diff --git a/cli/cli.lisp b/cli/cli.lisp
index 495581f..ab31512 100644
--- a/cli/cli.lisp
+++ b/cli/cli.lisp
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
  ;; Required information
  :author \"~a\"                         ;; to be placed on post pages and in the copyright/CC-BY-SA notice
  :deploy-dir \"deploy/\"                ;; for Coleslaw's generated HTML to go in
- :domain \"\"                           ;; to generate absolute links to the site content
+ :domain \"\"                           ;; to generate absolute links to the site content. Note: with :cname option of gh-pages, this requires a url scheme, e.g. https://fake.org 
  :routing ((:post           \"posts/~~a\") ;; to determine the URL scheme of content on the site
            (:tag-index      \"tag/~~a\")
            (:month-index    \"date/~~a\")
@@ -42,7 +42,13 @@
            (mathjax)
            (sitemap)
            (static-pages)
-           ; (versioned)    ;; *Remove comment to enable symlinked, timestamped deploys.
+           ;; deployment plugins
+           ;; deployment to github pages
+           ; (gh-pages :url \"git@github.com:myaccount/myrepo.git\"
+           ;           ; :cname t  ;; if you want to use the custom domain --- see http://pages.github.com/
+           ;           )
+           ;; versioned deployment. Remove comment to enable symlinked, timestamped deploys.
+           ; (versioned)
            ;; default deploy method is rsync
            (rsync \"-avz\" \"--delete\" \"--exclude\" \".git/\" \"--exclude\" \".gitignore\" \"--copy-links\")
           )
@@ -124,10 +130,12 @@ Excerpt separator is `<!--more-->` by default.
   (stage))
 
 (defun stage ()
-  (coleslaw:main *default-pathname-defaults* :deploy nil))
+  (prog1 (coleslaw:main *default-pathname-defaults* :deploy nil)
+    (format t "~&Page generated at the staging dir ~a~%" (getf (read-rc) :staging-dir))))
 
 (defun deploy ()
-  (coleslaw:main *default-pathname-defaults* :deploy t))
+  (prog1 (coleslaw:main *default-pathname-defaults* :deploy t)
+    (format t "~&Page deployed at the deploy dir ~a~%" (getf (read-rc) :deploy-dir))))
 
 (defun preview (&optional (path (getf (read-rc) :staging-dir)))
   ;; clack depends on the global binding of *default-pathname-defaults*.
diff --git a/docs/plugin-use.md b/docs/plugin-use.md
index d653fea..e7cb443 100644
--- a/docs/plugin-use.md
+++ b/docs/plugin-use.md
@@ -58,14 +58,27 @@ post with `format: cl-who` and the plugin will do the rest.
 
 **Example**: `(gfycat)`
 
-## Hosting via Github Pages
+## Deploying / Hosting via Github Pages
 
-**Description**: Allows hosting with CNAMEs via
-  [github-pages](http://pages.github.com/). Parses the host from the
-  `:domain` section of your config by default. Pass in a string to
-  override.
+**Description**:
 
-**Example**: `(gh-pages :cname t)`
+Coleslaw deploys the blog to the specified branch of the given url.
+* `url`     -- a string, git repository url that you already have a push access.
+* `branch` -- a string, the branch to publish, either `"gh-pages"` or `"master"` can be used.
+* `remote` -- a string, the remote name that we use in the deploy directory. defaulted to `"origin"`.
+* `cname`  -- a string denoting the custom domain name, or `t`. If `cname` is `t`, the value is inferred
+  from the domain name specified in the `.coleslawrc`.
+  The value is written into `CNAME` file in the repository root.
+  For details, see [github-pages](http://pages.github.com/).
+
+**Example**:
+
+``` lisp
+(gh-pages :url "git@github.com:myaccount/myrepo.git"
+          :branch "gh-pages"
+          :remote "origin"
+          :cname t)
+```
 
