WordPress Tip: How to Schedule Blog Posts

There are many situations where scheduling a blog post in advance comes in handy. Luckily, WordPress has this functionality built right in – no plugins required. This little-known feature in WordPress allows you to schedule blog posts to be automatically published at the future date and time of your choice. Just set it and forget it!

Here’s how to schedule blog posts in WordPress.

Why Schedule Your Posts?

WordPress allows you to write and schedule up to 100 articles in advance. The simple and powerful scheduling feature can help you manage content better, stagger multiple posts on different days, and take advantage of optimal posting times  – all without any additional plugins.

How to Schedule Your Posts

1.   Finish writing and editing your article in WordPress.

2.   Under Publish (upper right hand corner), click the Edit link next to “Publish Immediately.”

3.   Select the Date and Time you want the article to be automatically posted. Click Ok.

4.   After step 3, the label on the big Blue “Publish” button will change to “Schedule.” Click Schedule.

Done! You just scheduled your article for automatic posting on the day and time you selected.

Note: the scheduling tool is based on the 24-Hour Clock – so you may need to know how to convert to the commonly-used 12-hour clock for accuracy. It’s also a good idea to make sure WordPress is set to your own timezone. By default, it probably is NOT. To change your timezone, go to:

Settings > General – from the drop down list of options, choose a city in your same timezone.

Managing Your Scheduled Posts

Once you’ve scheduled a post, you’ll notice that a new category of “Scheduled Posts” appears on your Main Posts page where you can manage and update the schedule.

See Also: How to Embed YouTube Videos in WordPress