: Add a working blog to your O365 public site.

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Aryan Nava | Twitter: @cloudtxt | Blog: http://virtualizesharepoint.com
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