In preparation for our move to the Carbon website template, these are the things we must do to make sure our posts look their best on the new format.

In this post, you'll see how to format your post for the Carbon template. Your workflow should be the same as it's been for the last few months. Hopefully, this is all a refresher and reference post.

1. When creating a post, we need to make sure we have a high-quality image at the top of the post. This image must be 1600x1067, no exceptions. By high-quality, we mean, not blurry or pixelated. If you can't see the image clearly, or it's blurry in any way, swap it out for a stock photo.
   1. You may also use a YouTube video at the top of your post, but you'll need a high-quality featured image.
   2. This goes for the featured image. This image must be 1600x1067 and high-quality.
   3. Do not use the automatic screengrab from YouTube videos. You must either grab a custom screenshot or use a stock image.
2. All posts must include an excerpt. An easy way to utilize the excerpt field is to make sure you have a strong lead sentence, and copy that into the excerpt field.
3. All posts must have a dynamic lead title. This is a shortened version of your post title. Make to pay attention to your character count.

If you're embedding Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, these embeds need to be in the body of the post. They cannot be at the top, as they won't display properly on Carbon.

• This shouldn't be an issue as long as we have enough content inside the post itself.

Things you need to do before hitting the publish button:

• Preview Your Post
  • Check to make sure it looks good on the consumer-facing side of things.
  • Click all the links to ensure you're sending the reader to the proper site, and not a dead link.
• Read, Re-Read, and Re-Read Again
  • This will ensure the post makes sense to the reader.
  • You'll easily spot misspellings and word use.
    • Like its, it's; there, their, and they're; your, you're; etc.
• Double-Check for Tags and Categories
  • Do you have at least one of each, but not more than five of each?

Make sure to include buttons to other pieces of content, contests, your app, or newsletter sign up.

If you're linking to something that's on all sites, your button should look like this.

If you're not sure a post in on another site, your button should look like this.

ADD A BONUS VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR POST

Just drop a YouTube link here to a video on your station's YouTube channel. If your station's YouTube channel doesn't have any evergreen video, then use an evergreen video from another station's YouTube channel -- preferably KEKB or KOOL.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to your DME.