One of the great features of using WordPress as the platform to build your website, is that you can easily schedule your blog posts to publish live on the internet in the future. That means that you can write your articles ahead of time, and have them appear on your site on a specified date at a specified time.
For example, let’s say you are planning on going on a vacation. Before you go, you can write multiple articles, and schedule them all to publish at various dates in the future. So while you are sipping margaritas on the beach, WordPress will publish the blog post for you as scheduled.
Watch this short video below where I explain how scheduling blog posts work:
This ‘scheduling’ feature not only works with blog posts but it also works with WordPress pages (sometimes referred to as ‘static pages’). Scheduling a post or a page in WordPress is super easy! Just look at the simple steps below:
How to Schedule Your Blog Posts in WordPress:
Before you start, you will want to go to Settings –> General in your admin area and set the timezone for where you live (and pick your date and time format). This way WordPress will know what time and what timezone you want your blog post to go live. There is an easy drop down for you to pick the city you live in (or near) if you don’t want to figure out UTC timezones)
1. Once you have written your blog post and you have saved your draft, go to the “Publish” box, normally located in the right column of your post/page editor, towards the top.
2. Click on the “Edit” link to the right of “Publish immediately.” This will open up the date/time picker.
3. Specify the date and time you want your post to publish. Then Click OK. The inside of WordPress uses 24 hour time (some people refer to this as ‘military time’). The time and date format that you set in Settings –> General will determine how the date/time show on the outside of your site.
(Below are the screenshots for Block Editor users and Classic Editor users as each editor has a different look.)
Block Editor
Classic Editor
4. You’ll see the “Publish” button changes to the “Schedule” button. Click on it to finish scheduling the post/page.
(Below are the screenshots for Block Editor users and Classic Editor users as each editor has a different look.)
Block Editor
Classic Editor
That’s it! Your WordPress Post/Page is now scheduled to publish automatically on the day and time that you specified!
Here are some more reasons why you would want to Schedule Your Blog Posts:
- If you are one of those people who loves to set aside some time to just write, you can use this tip to write several articles at a time, and schedule them to publish on a desired interval. Many people find working this way can make them more productive.
- You can coordinate the timing to share your content on your blog, social media, emails, and more. For example, you can schedule a blog post to publish on the same day your email newsletter goes out. So this way you have fresh content on your site, when your peeps click through to your website.
- Updating your website on a regular basis is good for SEO (search engine optimization) as Google sees it as a sign that it’s an active website. This can be done easily by planning future blog posts and schedule them to publish accordingly.
Note: Now, this post is about “scheduling” a blog post to publish in the future. If you are looking for a way to schedule a meeting with your clients, prospects, etc., you may be interested in reading my article, How to Schedule Clients on Your WordPress Website.
(this post originally appeared in March of 2012)
Hi,
Thanks for the tip. I find my problem is getting enough to ‘schedule’ them…
Yes there is plr but most of that is :(…
Bob,
that is the million dollar question: where to find time to create the content in the first place!
LOL!
I had no idea I could schedule in WordPress. Thank you.
I tend to write an article, post it on one website and then wait too long to put it on another website. I like to change them up a bit each time.
This will allow me to do that.
Debbie,
Yes, it’s very convenient, and folks always forget that it’s there
Wow! I’ve been regularly posting for almost a year, and I had no idea that feature existed! Thank you so much for sharing. It’s funny that its often the little things that can make life easier (and make me smile).
Amy,
This is why I love to teach WordPress, it gets better and better the more you work with it!
🙂
Oh, I wish this video had been available about 2 1/2 years ago! I was just beginning to use WordPress, and thought I had figured out how to schedule posts. Only I hadn’t. Finally realized that after setting the day and time, I had to click on Schedule to actually set it. Oh well….I finally worked it out and even created a blog post about my experience.
Thanks for letting people know about this, and how to set it!
Gladys,
Glad I could have been of help!
Let me know what other kinds of tips you’d like to see
🙂
Hi Christina. Thank you for the clear explanation- you may have posted an answer to the following question earlier but my confusion is where to show likes for link backs?
Ali the English Tutor in Toronto
Alison,
I’m not sure exactly what your question is, can you elaborate?
Christina,
You are a life saver. This post alone makes word press worth it.I am in the process of switching over to WordPress.This confirms that this is the right choice. Thank you!
Cynthia,
WordPress is a great choice! That’s why I teach it
🙂
Thank you for your clear explanation.
I like WordPress because it is so simple, but like many simple things, it is only simple once you know how.
Ruth,
this is exactly true. WordPress is easy once you know how to use it 😉
Hi Christina,
I love using this feature. Sometimes I write in spurts and don’t want to publish all of the articles at once. Scheduling them to go out a few days from each other makes me seem more consistent. 🙂
I have enjoyed watching your teaching style evolve. You are becoming better and better!
Kathryn,
Many people overlook this feature and how much time it saves you!
Thanks for your comments on my teaching style, I’m always improving upon what I know. WordPress makes that easy cause there is always new things to learn!
In the example you give, I see the time is 8:40. How do you know if it is am or pm? Thank you for these tips and trick. They are great!
Lynn, I updated step 3 above to make it more clear. I gave the time as 8:40 in my example, which is 8:40am, if I had wanted pm, I would have said 20:40 as that is the 24 hour equivalent of 8:40 pm.
That makes perfect sense! I’ve been wondering about that for years. Thank you very much.