Create your multi-author blog now and improve SEO your blog by focusing on the Content marketing.

Have you ever seen blogs where users have the option to post articles or other content, and sometimes without necessarily needing to be subscribed to that blog?

Do you also want to allow your users to submit and publish their articles on your WordPress blog?

You can also discover How to allow users to edit certain pages

In this article, we will show you how to proceed without creating a new user account. Of course, you can require registration of users if you wish, you can also review each article, before it is posted on your WordPress website.

But before, if you have never installed WordPress discover How to Install a WordPress Blog in 7 Steps et How to search, install and activate a WordPress theme on your blog 

Then back to why we are here.

Allow registered users to submit articles.

WordPress comes with features that allow you to quickly create a blog offering the possibility assign several roles to each user. Users will be able to subscribe to your blog and submit articles thanks to the administration interface to which they will have access, even if it will be considerably limited.

To allow your users to register, go to the location Settings >> General, Check the box "Anyone can register". Choose « Author » ou « Contributor » as the default role for new registrants.

Users can now register on your WordPress blog. To indicate to visitors that they have the opportunity to register, go to the location Appearance >> Widgets and add the widget Meta to the list of available widgets.

Visitors can easily register with these new links. After registration, they will have access to the administration area. But this access will be limited only to the possibilities offered by their roles.

Discover All you need to know about WordPress roles By clicking on this link

You can expand or restrict the rights of a role, or create new roles with the rights you choose. If you do not want user registration required, then read on.

Allow users to publish Articles without being registered.

A lot of bloggers prefer to keep things simple by avoiding the potential complexity of the WordPress dashboard for users. If you share the same opinion, then you will need a solution that will allow users to submit their posts on a page of the website and not from the dashboard

The first thing you will have to do is install and activate the plugin " User Submitted Posts ". To access the plugin settings, you must go to Settings >> User Submitted Posts, to configure it.

In the management interface of the plugin, you can modify the options to allow users to add what they want, or limit among other information that will be exploited by users.

To display the article submission form, you must create a new page and add the shortcode following :

[User-Submitted post]

When users access the page, they will see a form similar to this one.

See also How to improve the design of your WordPress articles with these free shortcodes

Allow users to submit links or images from the blog interface.

In some cases, you will not want users to post articles, but only and may be photos or links with brief descriptions.

Are you experiencing the "Unable to write to disk" error? Discover how to fix it on WordPress

In this case, access the plugin interface as indicated above. In this interface you will be able to display or not information which can be exploited by the users during the writing of articles.

Suppose you only want to receive links, go to the location Settings >> User Submitted PostsIn the first section of the options, display (Show) only the form fields "Post Url" et "Post Title"

You will also be able to use the plugin in the widgets using the shortcode [User-Submitted-posts]. Use the text widget. If, however, the form does not appear, you will need to add this function to the file functions.php of your WordPress theme:

Use "Gravity Forms" To allow your users to post articles.

We strongly recommend using the plugin " Gravity Form » to allow your users to submit articles to your blog. It allows you to quickly create a submission form using its intuitive interface.

We will take this article to show you how to use " Gravity Forms To allow registered and unregistered users to post articles.

The first thing to do is to buy, download and install the "Gravity Forms" plugin.

After activation, access the plugin management interface at the location Forms >> New form.

Give your form a title. Then add the different fields of your submission form. Under the “Article fields” option, you will see the fields that will be used by the user to submit their article.

Click on the fields you want to add to the form. For example, the title, the body of the post, the categories etc… You will notice that each field you add will have an edit link.

Discover also our 10 WordPress plugins to create forms on your blog

You can also choose the user who will be assigned by default as the author of the publication, the default status of articles and the maximum number of characters allowed.

Once you have added the new fields, be sure to save your changes. You will also be able to access the settings of the forms by going to " Settings ".

In the confirmation tab, you will be able to define what happens when the user submits an article, require to be logged in before submitting an article and add anti-spam measures.

When you are satisfied with these settings, save your changes.

You can add the form to any page or post on your blog. You will notice that there is a new add form button just after the add media button.

By clicking on it, the code of the plugin "Gravity Forms" will be added in the body of your article. Save the page and watch the preview.

The advantage with " Gravity Forms Is that it allows you to add custom fields and more. The fact that it is paid does not take away the potential of this plugin which also allows you to create surveys, contact forms, quizzes, registration forms and much more.

Discover also some premium WordPress plugins  

You can use other WordPress plugins to give a modern appearance and to optimize the handling of your blog or website.

We offer you here some premium WordPress plugins that will help you do that.

1. WooCommerce Product Filter

WooCommerce Product Filter is an "all in one", one filter for all stores. It is the must have gadget for any WordPress or WooCommerce online store owner.

Ce WordPress Plugin extends the functionality of your online store, by adding advanced filters that you and your customers will love. Take your business to a higher level.

Another feature that might appeal to you is its ability to adapt its layout according to the WordPress theme and the device you are using.

Download | Demo | Web hosting

2. Layer Slider

Here is the direct competitor to the Revolution Slider plugin, which offers pretty much the same functionality. I was particularly impressed with his transitions.

It offers a user-friendly and easy-to-understand interface for beginners, who support events " Drag n 'Drop "(Drag and Drop), live previews, Google fonts, and custom animations (2D and 3D).

I should also specify that it adapts easily to mobile devices and also supports related actions (Touch, Slide). It was designed not only to run faster, but also to provide actionable information for search engines.

I'm not telling you more, it's just a choice to consider. You can check out his demo in order to get an idea of ​​its use.

Download | Demo | Web hosting

3. Hyena

Hyena is a lightweight, unobtrusive and responsive animated GIF plugin designed for WordPress. 

Compared to video conversion methods like WebM, “Hyena” offers better performance, faster load times, easier styling and more sophisticated event interaction; without the restrictions of an HTML5 video player.

Its features are among others: asingle reading tyles,  6 themes available for the media player, facile to use and others.

Download | Demo | Web hosting

Recommended Resources

Find out about other recommended resources to help you build and manage your website.

• How to change the date format on WordPress
• How to put your WordPress website in Maintenance mode
• How to fix the media library that no longer works on WordPress
• How to display your WordPress publications in a grid layout

Conclusion

Here ! Ultimately, there are several ways to allow users to post their articles on your blog without going through the dashboard.

We hope that the methods presented above will help you to effectively create your multi-author blog. Do not hesitate to share with your friends on your favorite social networks. 

However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation.

If you have suggestions or remarks, leave them in our section Comments.

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