4 Ways Publishers Can Save Time Through Automation
Do you publish Web content? Then you’re probably busy. Real busy.
Let’s face it: Whether you’re actually writing content yourself or just administering a site, publishing on a regular basis can be downright time consuming.
And if you’ve been charged with promoting that content, you’ve certainly got your work cut out for you.
So why not automate? Process automation gives you more time to complete more meaningful work, which means you can stop worrying so much about administration. If you haven’t already automated the following tasks, now’s the best time to start.
1. Database backups
Are you backing up your database? You definitely should be.
In the event of a catastrophe – we’re talking hackers, an error by your Web host, accidental deletion of data – having a copy of your database will allow you to rebuild all of the content on your site.
And if you’re using WordPress, there are a number of great plugins that will back up your database as often as you please. Nearly all of them are automatic, too.
2. Social Sharing
If you handle social media outreach for your organization or promote content on any social networks, it’s easy to automate submission of your posts.
Just peruse the WordPress Plugin Repository for plugins that will let you automatically share content on the social networks of your choosing. There are several out there, and most publishers configure them to share content as soon as its published.
Just be sure you’re not only using social networks to automatically get links. Automated sharing should only be used in conjunction with your genuine networking efforts in the social media sphere.
3. Post Scheduling
The one’s easy. When you finish writing a post, simply click the “Edit” link next to “Publish Immediately” in the Publish section of your sidebar.
Enter the date and time you want the post to be published, and forget about it. It will post automatically at the desired time. This is great when you have a batch of posts ready but you want to spread them out throughout the week.
Remember to set the appropriate date and time in your WordPress settings. See Settings > General to select your timezone. Otherwise you may accidentally publish a post at 3:00 AM on a Sunday morning.
4. Content Curation
Are you sharing lots of content on Twitter? Not just your own content, but other stuff your audience cares about?
Set up an account with Timely.is and don’t worry about periodically logging into Twitter throughout the day. Timely will automatically schedule and post all of your tweets. You don’t even have to choose a time. It’s automatic.
For example, if you schedule seven tweets, Timely will space them out fairly evenly throughout the day. It works the same way if you schedule eleven tweets. Or nineteen.
In the world of Web publishing, just a little automation can go a long way. Set these routine tasks to autopilot, and you’ll find more time to work on the important stuff.
And if you’re lucky, you might even enjoy a little less stress.
Image credit: Flickr user blue2likeyou
Category: Webmaster
About the Author (Author Profile)
Adam Green is an Atlanta Copywriter who manages to keep up with all this tech “stuff.” You can follow him on Twitter @IAmAdamGreen.Subscribe
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Actually, I’ve read a lot about automation and I agree that it really saves time but let’s not forget the fact that it’s also a cost (part as an investment too). although, I’ve installed plugins and they’re quite helpful.
Twitter: webmaisterpro
says:
I think this topic will be always hot, actually there are many ways publishers to save time through automation and especially this works very well with content syndication to social networks.
Carl recently posted..Have you considered contacting SEO resellers?
At first when I read the title I thought it is going to be about the automated submission and all this stuff, but it turned out to be more catchy. I usually have the backup of all the content as this is the most reliable way to keep everything.
Scheduling content in wordpress is the best. A lot of times it is easier for me to write a few posts in one sitting then schedule the posts over one week rather than write ever day.
Gina recently posted..Games Like Club Penguin
Sure that if you follow the schedule you will save your time as you will know when you need to write an article and post it. Well, but in general the title is a bit misleading.