I’m often asked how do bloggers keep blogging during the holiday season when family commitments can often find you away from home without a regular internet connection. The answer, of course, is that we are so committed to writing that we always take a laptop with us, with an internet dongle, and post from the beach! (Pauses for mental picture of Chris Brogan in Speedos, with laptop, on beach. Not a pretty sight!)
Yeah, right! There may be a few bloggers that do that (and perhaps they need to get a life!), but most use technology. One of the great things about WordPress is that posts can be scheduled in advance. In other words, you write them before going on holiday and then input the date on which you want each post to be published. If you click on the date section under ‘Publish’, at the top right of the page, you can change the date and time of publication. Hit ‘OK’ and you will see that the line then reads “Scheduled for…”.
Now, be careful. Since around WordPress 2.8, scheduled posts have often missed their date and/or time. There’s a bug in the package. The safest thing to do is to install a plugin called, appropriately enough, “Missed Schedule”.
So, that takes care of the posts but what about announcing them to the world? Many bloggers Tweet their Twitter followers about new articles. Again, you can schedule these, if you use HootSuite. Write a Tweet in the “Compose Message” box and you will find that at the bottom of the box, reading from left to right, are first the “Shrink” box, (I’ll avoid poor jokes about psychiatrists), to use shorter URLs, then the “attachments” button, and then the “Schedule Message” button.
Don’t go mad and schedule your posts hourly – 3 times a day will be sufficient. And bearing in mind that others will be logging on spasmodically, you can schedule the posts to be Tweeted on several days.
Happy holidays and happy blogging!
Similar Posts:
- Social Media – Scheduled Posts Problem in WordPress – Updated
- I’m Back!
- “You must have a Blog!” Ok, but how?
- My Personal Development and an Experiment in Managing SM Time
- The Rockstar Foundation – Educating Black South African Women
