« Changing Themes on our hosted blogs | Home | Server Shortages »
How to timestamp your posts
By Marques | November 9, 2007
Table of contents for Blogging ABC
- Generating Traffic for your blog
- Generating Traffic: Social Networks
- How to timestamp your posts
- Categories and Tags: Use them effectively
This post is part of the series “Resources for bloggers“.
Inevitably, once in a while there are periods when blogging consistently becomes impossible. Whether the blogger is enjoying some days off or other responsibilities take over the majority of time, the blog will certainly suffer from the absence of new published content. Bloggers will notice a drop in readership and visits and regaining the confidence of these readers often proves harder than getting them the first time.
If the absence is due to something unexpected and not planned, there is nothing much the blogger can do besides taking the hit and recover as best as possible. If, on the other hand, the blogger can plan ahead and keep providing what the readers come for, then the hit the blog suffers is minimal and can be easily recovered from.
There are two main methods to be able to keep providing content when away from the blog:
- Guest posts
- Creating the content ahead and timestamp the posts
Guest posting
This one is pretty much self-explanatory but requires an already established network of contacts (mainly with other bloggers) that are able to create content while the author is away. Contact friends whom you trust and you think are able to manage creating content with the high quality standards you have used your readers to. You can even “negotiate” a posting exchange, but mostly it will not be required since the guest blogger probably knows that one day he’ll also need your help. Make sure you don’t break that trust and take care of the blogs of your contacts as if it were your own.
Timestamp your posts
One of the greatest features of the Wordpress CMS is the ability to timestamp content. What this basically means is that you can create the posts and “instruct” your blog to publish them only at a specified date and time. This allows you to keep the content flowing on your absence with the same frequency as before, and besides comments and emails that go unanswered, your readers won’t even know you are not there.
Make use of this feature as much as you can and keep your blog growing even when you are enjoying a few days off, resting on a sunny beach.
How to timestamp your posts
On your administrator panel, on the writing tab (where you write your posts if you are not using an external editor), there is a multitude of options on the right column, such as allowing or disallowing comments and pings, attributing a customized slug to the posts, etc. One of the options is Post Timestamp. If you open this tab, you’ll see the exact date and time the post you are editing is set to be published. If the “Edit timestamp” box is unchecked, the post will be published as soon as you hit the Publish button. If, on the other hand, you check the Edit Timestamp box and insert a date and time, when you hit Publish the post will be saved and made live at the date and time you set.
If you plan your absence, it is possible, by using this feature, to keep a chain of posts set to go live only when you intend them to, even if you wrote them and “published” them before hand.
Your readers will have new content to keep visiting, and you’ll be much more relaxed knowing that your blog is alive and not suffering.
Keep your readers happy and you’ll soon be harvesting the benefits of your efforts.
Topics: Resources for bloggers |
November 10th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Thanks for the post! Wish I had known this earlier
December 31st, 2007 at 2:38 am
Thanks for this great simple tip about timestamps