schedule your way to a better blog

July 17, 2012 separator Blogging

 
To run a successful blog, you need to have consistent, high-quality content, and you need to share it effectively. If you’re trying to do all that at 11:45 the night before or in the middle of the workday, you just won’t be as effective, and your quality will suffer.
 
Fortunately, there are now plenty of tools out there to schedule everything in advance. By scheduling ahead of time, you can use your free time to create top-notch content, rather than squeezing it in between meetings. 
 
A lot of this is probably hold hat for most of you, but I remember that when I first started blogging, I had no idea I could schedule my posts ahead of time, let alone tweets or Facebook page updates! No-brainer, I know, but maybe this’ll help somebody else out, too. Read on to find out how to schedule Blogger and WordPress posts, Facebook statuses, and tweets. Once you know how to schedule everything in advance, try this free planner to organize your thoughts!
 
Oh, and you can find me on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all my posts – scheduled and spur-of-the-moment! ;D
 
After you read through all these scheduling options, pop over here, and let me know: Did you know that you could schedule all these different things? Which do you think you’ll use the most? What would you like to see in the next Blog Better post?

 

Scheduling a Post in Blogger
 
You can schedule entire blog posts as far in advance as you like, which gives you the freedom to knock a few out on a lazy Sunday afternoon. 
 
Write your post up just as you normally would. When your post is ready, just click ‘Schedule’ under ‘Post settings’ on the right toolbar. Click the button for ‘Set date and time.’ Now you can just pick when you’d like to publish your post, and hit ‘Done.’ It’ll now show up as ‘scheduled’ in your list of posts on your Blogger dashboard. You can still go back and edit it just as you would with a normal post. 
 
Fun tip: This is especially helpful if you’re going on vacation. You can schedule a whole week’s worth of posts and never have to think about your blog while you’re gone!
 
 
Finding Your Scheduled Post Link in Blogger

 

Again, it can be really helpful to get your post link before the post actually publishes. You might want to write your post Tuesday night and schedule it to post Wednesday morning. When you get the permalink in advance, you can schedule your Facebook posts and tweets. The next day, while you’re working your “real job,” your post, Facebook status, and tweets all go live for your followers, even if you’re nowhere near a computer. 
 
In that same sidebar on your Blogger post screen, click the ‘Permalink.’ You can customize the URL, or you can leave it on ‘Automatic,’ and just copy the grey text that appears above the ‘Automatic URL’ option. Use it for the scheduling options listed below. 
 
 
Scheduling a Post in WordPress
 
Though I don’t use WordPress, this one seems pretty straightforward as well. Just like in Blogger, there’s a little toolbar over to the side of your draft post. Where it automatically says ‘Publish Immediately,’ click ‘Edit.’ Now you can choose the date and time. Click ‘OK’ to go ahead and schedule it. 
 
 
Finding Your Scheduled Post Link in WordPress
 
Again, in order to make full use of social media scheduling capabilities, you’ll need your blog post link before the post publishes. In WordPress the permalink URL for your scheduled post should show up just beneath the title of the post, like you see in the image above. Again, since I don’t use WordPress, feel free to correct me if anything isn’t right or explained well. 
 
 
How to Schedule a Facebook Status Post
 
Click inside the status update box on your Facebook page. Wait a second, and then you’ll see a little clock image in the bottom left corner. Click that little guy, and then it’ll walk you through the scheduling process, from year to month, day, and time. Then you can write your status just as normally would, and click “schedule.” 
 
If you want to change the post before its scheduled time or just can’t remember what you’ve scheduled, head up to your admin panel bar across the top of the page. Click on ‘Edit Page,’ and then ‘Use Activity Log.’ Voila – a list of all your scheduled posts! 
 
Fun tip: You can use this feature to backdate posts as well, which is useful if you want to add a milestone to your timeline. An example would be if I were to schedule back to 2009 for a “Shrimp Salad Circus publishes its first post” link. 
 
 
How to Schedule a Tweet
 
I use Hootsuite to schedule my tweets in advance. Hootesuite is a great organizational tool in general, but I find it especially helpful for scheduling purposes. You can use it for Facebook as well, but I’ve found it to be less reliable for scheduling Facebook posts. Sometimes they just don’t ever show up.
 
To schedule a tweet with Hootesuite, just begin typing your tweet as you normally would, and select your Twitter handle in the box to the top right in the image above. Then, just click the little ‘Scheduling’ calendar, and your time and date options will drop down. Schedule to your satisfaction, and then click ‘Schedule.’
 
Fun tip: Scheduling tweets in advance is even a good idea for tweeting your pins on Pinterest or your Instagram photos. That way, you don’t overwhelm your followers with 43 pins all at once and then nothing at all for the rest of the day. 
 
For more tips on building a better blog, check out the rest of the posts in my Blog Better series! 


*Credit: Clock from header image by YSR1

37 comments

  1. Pingback: Rockin' the Roundup: Blogging Series - Managing your Blogging Schedule | Noting Grace
  2. I like this post,And I guess that they having fun to read this post,they shall take a good site to make a information,thanks for sharing it to me.

  3. Thanks so much for sharing this. I had seen other sites saying you could do this, but this is the first time I’ve seen HOW to do it. Hopefully this will help clear out some of my day! 🙂

  4. I had no idea you could schedule a Facebook account. You can’t do your personal page but you can a fan page. And as for Twitter . . . I really don’t do Twitter. My FB fan page posts go there automatically.

