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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Survival Hints for the A-Z Challenge: How to Pre-Schedule a Post

Hello again, Alphabet Fans! Lots of excitement out there in Blogland! It's been such an adventure already to meet so many of you, visit your blogs, and hear YOUR excitement about the upcoming challenge. As you've probably noticed, this blog is an equal opportunity posting place. If you're going to be joining us for the challenge, you're invited to submit a post for approval and be another contributor here! If you'd like more info, check out this invitation post

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed that a common thread is the idea of pre-scheduling posts. That way when April rolls around, you've got some already set. For example, let's say that you're going skiing for the weekend and will have no time to blog. No need to fall behind! Write your posts for those letters, schedule them for the correct alphabet days, and then enjoy your trip.

What's that? You don't know how to schedule a post in advance? I didn't either. I've been a writer my whole life, but didn't start blogging until a few years ago. I've been learning how to best utilize all the great features that blogger offers one baby-step at a time. Let me show you how easy it is to do.

Go to the “new post” screen and enter your post. Before publishing, click on “schedule”, which is on the right side there, being pointed to by the pointer that I just figured out how to add to my screen shots (I love to learn almost as much as I love bragging about what I've learned...)




Click “schedule” and you'll get the following screen where you can set the date and time for your post to go live. (There's another nifty pointer in this shot, too)




Now all that's left to do is hit “save”!

So be careful out there on the slopes, and just leave it to blogger to post your brilliant piece while you're swishing down those steep hills, in that wonderful champagne powder...(can you tell I'm a frustrated former skier?) (If you want to know why it's former, check it out this post at my own blog, Life is Good).

Any questions? Please leave them in the comments, or email me at
tndowney at gmail dot com. I'd be glad to walk you through it.


                                                                                                          Tina @ Life is Good


Update!!!!


We have a video entry to showcase.  Soon a list of entries will be started and put on a tabbed page so you readers can access the list in order to view the videos.  Watch for that page.  In the meantime, enjoy this video by Marta Szemik from Marta Szemik's Blog :






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21 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Excellent tips, ones I didn't know how to do. I can only do the basic things on my pc as all this modern technology can baffle me.

Yvonne/

MISH said...

Love the video, Marta!
I'm not too clued up with regards to scheduling a post in advance... and I'm not too sure how it would work with a wordpress blog.
From the instructions above, it sounds straightforward enough for the blogspot blogs.

Marta Szemik said...

Thank you MISH.
Lee, I guess I don't have to get up earlier to click publish on a saved post I typed the night before: just schedule it:)
Thank you! Great Tip!

Trisha said...

I've known a lot of people who have had trouble with trying to schedule posts...and yet I never have myself. I may have to rely on it during the first days of April as I'll be travelling overseas and unable to actually click the publish button myself!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina and Marta .. thanks for the info - and I love the video - amazing what everyone is coming up with .. great to see .. cheers Hilary

Arlee Bird said...

Scheduling posts ahead of time works very well for me. I'm using the older Blogger design--I tried the new one but didn't like it. Guess I should try it again.

One thing I've learned to do to make share the changes take is to click "Save" after everything I do--I don't seem to have missteps like I used to and the post is there every morning when I wake up..

Lee

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I've always pre-scheduled my posts. And Marta's video is great!

Ron Easton for Dads UnLimited said...

Yeah, pre scheduling is the best way to go for trying to keep up with being a blogger. Otherwise, I always just think, "I'll get around to it." and never do.
The video looks terrific, the pictures are just great.

Chiz said...

What a relief. I'm usually not around my computer on Saturdays so this is perfect. I've seen other blogs do this but never quite figured it out myself. Thanks for the tip!

Tina said...

Hello ...World of Poetry! Glad the instructions were easy to understand.

Mish: great question! I'll see if I can find out who on the host team has a wordpress blog and get you some instructions for how to do it there. Like I said, I just learned this, and have no idea how to use another interface.

Marta: Your video is awesome! I saw it last night on YouTube.

Tina @ Life is Good

Co-Host of the April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Twitter: #atozchallenge

Tina said...

Trisha – yeah, blogger kinda picks and chooses who it will work for. Drives me nuts. I lost my entire blog for one, long, hellish afternoon. Then it reappeared.

Hilary – Thanks for stopping by! Are you making a video, too?

Arlee – Do you think we should add to this post showing how old blogger does it?

Alex – yeah, she did a great job, didn't she!

Ron – I'm just now realizing the many advantages of pre-scheduling

Chiz – you're welcome! Glad I could help.

Tina @ Life is Good

Co-Host of the April 2012 Blogging from A to Z Challenge

Twitter: #atozchallenge

Heather Murphy said...

Thanks, this is helpful! Could someone tell me how to get the badge on my blog? I have tried and have become technically challenged :) Any hints would be helpful. Thanks!

Arlee Bird said...

Hello Heather,

Assuming that your Blogger set-up is the same as mine, here is how to put the badge on your site.

1. Copy the code beneath whichever badge you prefer. The badges appear on the A to Z Blog page. The code is beneath the badges near the top of the sidebar.

2. Click "Design" at the top right hand corner and you should be taken to a page where page changes can be made.

3. I presume you will see a sidebar with a little box that says "Add a Gadget". Click that link.

4. A pop-up box should appear. Scroll down to "HTML/ Java Script" and click the plus sign.

5. A configure box should appear. You can give a title. In this case something like "Blogging from A to Z Challenge" or "I'm Blogging from A to Z in April". Then in the content box you will paste the code that you have previously copied. Click save and that box should disappear.

6. to be safe also click "Save" on the top right of the Page Element page. Then click view blog and you will be taken to the blog page again where you should see the badge if you've done it right.


Hope that helps you.

Arlee Bird

Heather Murphy said...

Thank you Arleee! I will try this tomorrow. Sounds easy enough :)

Pearson Report said...

Great post Tina - I did one on the "old interface", which is still well used! I'm breaking down and trying to "like" the new interface. :)

The video is excellent! Great job, Marta!

Cheers, Jenny @ PEARSON REPORT

Arlee Bird said...

Sounds like I might learn some stuff on these posts. Helpful and educational are good.

Lee

Marta Szemik said...

A big Thank you to everyone for the nice comments about the video.
I've officially turned a brighter shade of red :)

Catherine Noble said...

Excellent post, Tina! I'll definitely be using the scheduling feature when I take part in April :)

Jamie Gibbs said...

I'm definitely going to do as much scheduling as possible this year. I've tried winging it for the past 2 years and it's never quite worked out how I'd like it to.

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Whew! This is fantastic! I wish I knew how to do something like this! :(

ilakshee said...

Hi Tina, Thanks a ton for this help and making me discover another interesting aspect of blogging. This is going to be very handy!