Does Blogging Jack Up Your Schedule?

Welcome to Techie Tuesday here at More Cowbell! This is the day each week when I unleash my inner geek and we talk about some groovy piece of technology or a technical point of writing.

Today, we’re talking about blogging and two of the platforms it sits on.

Technology has been a fluffy happy kitten for some of my friends and a scary jaw-snapping lion for others. We all know it’s here to stay but that doesn’t make it your Happy Place.

For several years now, I’ve been seeing “baby bloggers” (those new to the blogging craze) kill themselves over their shiny happy new blogs. Literally, they wear themselves out and watch it suck up all their writing time to the degree that 3 months later, they’re burned out and they hate blogging.

Because of this, I’ve posted a lot on blogging over the last year or so, particularly on any time-saving tips I’ve found. It’s the trainer in me…I can’t help it!

Here are some of the posts I received the most feedback on:

Why Do You Blog?
Why Do You Blog – Part 2
Blogging Q&A and My Time-Saving BFF

and my personal favorite…
Is Your Blog Eating You Alive?

Today’s post is along the lines of the third post in line up there – one of the time-savers. I wrote it as a reaction to one of my writing pals telling me she SET AN ALARM to get up and post a blog. It was a definite head-desk moment for me.

I’ll tell you what I told her: I don’t ever want to hear that any of us got up at ass o’clock, or put our lives on hold, to post a blog! You can schedule your posts ahead of time in both Blogger and WordPress. In WordPress, you can even include a tweet or Facebook post into the bargain.

If you are shaking your head and wondering what I’m talking about, prepare to do your happy dance. You’re about to get a whole lot more sleep. 🙂

Note: If you’ve got great tips or links for any of the other platforms not mentioned here, please post them in the comments.

WordPress

When you log into your site on WordPress, there’s typically a toolbar at the top of the screen with a button with the name of your blog (mine shows my picture). When you click it, a drop-down menu appears – the word Dashboard will be at the top.

There’s all kinds of magic in the Dashboard – Settings, Posts, Widgets, etc. This is a place to spend time exploring. Even better, take a class. Jami Gold will be teaching one soon at WANA International that’s sure to be amazing.

To schedule a New Post in WordPress:

In the Dashboard, there is a button on the navigation bar (left side of the screen) that says Posts. When you click on Posts, you’ll see a command below it to Add New. Click it to open your New Post window.

You’ll be spending lots of time here, so be sure to look around. On the right side of the screen, just above the blue Publish button (which changes to say “Update” once you’ve published a post), you will see the word “Immediately.”

Click the word “Edit” to the right of “Immediately” (it is underlined in blue) and choose the date and time you wish to post your blog.

Note: If you don’t click OK to save the new time, this will revert back to “Immediately.”

If you have the Publicize feature turned on in WordPress, an update will be pushed out to the Twitter and Facebook accounts of your choice. You may edit the Twitter/Facebook content by clicking the blue Edit link to the right of the word Publicize. Again, this is just above the Publish button.

I also add Tags to my posts to make them come up in more search engine results – this is located down the right side of the screen (below the Categories and Publish button).

Click the Publish/Update button at the end of all your edits in order to post the blog.

Blogger /Blogspot

From the Blogger Dashboard, click the New Post button. (You can also use the little pencil button at the top of the screen (above My Blogs in the photo below).

You will be on the New Post screen – I put a picture of the important parts below:

 

To the right of the New Post screen above, you will see Post Settings. Click Schedule to open up the area below and pick a date and time for your blog to post.

When you are finished making all changes to your post, click the Publish Post button and this blog will be shown in your list of scheduled posts.

Cool Tip: Keyboard shortcuts while posting in Blogger

Why am I fan of scheduling posts?

Scheduling lets you add three or four posts at a time and get ahead in your blogging – for example I edited and scheduled this post last Sunday because my Monday and Tuesdays are crazy.  The ability to schedule is one of the best features available in both these blogging platforms.

Do you use Blogger or WordPress? What do you love or hate about posting your blog in general? Do you have any tips to share? Tired bloggers always  want to know these things here at More Cowbell!

Jenny