    Can you schedule a LinkedIn post?

  5. This is ingenious. I love your blog! New follower 🙂
    Also a 15 year old girl! ^^^ haha.

    kianabates.blogspot.com

  6. Hi! My name is Ella, I’m fifteen, and I recently started a little style blog. School is pretty heavy right now, so I only have time to blog on the weekends. This scheduling tip will allow me to post even when I’m in school! Thanks so much for this; your blog has helped me so much!

    xo, Ella

    http://anoldfashionedgirlblog.blogspot.com

  7. Thank you so much for this post! For months I have been trying to get the WP Facebook posting plugin to work and it just won’t. This is much simpler and I’ve already scheduled a post for tonight!

  8. Nice! I’m familiar with scheduling with WordPress but I never realized you could on FB (only that you could backdate). This got me curious about Pinterest, so I found an article on Techably that told me about Pinerly, which is going to allow you to schedule pins on Pinterest soon! Pretty cool. 🙂

    Have you heard of Pinerly/used it? If so, what do you think? I just got an invitation so I’m playing around with it today.

  9. I love this post. I’ve always written drafts ahead of time and now with my 2 month old it’s even more difficult to blog, let alone be consitent. I didn’t realize i could schedule the actual posting time. I never realized the facebook and twitter sheduling was possible either. 🙂

  10. Thank you for sharing this! I had no idea that you could schedule fb posts or that you can get the link before a blog post is published. This is super helpful! Thanks again!

  11. What?! I had no idea it was possible to schedule a Facebook post. Amazing!! I now have no excuse to be such a slacker with my facebook networking ;]

  12. These are GREAT tips! I did not know you could get the permalink from a blogger post before it’s been published! Thanks for this!

  13. Rikki – Sorry, I should’ve specified. I believe the scheduling feature is only for Facebook pages, not personal profiles. I’ll update the post accordingly.

    Everybody – I’m so glad you’re finding the post helpful! 😀

  14. Ah! I am so glad to have stumbled across your blog.
    Just earlier this week I was looking for a tool to schedule Tweets. THANK YOU for the tip!

  15. Wow, thanks a LOT, Lindsay! I didn’t know we can do scheduling in twitter and facebook!

  16. Dang! This was sooooo helpful and useful. I didn’t know about scheduling with twitter and facebook. Gonna try that soon. Thanks.

  17. ahhh i’ve been wondering how to do this! i’ve been waking up so early to put finishing touches on my posts before i publish them and get them off into the world before 8am. now i can go back to sleeping in past 7am! yippee! thank you!

  18. How on earth was I supposed to know to be blogging in draft? Hurrumph. You, Lindsay, really are a blogging guru. That does solve the permalink problem though!

    Just a note on the Facebook scheduling feature for anyone who was unaware of that. I wasn’t able to do it by updating my status through the newsfeed page, only on my personal profile. I’m assuming it has something to do with the “new” timeline profile view. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I can add in a time, just a date, and you can’t schedule ahead only back date. Hmm… Am I missing something?

  19. i’ve been enjoying your blog yesterday and today – courtesy of Her New Leaf :). i’m a blogspot person and am glad to have you as a resource – thanks!

  20. Sabine – If you’re blogging from the Blogger in Draft dashboard (draft.blogger.com), then it should automatically be an option that appears on the right under ‘Schedule.’ The dashboards (draft and regular) look very similar, so just make sure you’re in draft. If that still isn’t working, then it’s outside my realm of expertise. Unfortunately, I only have a pretty basic knowledge of most of this. Good luck! 😀

  21. I have known some of these features but I never actually tried to use them. Thanks for your tips because now I think I can start using them effectively now.

  22. yes I have already filled in the blog post title. I only have labels, sheduale, location and options to choose from

  23. Sabine – Have you already typed in the blog post title into the proper place? It won’t work until you do so. You can also set a custom permalink in the same place as you find the automatic link.

  24. I seem to be having the same problem as Abbey, I couldn’t find the permalink in the old or new version.

    please help

    http//www.sabjesblog.nl

  25. Jasanna – I usually try to schedule just a few posts out from the current date. I find it especially helpful when I’m going to be out of town for awhile. Then, I’ll schedule as many posts as the days I’ll be gone.

    For social media, I typically only schedule the next day’s posts.

    Scheduling posts is great, but I find that even just planning your topics in advance is super helpful, too. I have a blog planner download for free right here (https://shrimpsaladcircus.blogspot.com/2012/01/free-weekly-blog-planner-blog-better.html) that should be helpful!

  26. In my blogging dreams, I have weeks of posts scheduled out and ready to publish, I just haven’t gotten my you-know-what together enough to make that happen yet. Maybe someday!

  27. This was such a helpful post for any and all bloggers. I never realized how *easy* it is to schedule a post out. I tend to write all of my posts over the weekend and just save them in draft form until I’m ready to post throughout the week. After reading this, I think I might as well just plan ahead and have them automatically post for me.

    Oh and, I love your blog. I wait for each post religiously :-p

  28. Audrey – Isn’t it so helpful?!

    Abbey – I’m using Blogger in Draft. Are you? If you’re on the old version of the dashboard, it might not work.

    Also, you have to type a post title before it will give you a permalink, since it bases the link on the title.

    Did that fix your problem?

  29. This is great! Didn’t know I could schedule a facebook or twitter post!! Thanks for sharing with us 🙂

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