Presentation for the Toronto WordPress Group in March 2012.

1. The Publishing Side of WordPress
Andy McIlwain / March 10, 2012

2. introduction
WHY THIS TOPIC?

3. Showing some <3 to WordPress.com
• We don’t want to
sideline .com users.
• Today’s meetup focuses
on publishing.
• Three hurdles will be
covered:
– Brainstorming
– Scheduling
– Posting & Syndication

4. introduction
IDENTIFYING THE PLAYERS

5. WordPress.org + WordPress.com
• Two sides of the same
coin, catered to different CMS Blogging
audiences. Product Service
• WordPress.org = CMS vs.
Drupal, Joomla. WordPress.org WordPress.com
• Wordpress.com =
Blogging service vs.
Tumblr, Blogger. Drupal Tumblr
• WordPress is the only
solution that plays well in Joomla Blogger
both worlds.

6. introduction
PUBLISHING IS UNIVERSAL

7. “Born out of a desire for an elegant, well-architectured
personal publishing system.” – WordPress.org
• Publishing is universal
to WordPress and its
competitors.
• WordPress is the
superior publishing
platform.
• WordPress has always
focused on simplicity
and empowering the
content.

8. HURDLE #1: BRAINSTORMING
Capturing Ideas
Writing Headlines
Focusing Thoughts

9. Hurdle #1: Brainstorming
CAPTURING IDEAS

10. Brainstorming: Capturing Ideas
• Carry a notebook. You
never know when an
idea will hit you.
• Digital: Evernote. Free
and awesome. Get it!
• Traditional: A small
notebook w/ protective
case. Writing by hand
increases your
Download Evernote @
comprehension!
www.evernote.com

11. Hurdle #1: Brainstorming
WRITING HEADLINES

12. Brainstorming: Writing Headlines
• Writing good content
starts with headlines.
• Jot down important
points in sub-headline
format.
• Make a sandwich!
Introductory
paragraph, key
points, supporting
paragraphs, summary.

13. Your Post Title
The first paragraph introduces your subject.
Point 1 is a Sub-Headline
Supporting Paragraph(s)
Point 2
Supporting Paragraph(s)
Point 3
Supporting Paragraph(s)
Review your points with a neat summary.
Tip: You should always
Related Links: include a relevant image in
» Cite your sources! your post!

14. Hurdle #1: Brainstorming
FOCUSING THOUGHTS

15. Brainstorming: Focusing Thoughts
Three tried-and-true post
types for you to build on:
• Lists
Great for skimming.
• Reviews
Useful and opinionated.
• Guides
Opportunity to establish
Cracked.com built their
thought leadership. success on posting
funny/interesting lists.

16. HURDLE #2: SCHEDULING
(TIMING IS EVERYTHING!)
Build a Routine
Experiment with Schedules
Using Calendars

17. Hurdle #2: Scheduling
BUILD A ROUTINE

18. Scheduling: Build a Routine
• We rely on routines to
get things done in our
day-to-day life.
• Predictability is more
important than
frequency.
• Get your readers to fit
your website into their
routine!
Image Credit: http://idledoodle.blogspot.com

19. Hurdle #2: Scheduling
EXPERIMENT WITH SCHEDULES

20. Scheduling: Experimentation
• Experiment with
different schedule
formats.
• Write in advance. Set a
date aside, write posts
in bulk. Or…
• Write the night before.
Posting on a Tuesday?
Write on Monday night!

21. Hurdle #2: Scheduling
USING CALENDARS

22. Scheduling: Using Calendars
• Be disciplined and stick
to your routine.
• Set deadlines, make use
of calendars.
• Google, Yahoo!, and
Hotmail in the cloud; or
use a calendar app.
Whatever tool you choose,
use it!

23. HURDLE #3: POSTING &
SYNDICATION
Write
Syndicate
Monitor Feedback

24. Hurdle #3: Posting & Syndication
WRITE

25. Posting & Syndication: Write!
• There’s more than one
way to craft a blog post.
• Don’t like to write in the
WordPress editor? Try:
– Windows Live Writer
– Microsoft Office
– ScribeFire
– Evernote (yep!)
Download ScribeFire @
www.scribefire.com

26. Hurdle #3: Posting & Syndication
SYNDICATE

27. Posting & Syndication: Syndicate
• Your audience is spread
Google+ LinkedIn
across multiple places.
• Use the Hub & Spoke Facebook Reddit
model!
Your
• All social network Twitter
Other
Blogs
Site!
updates point back to
your blog.
Reach out to your readers, but make them come to your site!

28. Posting & Syndication: Syndicate
Three Approaches
• Manual: Post social
network updates by hand.
• Assisted: Use applications
like Seesmic, TweetDeck.
• Automated: Hook your
RSS feed into Ping.fm!
• Alternative: Use Hook your WordPress RSS feed into
Twitterfeed, pull updates Ping.fm to automatically share posts
across social networks!
from Twitter.

29. Hurdle #3: Posting & Syndication
MONITOR FEEDBACK

30. Posting & Syndication: Feedback
• Keep your eyes open for
responses and track
conversations.
• Two ways to do this:
– Dashboards like
Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Ho
otsuite, JugnooMe
– Google Alerts, updates
sent to RSS feed or email JugnooMe is a new Canadian
product in closed beta.
You can request an invite @
doyoujugnoo.com

31. IN CLOSING
Takeaways
• WordPress is the best publishing platform for the web.
• Download Evernote, capture your ideas on any device.
• Key points = your blog post’s sub-headlines. Write them first!
• Good post formats: Lists, Reviews, and Guides.
• Build a routine, set deadlines, use calendars.
• Don’t like the WordPress editor? Try alternative apps for writing.
• Hook your blog’s RSS feed into Ping.fm for easy syndication.
• Monitor feedback with dashboards like Tweetdeck and Google Alerts.
More Resources
• Content Rules: Read this book!
• Copyblogger: Blog/Lessons/Plugins
• Plinky.com: Inspiring your blog posts

32. THANKS!
Andy McIlwain
www.andymci.com
@andymci on Twitter