Looking into automated blog posting but unsure of exactly how it works? There are numerous benefits to automated blog posting that you can start to take advantage of right now on your blog. But before anything else, you've got to get a better idea of what exactly automated posting is and how it can work for you.
About Automated Blog Posting
What Is It?
Automated blog posting is a useful marketing tool that lets a blogger set up something similar to a feed that will post a certain amount of content automatically to your blog (or blogs). There are two ways to go about doing this: The first is providing your own content and the second is letting the Internet find or create the content for you. When it is your own content, you will write posts and put them in a queue to be posted at a later time. When the Internet engine of your choice is responsible for posting, it will pull things when you tell it to. Some of the ways to set up an automated poster allow you to select the highest quality and richest content for certain keywords.
What Are the Pros and Cons?
There are numerous pros to blog posting automatically such as:
- Consistent content. Blogs with frequent and quality content get the best placement in search engines like Google and other blog searches. Additionally, those who read your blog are more likely to come back.
- Setting your blog up as an authority that people can refer to for information on your blog's topic.
- Taking some of the stress off of writing frequently
- If you've got multiple blogs, automated posting is a great way to get content to all of them fast.
However, there are also many cons:
- If you're using a posting service that pulls Internet content, it won't truly be 'your' blog and you'll never know exactly what type of things you'll get until you get it.
- Once you've built up a good amount of content, it can be difficult to remember to go back and write a bunch of new content again.
- If you're more hands-off using this approach, you might miss out on interactions with commentators.
- Your content will lack the fresh feeling that writing posts that are timely brings.
Should I Be Using It?
Whether or not you should be using automation depends on your blog. If you enjoy writing daily life updates, it might not be for you unless you're looking to spread that content to multiple sites. However, if you're someone who puts posts out there and you want a little bit more ease to it, than this might be a great fit to keep your blog active.
How to Set Up An Automated Poster
There are two ways to set up automatic posting to your blog.
Your Own Content
If the content is your own, the first thing you need to do is write, write and write some more. If you're sharing links or photos, get those together and prepare posts. Be sure that you're using a service like Tumblr or Wordpress that makes automation easy. Go ahead once you're done and set each post to 'post later' or add it to your 'queue' and take a look at your settings for posting. Voila!
Other Content
If you're going to use an automated service to pull content to your blog, research the best one for your needs. Many cost money and can be a bit spammy. For some, it might just be better to hire a blogging assistant than use a service. To use one, however, you'll just pay for the service, input your settings and you're good to go!
A Final Thought
Automation isn't for everyone. Some people like to keep things fresher and on the tip of the ball. Other people don't mind if they post to their blog infrequently. Everyone from amateur blogger to paid professional can benefit from automated posting--if it's for them. Find out what style works best for you and your posting interests and schedule so that you can get everything you can from your blog.