 ## Incremental Builds
 
diff --git a/plugins/gh-pages.lisp b/plugins/gh-pages.lisp
index 794561d..576bcbe 100644
--- a/plugins/gh-pages.lisp
+++ b/plugins/gh-pages.lisp
@@ -1,33 +1,38 @@
 (eval-when (:compile-toplevel :load-toplevel)
-  (ql:quickload 'puri))
-
+  (ql:quickload 'puri :silent t))
 (defpackage :coleslaw-gh-pages
   (:use :cl)
-  (:import-from :puri #:parse-uri #:uri-host)
-  (:import-from :coleslaw #:*config*
-                          #:deploy
-                          #:deploy-dir
-                          #:domain
-                          #:rel-path)
+  (:import-from :coleslaw
+                #:*config*
+                #:domain
+                #:deploy
+                #:staging-dir
+                #:deploy-dir)
   (:export #:enable))
 
 (in-package :coleslaw-gh-pages)
 
-(defvar *cname* nil
-  "The domain CNAME for github to serve pages from.")
+(defvar *options* nil)
 
-(defmethod deploy :after (staging)
-  (let ((blog (rel-path (deploy-dir *config*) ".curr")))
-    (delete-file (rel-path blog "index.html"))
-    (cl-fad:copy-file (rel-path blog "1.html") (rel-path blog "index.html"))
-    (with-open-file (out (rel-path blog "CNAME")
-                     :direction :output
-                     :if-exists :supersede
-                     :if-does-not-exist :create)
-      (format out "~A~%" *cname*))))
+(defmethod deploy (staging)
+  (uiop:run-program (list* (namestring
+                            (merge-pathnames "plugins/publish-gh-pages.sh"
+                                             coleslaw-conf:*basedir*))
+                           (namestring
+                            (merge-pathnames (staging-dir *config*)))
+                           (namestring
+                            (merge-pathnames (deploy-dir *config*)))
+                           *options*)
+                    :output t
+                    :error-output t))
 
-(defun enable (&key cname)
-  (typecase cname
-    (string (setf *cname* cname))
-    (t (setf *cname* (uri-host (parse-uri (domain *config*)))))
-    (otherwise (error "Not a valid CNAME: ~A" cname))))
+(defun enable (&key url (branch "gh-pages") (remote "origin") cname)
+  (check-type url string)
+  (check-type remote string)
+  (check-type branch string)
+  (if (eq t cname)
+      (progn
+        (setf cname (puri:uri-host (puri:parse-uri (domain *config*))))
+        (check-type cname string)
+        (setf *options* (list url branch remote cname)))
+      (setf *options* (list url branch remote))))
diff --git a/plugins/publish-gh-pages.sh b/plugins/publish-gh-pages.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..528fbf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/publish-gh-pages.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+#!/bin/bash -x
+
+set -e
+
+staging=$1
+deploy=$2
+url=$3
+branch=$4
+remote=$5
+cname=$6
+
+if [[ -d $deploy && ! -d $deploy/.git ]]
+then
+   echo "Target directory $deploy exists and is not a git repository. Aborting" >&2
+   exit 1
+fi
+
+if [[ ! -d $deploy ]]
+then
+    git clone --no-checkout --origin $remote $url $deploy
+fi
+
+cd $deploy
+
+# safe and most reliable way to check if the branch exist
+if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/heads/$branch
+then
+    # if the branch exists locally
+    git checkout $branch
+elif git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/$remote/$branch
+then
+    # if the branch does not exist locally but exist in the specified remote ---
+    # Note, git checkout $branch will search the branch with the same name with
+    # ALL remotes, and set it as the tracking branch if there is a single such
+    # remote, but does not allow the user to necessarily specify which.
+    git checkout -b $branch --track $remote/$branch
+else
+    # if there is no matching branch, make an orphan branch
+    git checkout --orphan $branch
+fi
+
+rsync -avz --delete --exclude .git/ --copy-links $staging $deploy
+
+if [[ ! -z "$cname" ]]
+then
+    echo $cname > CNAME
+fi
+
+git add -A                      # add all changes in the worktree
+git add $(git ls-files -o )     # add all untracked files in the worktree
+
+git commit -m "Deployed on $(date)"
+
+git push $remote $branch
+