Writing blogs is one of the most organic and surefire ways to grow brand authority and drive traffic from a high-converting audience.

For this reason, it can help your brand authority and SEO to look at Shopify themes with blog features.

Can You Build a Blog on Shopify?

Shopify isn’t primarily a blogging platform. Bloggers and content houses typically go to WordPress to get their voices heard.

However, a Shopify store still needs a healthy dose of SEO. Plus, hosting your online store blog on a separate domain (e.g., WordPress) could incur additional monthly overhead.

Source: Heads Up For Tails

But not to worry; Shopify is equipped with the necessary tools for merchants to build and grow a blog on the platform. Shopify blog posts are a completely valid and effective approach to SEO.

Take note, though, that some Shopify themes with blog features can provide a better reader experience than others, making your blogging venture more worthwhile.

What makes a Theme Ideal for Blogging?

All Shopify themes can run a blog, but not all themes will be the best for it.

There are some crucial features you need to look out for in a theme before considering it for blogging.

Shopify Blog Page Layouts

Shopify themes have their own specific templates for the common page types.

For each theme, you’ll see a product page template, a password page template, and a cart page template, among others. But you’d want to be paying attention to two blog layouts--the blog template and the blog post template.

Source: Woolf

The blog page displays the various blog posts within a blog. One blog can have one blog page template. Multiple blogs can have multiple templates with each blog having its own.

Shopify Blog Post Layouts

Source: Woolf

The blog post, on the other hand, is the written content itself. The blog post template determines the layout of each Shopify blog article.

Different themes have different blog and blog post layouts. For example, some blog templates for Shopify have an author section, while others don’t. Some Shopify blog themes have the H1 tag overlaid on the featured image banner, while others place the H1 tag below the image banner.

Select the theme with the best blog layouts for your ecommerce store.

These Shopify themes will determine how your blogs look and feel to your reader base. They essentially comprise the entire reading experience.

Responsive Design

You wouldn’t want a desktop-layout blog to appear on mobile.

That would make the text too small and require both vertical and horizontal scrolling to read the entire thing.

Responsive design adapts the website’s layout to the visitor’s device, providing an optimal reading experience regardless of what size screen the reader is using.

Luckily, all Shopify themes on the Shopify theme store have a responsive design.

Features

Chances are, you won’t be using the Shopify theme primarily for blogging.

You’ll need to build an engaging storefront and craft a stellar shopping experience. Building a blog would be secondary to those.

Nonetheless, just like you need features to create an exciting, on-brand website, there are a few common features that can spice up the reader experience.

Quick read: The Best Converting Shopify Themes for Your Online Store

Necessary Features for Shopify Blog Page Templates

Listed below are some crucial features that can help you improve the reader experience and also drive clicks to other articles within your blog.

Blog Posts Section

A blog posts section displays blog cards within a page.

When placed on the homepage, this immediately lets site visitors know that the website has a blog.

When placed on a blog article template, readers will see the other blogs that the website has published, improving the impressions of the other blogs as well.

Breadcrumbs

If your blog has multiple categories and subcategories, it can be useful to have breadcrumbs so that visitors can easily navigate through different topics.

Breadcrumbs display the path a visitor took on the website. For example, Blog > Health > Exercise Tips.

Having this displayed lets visitors backpedal to any category they wish with ease.

Newsletter Subscription Form

The point of a blog is to drive SEO traffic and establish thought leadership within a given niche.

Once your blog’s content compels and resonates with visitors, they will already have been warmed up to take action. This makes newsletter sections an excellent addition to blog templates.

Prompting blog readers to sign up for your newsletter can help add to your email list. In turn, you may curate blogs for these leads, improving your blog’s metrics and brand engagement.

Mega Menu

Source: Someone You Know

A mega menu is a more visual menu than a standard one, allowing visitors to navigate the site more easily. Mega menus are typically used to highlight collections via the site’s main menu, but they can also highlight key blogs.

Mega menus draw attention to your blogs with imagery that a standard menu otherwise wouldn’t have.

Merchants may assign images to different blogs (e.g., News, Health Tips, Exercise Tips,  Nutrition Tips, Latest Studies, etc.)

Shopify Themes with Blog Features

Taking into account blog template layout, responsive design, and blog features, here are our recommendations for Shopify themes with blog features.

Dawn

Dawn is the free theme that every merchant begins with.

It’s free and is constantly updated to maintain compatibility with Shopify’s latest updates.

Furthermore, it’s one of the easiest themes to configure and customize, making it an excellent option for beginners.

Dawn also has some hefty blogging features that can give merchants an online presence.

For one, Dawn’s blog template prominently displays all blogs in a clean, non-cluttered manner.

Merchants may choose between a grid layout, which evenly displays blogs in columns of two;  or a collage layout, which highlights some blogs by allowing the featured image to occupy the entire length of both columns.

Merchants may also edit the featured image height, with settings from small to large.

