Great advice Aaron - I'm guilty of the start-stop approach to scheduled posting. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I just post as soon as I've written. It's one thing I definitely want to do, particularly for non-time-critical content. Thanks for the prompt. :)
Aaron
· 3 years ago
It also helps to break up thoughts into smaller entries. Alot of bloggers I know get inspiration on a topic and write a book on it. Instead, break that long entry into 2 or 3 entries posted on consecutive (or semi-consecutive) days and you have 1) the cliffhanger effect, 2) make an entry less daunting for users skimming, and 3) get a bit of mileage out of one entry.
Aaron
· 3 years ago
I feel the Darren Rowse syndrome coming on as I am, as we speak, inspired about a number of potential list-style segments on blogging. LOL
David Nick
· 3 years ago
Aaron, I'm not one to critique ANYONE's blog or how they run it, I just don't see writing advanced articles saves any time. Simply because by the time you post your article or rant, wouldn't the message be "dated"?
When I did a lot of my writing it was on current real time events. Or as real time as I could get them. If you have a stockpile of articles and just drop one into the "publish" folder, how relevant could that information or opinion be to what's on topic?
I realize that not all articles work that way, especially when it comes to other topics (unless you are starting to roll out your articles on DOS 6.1 and we're currently playing with Vista. :)
Sometimes, you're too busy for your own good. (Something my wife doesn't seem to think you can ever be too busy)
::sigh::
LOL
Aaron
· 3 years ago
I didn't say anything about saving time. You still have to write them. However, many blogs and many entries are not time-sensitive items. Therefore, they can be staged in advance. Obviously, this method doesn't work for everyone and indeed, political blogging tends to need more real-time writing. Political blogging is a fraction of the blogging that happens in the blogosphere though, so...if it applies, use it, if not, then don't. :)
Scott
· 3 years ago
I have started to make and effort to have at least 2 or 3 post standing by. Usually they are just small hints and tips that I post on my site instead of larger articles. I find that by doing so it gives me a bit more time to work on some of the larger articles. It is also good to have a few drafts on the ready just in case you don't feel like posting for the day.
Funny thing is some of my really small "Hints & Tips" articles usually get picked up by other sites so they end up getting more attention than some of the larger articles that I spend more time on.
Paul
· 3 years ago
I think this is a cool article and have bookmarked it.
One thing drove me nuts, though, and I would have pointed it out via contact email address - if I could find one. So please don't think I am having a cheap shot. Feel free to moderate it out.
Clearly you have taken much care with your blog design, layout and functionality. But the word 'alot' (sic) appears six times on this page. It should be 'a lot'.
I am sure I am being a pedant. I am sure that I make plenty of typos on my own blog(s). I just thought you might want to know and could not find another means of letting you know. If not, no sweat.
FYI, Performancing ran an article titled something like '10 signs of a cheap blog ...' that was quite controversial. The punchline is that the guy who wrote it had attrocious grammer and every second comment posted highlighted it.
Again, totally did this post.
Paul
· 3 years ago
... Oh .. DIG this post.
See ... anyone can make a typo!
Cheers.
Aaron
· 3 years ago
hehe... Thanks Paul. Actually, I admit I make alot of typos. It's usually because my mind is racing faster than my fingers. That's another reason I have moved to the advance posting model. It used to be that I would publish, then view, then have to go make edits two or three times just to make sense of what I wrote. Now I advanced post and save myself the humiliation. :)
Now as for 'alot' vs. 'a lot'... Call it editorial license. That is always how I have written it and I chalk it up to the same difference between the Americanized "center" and the British "centre". I am not likely to change that style. :)
fivecentnickel.com
· 3 years ago
Hey Paul, atrocious has one 't'. ;)
edward
· 3 years ago
Hi Paul,
Thanks for sharing your tips/experience. 4 out of 5 seems obivious, although I tend to forget about them. Your tip on pings is very valuable going to use that one.
Maybe an automatic publish utility for "awaited moderation posts" could do the trick.
ps: sorry not english speaking blogger
Paul
· 3 years ago
Atrocious ... that was always going to happen, wasn't it? Thanks for taking the micky. :)
Cary
· 3 years ago
Yes, you might want to check your own spelling before correcting someone else's...
