Your First Day as a Content Author

What you will learn

This tutorial walks you through the essential tasks every content author needs on day one:

• Navigating the CMS editing interface
• Creating and editing pages
• Working with blocks to compose page layouts
• Managing images and media
• Using the approval workflow
• Publishing content live

No technical knowledge is required. If you can use a word processor, you can use Optimizely CMS.

Step 1: Log in and explore the editor

Open your browser and navigate to your CMS URL (your admin will provide this). Log in with your credentials.

After logging in, you will see the editing interface with three main areas:

Area	Where it is	What it does
Content tree	Left panel	Shows all pages organized in a hierarchy, similar to file folders
Edit panel	Center	Where you edit content — either in a form view or directly on the page
Properties panel	Right side	Shows metadata, scheduling, and publishing controls

Take a moment to click around. Expand folders in the content tree. Click on different pages to see their content in the edit panel. Nothing you do here changes the live site until you explicitly publish.

Step 2: Create your first page

1. In the content tree, right-click the page where you want to create a child page (or click the ”+” button at the top)
2. Select a page type from the list — for example, “Article Page”
3. The editor opens with empty fields for you to fill in

Fill in the fields:

• Headline — Write a clear, descriptive headline
• Body — Use the rich text editor to write your content. You can format text, add links, insert images, and create lists — similar to a word processor
• Author — Your name

Do not publish yet — in the next steps, you will add blocks and images before going live.

CMS

In CMS SaaS with Visual Builder, you may see a visual canvas instead of a form. You can click directly on page elements to edit them in place. The concepts are the same — you are filling in the same fields, just in a more visual way.

Step 3: Use the rich text editor

The body field uses a rich text editor with familiar formatting tools:

Tool	What it does	Keyboard shortcut
Bold	Makes text bold	Ctrl+B / Cmd+B
Italic	Makes text italic	Ctrl+I / Cmd+I
Link	Creates a hyperlink	Ctrl+K / Cmd+K
Heading	Formats as H2, H3, etc.	Dropdown menu
Bulleted list	Creates an unordered list	Toolbar button
Numbered list	Creates an ordered list	Toolbar button
Image	Inserts an image from the asset library	Toolbar button
Table	Inserts a table	Toolbar button

Tips for good content:

• Use headings to structure long content — they help readers scan and improve search ranking
• Keep paragraphs short (3-4 sentences maximum)
• Use bullet lists for related items instead of comma-separated lists
• Add descriptive alt text to every image for accessibility

Step 4: Add blocks to compose your page

Blocks are reusable content components — call-to-action buttons, testimonial cards, feature highlights, and more. Your development team creates block types; you compose pages by combining them.

To add a block to a content area on your page:

1. Find the Content Area field (it might be called “Sidebar”, “Main Content Area”, or similar)
2. Click “Add block” or the ”+” icon in the content area
3. Choose a block type from the available options
4. Fill in the block’s fields (heading, description, button text, etc.)
5. Click “Save” to add the block to your page

You can add multiple blocks to the same content area. Drag and drop to reorder them.

Reusing blocks: If you create a block as a “shared block” in the asset library, you can reuse it across multiple pages. Changes to the shared block update everywhere it appears.

Step 5: Upload and manage images

Before you can use images on your pages, they need to be in the CMS asset library.

To upload an image:

1. In the content tree, navigate to the Media or Assets folder
2. Click “Upload” or drag files from your computer into the folder
3. After uploading, click the image to add metadata (title, alt text, description)

To insert an image into a page:

1. In the rich text editor, click the Image button in the toolbar
2. Browse the asset library and select your image
3. Add alt text (required for accessibility)
4. Adjust size and alignment as needed

Image best practices:

• Optimize images before uploading — large files slow down your site
• Use descriptive file names (e.g., product-launch-hero.jpg not IMG_4532.jpg)
• Always add alt text that describes what the image shows

Step 6: Preview your changes

Before publishing, preview your page to see how it will look to visitors:

1. Click the “Preview” button (usually an eye icon in the toolbar)
2. The edit panel switches to show your page as visitors will see it
3. Check that text, images, and blocks appear correctly
4. Use the device preview to see how the page looks on mobile and tablet

If something looks wrong, switch back to edit mode and make corrections.

Step 7: Submit for approval (or publish directly)

Depending on your organization’s workflow, you may need approval before publishing, or you may be able to publish directly.

If your site uses approval workflows:

1. Click “Ready for Review” (or “Submit for Approval”)
2. The page moves to the next step in the workflow
3. The assigned reviewer receives a notification
4. They approve, request changes, or reject
5. If approved, the page is published (or moves to the next approval step)

If you have direct publish permissions:

1. Click “Publish” in the toolbar
2. The page goes live immediately
3. Visitors can see it on the website

Scheduled publishing:

If you want content to go live at a future date:

1. Instead of clicking “Publish”, look for “Schedule for Publish”
2. Select the date and time
3. The CMS automatically publishes at the scheduled time

Step 8: Check your published page

After publishing, verify your content is live:

1. Click the public URL link in the editor (usually shown in the properties panel)
2. Your page opens in a new tab showing the live version
3. Verify that everything looks correct

Congratulations! You have just published your first page in Optimizely CMS.

What to learn next

Now that you can create and publish content, explore these capabilities:

• Personalization — Show different content to different visitor groups (see Visitor Groups and Personalization)
• Version history — View and restore previous versions of any page
• Language management — Create translated versions of your content
• Projects — Group related content changes and publish them together
• Opal AI — Use AI to generate and optimize your content

Related content

Continue your journey with these related pages.

📖Understand the concepts

• What is Optimizely CMS?
• Visitor Groups and Personalization

🔧Follow a guide

• Content Management guides