A Lesson in Writing, Publishing and Automation ~
It happened the other day and it was terrifying. I woke up early that morning, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at my desk. I needed to write articles for my most demanding client: my wife.
The minute my fingers touched the keyboard, something snapped. They began flying over the keys like a skater on a glassy, ice-covered pond. The words flowed to the screen like the roaring river rushes to the sea.
Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph danced onto the monitor. I couldn’t stop.
As soon as one article was finished, another took its place!
I didn’t pause for meals or even another cup of coffee. The words wouldn’t let me. Finally, late that evening, I slumped on my desk, exhausted. I rested my throbbing head in my hands, sweat dripping off my brow, as I tried to gain my composure and some strength.
The words had finally released me.
When the mood strikes, Write!
Okay. It wasn’t quite that bad. Maybe I did exaggerate just a little bit. But I’m sure every writer has that moment when he or she is in “the Zone.” The words do flow and the writing seems to take on a life of its own.
It’s really cool when that happens.
And it’s really great when you happen to be writing a series of articles or blog posts. The entire train of thought is on the track and you get a smooth, homogenous flow to the writing.
Or you’ve written a fantastically huge article and it can be broken down easily into installments. Your blog writing for the week is done in one fell swoop. You’ve got plenty of time for the rest of your projects.
But . . .what to do next?
Get Them Posted, Right Now!
I compose my articles on my computer using a word processing program. My site is built with WordPress, so it’s easy to copy and paste into a post.
I don’t want the series posts to go out all at once, so I used to post and publish one the first day, then another the next, and so on. I had to rely on myself to remember to do that, no matter what distractions came along.
Sometimes I forget things, you know.
Then, the light bulb turned on, albeit somewhat dimly. I could post them all and save the future posts as drafts. That way all I had to do was go to my site and click “Publish” on the current post. Better, but not the best method.
Then I discovered automation.
Automation is the Key to Series Posting
The light finally reached full brightness when I looked closer at the WordPress interface. I discovered that while writing can’t be automated, publishing can.
In the Publish box of the post editor page was “Publish immediately edit.” When clicked, it opens up a scheduling box.
Not only can you set the date and year, but the time of day as well.
As you know, consistency in publishing can be very important. Your readers come to expect your post at the same time on the same day. Using this scheduling box, you automate the post delivery.
When you enter a schedule and click OK, the publish button turns into a schedule button. When you click Schedule, it saves your finished draft and schedules it for delivery.
You may have already known that, but it was new to me. And I like it. I tested it out on my wife’s sewing site and it worked like a charm. Posting one day, I scheduled it to publish the next day a 6:00 AM.
And publish it did. Automation rocks!
Social Media Automation
You have the ability to automate a lot of your social media strategy in WordPress as well. Look again at the Publish box. You’ll see an option to publicize. If you’ve linked your social media accounts to your site, they will appear here.
Clicking the Edit link will open the option to choose which accounts will publish your post. If you have more than one Facebook account, for instance, and the post is not appropriate for one of them, you can uncheck that box.
The Settings link takes you to the page where you link your accounts.
Automation – Your Best Efficiency Tool
If you’re a small company or a one-person business, you need to run efficiently to keep ahead. Automation in your publishing is the best friend you have for posting blog articles.
Before you hit “Publish” the next time, take a few minutes to explore your options. It will be time well spent.
Write tight!
Steve Maurer
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