{"id":7571,"date":"2020-05-28T15:00:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=7571"},"modified":"2020-07-29T17:34:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T15:34:09","slug":"wordpress-scheduler-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wordpress-scheduler-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Automate Posts with a WordPress Scheduler Plugin"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]You don\u2018t need a massive staff roster to maintain a regular, round-the-clock publishing schedule. You just need to have your ducks in a row with regards to content. Once that\u2019s settled, you can schedule WordPress posts to be published at a later date with just a few clicks of the mouse. And you can do it in bulk using a WordPress scheduler plugin.
\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Not only does this mean you can time your posts to coincide with specific events, but it is also very useful if you want to maintain your schedule with content you\u2018ve produced ahead of time while, say, traveling or otherwise unable \u2013 or unwilling \u2013 to be online. If your target audience is in a different time zone, you might also want to adapt to their reading habits. If you are also automatically posting on Facebook<\/a>, for instance, you\u2018ll want to post during peak traffic hours for your target audience without having to get up at odd hours.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]While we find automating WordPress posts to be especially useful for blogs or other smaller operations, large companies may find post scheduling useful, too. Especially in instances such as promotions and special offers. Simply set up your website to post for you and reap the benefits.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Still, scheduling individual posts<\/a> may take an inordinate amount of time, especially if you are running a webzine or blog with multiple authors. This is where Auto Post Scheduler<\/a>, our preferred WordPress scheduler plugin, comes into play.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”68px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

How to Configure the Auto Post Scheduler Plugin<\/h2>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The first thing you need to do is install and configure Auto Post Scheduler. You can install and activate the plugin<\/a> the same as with any other plugin.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Next, you\u2018ll want to configure your plugin for posting. Access it through your plugins list, and click the settings<\/em> link<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]

\n
\n \"Configure <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The first option you need to take a look at is the Auto Post Schedule<\/strong><\/em> option. This sets the interval during which this WordPress scheduler plugin checks for publishable posts and publishes them. You can set it for a number of seconds, hours or days<\/strong>, and you can also use a hyphenated range, as in the developer-provided example, for a random interval between checks (useful, say, if you want to add a random element to a special offer you\u2018re having. The default is set at 24 hours, meaning one post a day.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Set <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Next comes the Restart on Publish<\/strong><\/em> checkbox. This resets the checking period<\/strong> if a post is manually published while the counter is running. This is useful if you have a bunch of \u201cfiller\u201c posts lined up in case your regular posting schedule lags behind.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Resets <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The Start Scheduling Delay<\/strong><\/em> functionality serves to delay the time when the plugin begins to check for eligible posts<\/strong>. If you set it to 12 hours, like we have, it will wait for 12 hours after being enabled, and then check for available posts.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Start <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The next option is really useful. You Limit check to Post Types<\/strong><\/em> by shift-clicking the kinds of posts you want to have available. Typically, these will be posts<\/strong>, and that\u2018s the default, but you can set up whole new pages to be published<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Limit <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Similarly, you may want to limit your automated posting<\/strong><\/em> to certain categories<\/strong>. The default setting confers no such limits.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Limit <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]If you are running a multi-author blog, you may want to rack up one particular author<\/strong>\u2018s posts during their vacation or hiatus, for instance. This is what the Author<\/strong><\/em> limit option is for.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Author <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The penultimate limit concerns keyword searches<\/strong><\/em>. If you want your website to keep posting automatically about a certain topic, you\u2018ll want to make use of this functionality. It also works with the minus (-) operator, if you want specifically to exclude a keyword<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Keyword <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The final limit concerns days of the week<\/strong><\/em> and specific dates<\/strong>. You can use these options to set allowed hours and disallowed days for posting. This is incredibly useful if you have weekly theme days<\/strong> or similar weekly schedules<\/strong>, or if you don\u2018t expect your visitors to be active during holidays. You can easily set your WordPress scheduler plugin to post on the days your visitors expect it to.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Specific <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The Eligible Post Status<\/strong> checkmarks tell the plugin which posts may get published<\/strong>. You can set it for drafts, pending, and published<\/strong>. This last checkbox recycles already published posts.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Eligible <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Pick Random Eligible Posts<\/strong><\/em> randomizes the order in which eligible posts are posted. The default is unchecked, and the oldest eligible posts<\/strong> (as checked above) will be published first<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Pick <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The next set of checkboxes deals with post recycling. The first checkbox (Recycle Posts Mode<\/strong><\/em>) publishes your oldest published posts<\/strong> once there are no unpublished eligible posts. The second (Recycle Posts as New<\/strong><\/em>) deals with how recycled posts are treated. Unchecked, only the post date is changed, and checked, the post is republished, triggering any on-publish code or script you may have set up<\/strong>. Especially useful for time-sensitive events counting from the date of \u201cpublication\u201c.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”81px”][vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#f0f0f0″][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”top-picks-banner”][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#f0f0f0″][vc_empty_space height=”70px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Minimum Recycle Age<\/strong><\/em> sets the minimum age for a post which can be recycled \u2013 a useful functionality if you want to avoid multiple consecutive publication of the same content even when recycling.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Finally, Recycle Only On This Day<\/strong><\/em> is a functionality which allows you to recycle posts each day and month<\/strong>. That way, you can have a recurring New Year\u2018s Eve post, a recurring Labour Day post, a recurring National Day post and so on.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Recycle <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The Number of Posts<\/strong><\/em> published at each check can be changed, too. You can set the WordPress scheduler plugin to publish any whole number of posts at each Auto Post Schedule<\/strong><\/em> interval.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Number <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Finally, the Max Posts per Day<\/strong> <\/em>number is there to make it easier for you to limit the number of posts each day<\/strong>, convenient when using a randomized publication time. The default is 0<\/strong>, which signifies no limit (multiple daily posts enabled)<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Max <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The final functionality is the debug log<\/strong>. This is how the plugin will notify the administrator if something goes wrong. You can maximize the number of log messages and switch the Debug Mode<\/strong><\/em> on or off.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Debug <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Finally, your plugin is configured. In order for your options to take effect, click the Update Options<\/strong><\/em> button.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Updated <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]When you have your content ready, too, all that is left is to Enable Auto Post Scheduler<\/strong><\/em>. Scroll all the way up and click on the button.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"Enable <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]And your content will now be automatically published<\/strong> without any further intervention on your part.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”68px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

In Conclusion<\/h2>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Maintaining a regular publishing schedule is crucial to growing a community around your website. With a WordPress scheduler plugin, you can be sure that your website will be continuously updated even in your absence. This is also a useful tool for an editor who is running a webzine or a blog with multiple contributors. The contributors can simply save their own posts as drafts, and all the editor needs to do is review them before automatic publication. With bulk scheduling, you can save time with automation. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Find out how to automate the publication of articles and schedule, randomize, or even recycle old posts with a WordPress scheduler plugin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16990,"featured_media":7716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[46,4,13],"class_list":["post-7571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-blogging","tag-tips","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16990"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}