It's "grammar," not "grammer."
;D
Paul
· 3 years ago
Oh yes. That is pretty bad. Absolutely right you are, Cary.
Or did I leave them in to make a point?
Nah. I went red and hung my head.
Though, for the record, I never did say I was oblivious to the odd typo. I did say that there is a difference between a mistake and, well, six of the same mistake.
But this is not even the point. And, ultimately, the point is that the original post by Aaron is a good one.
Captain Hops
· 3 years ago
Out of curiosity, is Advance Posting a built in feature of WordPress or a plug-in? Does anyone know if/how it can be done with Blogger? I use Blogger for my Beer Haiku Daily blog and would love to be able to set up future scheduled posting. It would certainly make going on vacation easier.
Cheers!
Aaron
· 3 years ago
Haha... you're the author of Beer Haiku? I have you in my RSS reader. Good stuff! :D
In WordPress, you can alter a timestamp for an entry at any time including before you hit the publish button. If the timestamp is set for a future time, it won't be public until then. It's built in.
As for Blogger, I have no idea.
Captain Hops
· 3 years ago
Wow! You're one of my 25 subscribers. That's great, what a small world.
The advance posting feature of WordPress would be a good excuse to make the switch to a real domain name and a new platform. I will have to look into that.
Cheers!
Aaron
· 3 years ago
Well I think it's because you're in Baltimore (correct me if I'm wrong)
HART (1-800-HART)
· 3 years ago
Hi Aaron ..
For my PetLvr blog I try to pre-post an article every 5 hours when I'm really swamped with my 'day-job' work (usually around mid-month and month-end dates. It works great, because I can continually post content to the blog for about 3-6 days in advance and not have to worry about it. Of course, I do worry about it and continually read my bloglines and occassionally post some new content or news/current events as I see it. As I mentioned, it works great for me - but, I really think you are wrong in the pinging. Or, my template doesn't do the pinging as it should be doing. It pings only when the article is published. Even though it might be predated for 3 days from now, it's publishing time is now.
Of course, I subscribe to my own feeds .. so what ends up happening is that in my bloglines, with no further posting, I will not see any of my posts being retrieved. Then, if I manage to post a periodic entry in the middle, all the posts up to that point from the date and time of publishing gets posted, so I might all of a sudden get 12 posts retrieved. I realized this was happening when my nightly daily stats were suddenly declining over the one week that I spent a whole weekend and pre-posted about 40 articles for the next 7 days.
Aaron
· 3 years ago
Hart--
If you use WordPress, if you predate your article it is not published until that date... it is saved. Publishing can be more accurately lined up with pings sent and they are not sent until the time the article is dated for.
- Dated for previous time, ping sent now - Dated for now, ping sent now - Dated for future time, ping sent then
RSS feed entries, on the other hand, are regenerated whenever an entry has changed (timestamp mod, content change, typo, new subject line) and has absolutely zero to do with pings. In fact, you'll notice that if you go to a new feedreader, all your feeds will be unread again. This is because it is the feedreader, not the feed itself, that determines what is read and what is not. Those 12 post appearing in your feedreader have nothing to do with pings and possibly something else, content or otherwise.
HART (1-800-HART)
· 3 years ago
Hi Aaron. Thanks for reply. Your scenario is exactly as it should be and that we all want. I'm just not 100% confident that is happening with my site however, (being "dated for future time, ping sent then"). There are several threads on wordpress.org/support with other people having same problem but, I don't have URL's handy - I will have to spend some time this evening and do more research :) In my case, I'm not going to stop pre-posting because that's a great feature and saves me time. I make it a point to post at least one additional one each day for peace of mind, to help with the pinging - right or wrong.
Neil
· 2 years ago
Great advice. I have been advance posting for awhile. I custom wrote my own blog software on my site so I could do it the way I wanted. But I didn't think of some the other items you mentioned, like checking for the higher traffic times of the day.
I just signed up wtih a different free web tracker that provides me with statistics during the day, so I will be sure to advance post based on that.
