How to Add a Blog to an HTML/CSS Website

If you want to learn how to add a blog to an HTML/CSS website, we’ll show you four different ways to do that. So, in this guide, we’ll discuss the steps, pros, and cons of using a professional blogging app, manually coding a blog, using static site generators, and external blog iframe embeds.

Here’s a quick snapshot before we dive in:

And if you’re unsure whether you should even add a blog, we can settle that question for you.

Table of Contents

• Why Add a Blog to a Static HTML Website?
• Common Challenges with Blogging on HTML Sites
• Four Ways to Add a Blog to an HTML Website
  • Option 1: Use DropInBlog (Best for Most Users)
  • Pros and Cons of Blogging on an HTML Site with DropInBlog
  • How to Add DropInBlog in 6 Steps
  • Option 2: Manually Code a Static Blog with HTML/CSS
  • Pros and Cons of Manually Coding a Static Blog with HTML/CSS
  • Option 3: Use a Static Site Generator (e.g., Jekyll, Hugo, Eleventy)
  • Pros and Cons of Using Static Site Generators for Adding a Blog to an HTML Website
  • Option 4: Embed External Blog Content/iframe
  • Pros and Cons of Adding a Blog to an HTML Site via Iframe
• DropInBlog vs Other Blog Solutions
  • DropInBlog Key Features
  • WordPress Key Features
  • Medium Key Features
• SEO Best Practices for HTML-Based Blogs
  • Title and Meta Optimization
  • Internal Linking
  • Structured Data and Schema
  • Mobile-First Performance
• FAQs
• Add a Blog to an HTML Site with DropInBlog

Why Add a Blog to a Static HTML Website?

HTML sites are, by their nature, static and don’t change a lot, which is great for page loading speed. However, a fast website is only half a battle won. The other half of the battle is to get people to engage with your content, which you can do by embedding a blog into your HTML website.

But how do blogs help your site’s SEO or user engagement?

For one, they allow you to create content around your primary keywords. They also let you experiment with different content types, such as how-to guides and company news, and expand your SEO strategy to target long-tail keywords, which are generally easier to rank for.

Using the right keywords on your blog helps your website rank in search engines, which in turn, drives traffic to your site. According to HubSpot’s marketing research, businesses that have a blog get 55% traffic than businesses that don’t have one.

Increased traffic to your site is a good thing, especially if your website brings in money – whether you run an e-commerce store or through other forms of income. Quality traffic can lead to increased revenue by converting your website visitors into customers.

Blogging is also a clever way to build relationships with your readers. There’s a bit of work behind effective blogging, of course, but once established, your blog’s personal voice can be better than any paid advertising.

Common Challenges with Blogging on HTML Sites

Creating a blog for an HTML website requires a lot of manual, repetitive work since this type of website doesn’t have a content management system (CMS) or a post editor. This means that you have to update your blog posts individually and re-upload them. And each new post requires a separate .html file, which, for large blogs, can be time-consuming.

Another challenging part of adding a blog to a static site is that it doesn’t support dynamic content, such as search functionality, comments, or product embeds. The lack of dynamic content support also means that, if you want to display the latest posts on your blog, you have to code this section and add posts to it manually.

From an SEO standpoint, HTML blogs, again, require time and effort as they don’t have built-in SEO tools. That means you’re responsible for adding meta tags and structured data, and optimizing your content for search engines without any on-page SEO guidance.

Taking manual updates and possible scalability issues into account, creating a blog for an HTML website is a lengthy process. That is not to say it can’t be done – it just takes a lot of time and manual work.

Four Ways to Add a Blog to an HTML Website

Option 1: Use DropInBlog (Best for Most Users)

One of the easiest ways to add a blog to an HTML website is by using DropInBlog, a cloud-based blogging app that seamlessly connects with almost any existing HTML website.

The blogging app has everything you need to create engaging content, allowing you to:

• Schedule posts and assign user roles

• Add multiple authors to meet Google’s EEAT standards

• Optimize your blog for SEO with the built-in SEO Analyzer

• Add rich content: images, videos, ToCs, product embeds

• Make blog-wide content changes using Smart Snippets™

• Turn your articles into podcasts with Blog Voice AI™ 

• Customize layout and design to match your site

• Serve static blog posts

With DropInBlog, you’ll get access to a simple but powerful WordPress-style user dashboard. From here, you can manage your content through a user-friendly editor and style your blog with DropInBlog’s design customizer.

Not to worry – you won’t have to spend much time designing your blog because DropInBlog automatically adopts your site's CSS and style. All you have to do is create and optimize your content, then hit publish – no need to spend time reformatting your blog pages to match the rest of your site.

All of these blogging features make DropInBlog a great solution if:

• You need an easy-to-use blogging platform that will help you optimize your content for search engines

• You work with non-technical users and want them to manage your blog without messing with HTML files

• You want your blog to automatically adapt to your site’s style

• You don’t want to build out a CMS or a static site generator

• You have a large, frequently updated blog

Pros and Cons of Blogging on an HTML Site with DropInBlog

How to Add DropInBlog in 6 Steps