How to Schedule Posts in WordPress

Need to schedule posts in WordPress without losing credibility and traffic? Check this article urgently

The WordPress post scheduler tool helps regulate content publishing. Instead of having articles go live immediately, schedule them for a specific date instead. Plus, scheduling articles to auto-publish at peak times helps increase traffic.

There are two ways to schedule posts in WordPress – either using an editor or a plugin. We'll show the steps for scheduling posts using these two tools so you can choose the option that works best for your WordPress website.

After learning how to schedule posts in WordPress, we are also going to list several plugins to help you optimize this process.

Follow this tutorial to learn how to manage WordPress scheduled posts, set the correct time zone, and best use this tool on your website.

But before we start, if you have never installed WordPress, find out 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.

Pro tip

If you are looking for WordPress tutorials to learn how to plan a Page, note that the process is very similar to item planning.

How to Schedule Posts in WordPress Through the Editor

WordPress has a built-in scheduling tool in the editor Gutenberg et Classic. Here are the steps to plan a blog post using this tool.

Via Gutenberg editor

Log in to your website's dashboard to access the Gutenberg editor. Then follow these steps to schedule WordPress posts using the Block Editor:

1. Click on Settings icon in the upper right corner and look for the section Status and Visibility. Select option At once Regarding Publish.

2. On the date and time picker, schedule your post. Note the time zone when planning.

3. Click on Planning to finalize the process.

Be sure to wait for the button Publish turns into a button Organise to indicate that WordPress has scheduled the post for a later date.

Via the classic editor

If you are publishing a new post using the classic WordPress editor, follow these steps:

1. In the section Publish, click on the blue link Edit next to Publish right away.

2. Edit the post date and time and click the button OK.

3. Click on the button Organise to finalize the process.

How to Schedule Blog Posts in WordPress via Plugins

Even though WordPress offers built-in functionality to schedule posts, it has limited functionality. Install a WordPress plugin to streamline the scheduling process and organize your posts. One of the best WordPress plugins for item planning is SchedulePress.

The SchedulePress plugin allows you to create an editorial calendar to better manage your WordPress publications. This plugin also provides the option to share these articles on social media platforms.

Here are the steps to install and use SchedulePress in WordPress:

1. From your WordPress dashboard, head to Extensions-> Add et search for SchedulePress. Click on Installer now et Enable to start using the plugin.

2. Manage your editorial calendar by accessing the dashboard -> SchedulePress -> Calendar. The plugin will display scheduled posts on the calendar and unplanned posts on the left side.

To add an unscheduled item to the calendar, hover over the item and click Edit. Use the editor to schedule your post. Once done, it will appear on the SchedulePress calendar.

Move the blue box to a new date to reschedule the post. Hover the mouse pointer over the box and click the button Edit to change the time. This will take you to the article editor.

Click on the button New Draft to add new articles with no specified date or time. The other option is to click on the link Add New on an exact date to easily schedule new items immediately.

To access additional features of the plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard and select SchedulePress -> Settings. There is an option to upgrade the plugin to premium option for more features like the planner automatic and manual,  missed planning manager et premium support.

The tariff plans of SchedulePressPro are:

• Individual - à 39 $ / year, it includes all the premium features for un WordPress website, with free support and updates for one year.
• Business - costing 99 $ / year, it comes with the same features as the individual plan for unlimited websites.
• Lifetime Unlimited – for one-time payment of $ 299, it includes all premium features for unlimited websites, with lifetime support and updates.

Both the free and premium versions offer social media integration. This feature automatically publishes blog posts on social media platforms after the scheduled date.

First, select the social media platform and click on the button Add new profile to use the tool Social Profile . Social media options are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn et Pinterest.

Then click on the section Social Templates to configure your social media post settings. Select the content type et source, then modify the state model parameters in result. The default structure contains the title,  contents, url et tags.

Finally, another parameter to take into account is Email notification. Besides getting updates on your WordPress blog posts, it logs all schedule changes, which is useful if your website has multiple WordPress users as admins.

Other plugins for scheduling posts in WordPress

If SchedulePress doesn't meet your needs, there are other great ones WordPress plugins to plan and unschedule your items. Some plugins offer functionality to set an expiration date to keep only fresh content on your website.