All Comments
When I did a lot of my writing it was on current real time events. Or as real time as I could get them. If you have a stockpile of articles and just drop one into the "publish" folder, how relevant could that information or opinion be to what's on topic?
I realize that not all articles work that way, especially when it comes to other topics (unless you are starting to roll out your articles on DOS 6.1 and we're currently playing with Vista. :)
Sometimes, you're too busy for your own good. (Something my wife doesn't seem to think you can ever be too busy)
::sigh::
LOL
Funny thing is some of my really small "Hints & Tips" articles usually get picked up by other sites so they end up getting more attention than some of the larger articles that I spend more time on.
One thing drove me nuts, though, and I would have pointed it out via contact email address - if I could find one. So please don't think I am having a cheap shot. Feel free to moderate it out.
Clearly you have taken much care with your blog design, layout and functionality. But the word 'alot' (sic) appears six times on this page. It should be 'a lot'.
I am sure I am being a pedant. I am sure that I make plenty of typos on my own blog(s). I just thought you might want to know and could not find another means of letting you know. If not, no sweat.
FYI, Performancing ran an article titled something like '10 signs of a cheap blog ...' that was quite controversial. The punchline is that the guy who wrote it had attrocious grammer and every second comment posted highlighted it.
Again, totally did this post.
See ... anyone can make a typo!
Cheers.
Now as for 'alot' vs. 'a lot'... Call it editorial license. That is always how I have written it and I chalk it up to the same difference between the Americanized "center" and the British "centre". I am not likely to change that style. :)
Thanks for sharing your tips/experience. 4 out of 5 seems obivious, although I tend to forget about them. Your tip on pings is very valuable going to use that one.
Maybe an automatic publish utility for "awaited moderation posts" could do the trick.
ps: sorry not english speaking blogger
It's "grammar," not "grammer."
;D
Or did I leave them in to make a point?
Nah. I went red and hung my head.
Though, for the record, I never did say I was oblivious to the odd typo. I did say that there is a difference between a mistake and, well, six of the same mistake.
But this is not even the point. And, ultimately, the point is that the original post by Aaron is a good one.
Cheers!
In WordPress, you can alter a timestamp for an entry at any time including before you hit the publish button. If the timestamp is set for a future time, it won't be public until then. It's built in.
As for Blogger, I have no idea.
The advance posting feature of WordPress would be a good excuse to make the switch to a real domain name and a new platform. I will have to look into that.
Cheers!
For my PetLvr blog I try to pre-post an article every 5 hours when I'm really swamped with my 'day-job' work (usually around mid-month and month-end dates. It works great, because I can continually post content to the blog for about 3-6 days in advance and not have to worry about it. Of course, I do worry about it and continually read my bloglines and occassionally post some new content or news/current events as I see it. As I mentioned, it works great for me - but, I really think you are wrong in the pinging. Or, my template doesn't do the pinging as it should be doing. It pings only when the article is published. Even though it might be predated for 3 days from now, it's publishing time is now.
Of course, I subscribe to my own feeds .. so what ends up happening is that in my bloglines, with no further posting, I will not see any of my posts being retrieved. Then, if I manage to post a periodic entry in the middle, all the posts up to that point from the date and time of publishing gets posted, so I might all of a sudden get 12 posts retrieved. I realized this was happening when my nightly daily stats were suddenly declining over the one week that I spent a whole weekend and pre-posted about 40 articles for the next 7 days.
If you use WordPress, if you predate your article it is not published until that date... it is saved. Publishing can be more accurately lined up with pings sent and they are not sent until the time the article is dated for.
- Dated for previous time, ping sent now
- Dated for now, ping sent now
- Dated for future time, ping sent then
RSS feed entries, on the other hand, are regenerated whenever an entry has changed (timestamp mod, content change, typo, new subject line) and has absolutely zero to do with pings. In fact, you'll notice that if you go to a new feedreader, all your feeds will be unread again. This is because it is the feedreader, not the feed itself, that determines what is read and what is not. Those 12 post appearing in your feedreader have nothing to do with pings and possibly something else, content or otherwise.
I just signed up wtih a different free web tracker that provides me with statistics during the day, so I will be sure to advance post based on that.