As for the blog content templates, they're quite standard.

Merchants can rearrange the placement of the featured image, the title, the share button, and the blog content.

Just be careful when filling out the title tag and H1.

Dawn has no visual distinction between the two, so if your title tag and H1 have the same content, the blog article will seem to have repeated the title.

As for additional blog features, the Dawn Shopify theme has an email sign-up section and a blog posts section.

It doesn’t, however, have breadcrumbs. Plus, its mega menu lacks the option to add images.

Nonetheless, merchants are getting an excellent starting theme for blogging, considering that Dawn is free.

Shine

Shine is a beauty and cosmetic-focused theme that has wide customizability and premium website features.

It’s relatively more affordable than other premium themes, but its Sections selection allows it to trade blows with higher-priced themes.

Shine also has the functionality to create a professional-looking and engaging theme, which can improve the online brand experience.

As for its blogging capabilities, Shine's blog templates are built with blogging in mind.

Right out of the box, its blog page template is optimized to show a dozen blogs at once. This makes Shine ideal for a growing blog.

Merchants can decide whether to load 20, 30, 40, or 50 blog articles at once.

They may also select between pagination, button, and infinity scroll for their loading methods.

For smaller blogs with less than 20 articles, Shine can display blog articles in three columns, ensuring each blog takes up more screen space. Adding to that, you may also choose between a landscape featured image ratio or a square one.

Unlike Dawn, Shine users may change the color scheme of their blog page.

Shine’s default blog page configuration also has a breadcrumbs section, allowing readers to immediately backtrack to the categories and topics they wish to read.

Moving on to Shine’s blog article templates, the blog article templates also contain breadcrumbs.

The blog post’s color scheme, just like the blog page, is customizable as well. This allows merchants to give each of their blog categories distinct looks.

Merchants can change the blog article’s title and edit the social buttons’ style.

As for additional blog features, the Shine Shopify theme has an email sign-up section, breadcrumbs (as mentioned earlier), a blog posts section, and a visual mega menu.

Xclusive

Xclusive has one of the highest price tags in the Shopify theme store, and it has features to boot.

It’s a highly custom theme with over 40 sections to choose from, making it a versatile asset for a variety of purposes. However, Xclusive is more geared towards fashion and apparel.

Xclusive has all the tools needed to create a streamlined, stellar shopping experience. This includes quick add-to-cart buttons, in-cart upsells, and image-centered functions and sections that make for a visual couture browsing experience.

However, Xclusive is packing some blogging tools too.

Its default blog page has breadcrumbs and a list of blog articles.

As for the blog article layout, Xclusive gives its blog post templates a rather premium and unique design.

For one, its title, author, and date are overlaid on a cropped featured image. Merchants may edit the overlay opacity and banner color scheme of this section.

Xclusive also throws in the expected reading time, depending on the length of the article.

What Xclusive adds to the blog post template from the previous two themes is an excerpt. Plus, the tags, comments, and excerpts are individual blocks. So, they may be moved around and interchanged to create a fresh new layout.

As for its additional blog features, Xclusive has a blog posts section, breadcrumbs, a newsletter, and a mega menu.

Fashionopolism

Fashionopolism is another fashion and apparel-centered theme, although relatively more affordable than Xclusive.

This theme is geared towards crafting a premium shopping and browsing experience, with sections such as Shop the Look, a Before and After, and a sale banner, among other sections.

As far as blogging is concerned, Fashionopolism has a familiar but unique approach to the typical blogging layout.

Starting with its blog page template, merchants can add a banner image for each blog category, similar to how merchants can add images to collections. This gives each blog a distinct look and feel.

The starting blog page template doesn’t have breadcrumbs like the previous two themes. But merchants may add a breadcrumbs section to the blog page if they wish.

The list of blogs is aligned to the left instead of taking a grid form. Similar to how suggested YouTube videos appear on the side of each playing video.

On the right side of the blog page, merchants may add the following blocks:

• Meet the author
• Email newsletter
• Heading
• Body text
• Image
• Product

If merchants wish to add these beneath the blog page template, they need to add them as individual sections instead of blocks.

As for the blog article template, the blog’s content is aligned to the left, whereas blocks underneath the blog post section, such as Meet the author, newsletter, product, etc., are aligned to the right.

Fashionoplolism caters to a more traditional blog look and feel with this type of layout. Which, in turn, creates a familiar feeling for readers without looking dated.

Conclusion

Despite WordPress being the more popular blogging platform, Shopify blogs are still an excellent way to gain organic traffic. But note that not all Shopify themes are created equal when it comes to blogging.

You'd want to assess the blog templates, particularly the blog page template and the blog post template.

The theme should also have a responsive design and have supplementary features, such as breadcrumbs and a newsletter sign-up form.

Find the best Shopify theme for your ecommerce website and build a blog today!

Read more: Optimize SEO with the Perfect Shopify Blog Template