When selecting a plugin, check if it is compatible with the current version of WordPress.

Advanced Schedule Posts

The Advanced Schedule Posts plugin comes with a tool that automatically changes your posted post to draft at a specified time. In addition, the plugin gives the option to overwrite the article with another once the publication date and time expires.

PublishPress Future

The PublishPress Future plugin offers several options for the article expiration date and time. When the scheduled time arrives for your posts in WordPress, here are the options this plugin offers:

• Ability to Reset Status to Disorganized.
• Deleting Items.
• Replace Status by Private.
• Activate or Disable pin to top of blog.
• Delete or retain existing categories of the article and add new ones.
• Delete only specific categories.

Scheduled Post Trigger

WordPress uses a cron job to schedule posts and pages. However, they are triggered by a page load. So if no one is visiting the website when your item was scheduled, the cron job will fail. This WordPress plugin checks your website for missed scheduled posts and publishes them automatically.

The plugin does not require extensive configuration – just click Installer et activate. It will publish articles missed on the first visit to your website or if the scheduled time and date have passed.

Advantages and Disadvantages of WordPress Post Scheduling

Here are some of the benefits when you automatically publish an article on a specific date:

• Regularly posting new articles, even on the go or on a long trip, which helps keep your website active.
• Have more prep time to create content for special occasions, promotions, or time-sensitive topics.
• Have an organized editorial calendar to keep great control over your content.

However, scheduling posts has some drawbacks, including:

• Error in cron jobs causing WordPress to miss scheduled posts.
• Managing an editorial calendar can be overwhelming.

Tips for Managing Scheduled Posts in WordPress

Once you've set up a publish date for your WordPress posts, here are some ways to manage auto-published posts.

Set a time zone to schedule items

When you schedule posts in WordPress, the future date and time follow a particular time zone. WordPress automatically set the timezone to +0 UTC, Coordinated Universal Time.

To change the time zone, go to Dashboard -> Settings-> General and click on the option Time zone. Don't forget to click on Save Changes to complete the process. We recommend that you follow the time zone of your largest audience or your own.

Keep track of all planned items

It is essential to keep track of all scheduled items. This tool makes sure you haven't posted anything at the same time. To check your scheduled post, go to Dashboard -> Articles -> All articles And click on the button Planned.

WordPress will display all scheduled posts in order when you click on the section. This way you can see if there is an overlap or if dates need to be changed. To see published articles, click on the section All.

Cancel scheduled items

Once you have scheduled an item, it is possible to cancel it at any time. To unschedule a WordPress post, click on the post to access the WordPress editor.

If you're using the Gutenberg editor, click Switch to draft at button side Organise to automatically unpublish the article. Click on Publish for the article to be put online immediately.

In the classic editor, click the button Edit under the section Publish, Regarding Status. Then click on Planned, select Disorganized, Then click on the button OK. Click on the button Update profile to finalize the process.

Check section Planned to make sure the item is no longer there.

Knowing how to schedule posts in WordPress will help drive more traffic to your website. Instead of posting multiple posts on the same date and time, schedule them for different times depending on your website traffic. Plus, your website will also look more organized.

To schedule a post using the WordPress editor, edit the current date and time in the section Publish. If you need more scheduling tools and functions, use a WordPress plugin like SchedulePress.

There are other plugins to help schedule posts in WordPress. For example, Advanced Schedule Posts provides an easy way to add an expiration date to a post.

PublishPress Future provides more advanced functionality for setting expiration dates. However, use Scheduled Post Trigger if the scheduled content has not been published.

We've also shared the pros and cons of scheduling items and tips for dealing with them post-scheduling.

Other recommended resources

We also invite you to consult the resources below to go further in the grip and control of your website and blog.

• CHow to Update WordPress Without Breaking Your Website
• How to use PuTTY (SSH terminal)
• How to create a shortcode in WordPress
• How to Create a Simple Gutenberg Block WordPress Plugin
• Divi: How to change the number of columns in a Blog

Conclusion

That's it for this tutorial that shows you how to schedule posts in WordPress. If you have any concerns or suggestions, please let us know within Comments.

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 or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.

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