If you have never used WordPress sometime how to add a post is extremely confusing and especially if you want to publish on a future date. Here are the steps that we teach to our new blog writers on how to add a post.
Download and install IE Spell for your browser as many WordPress control panel spell checkers are not functional.
Visit www.IESpell.com. This little spell checker is then accessed from your tools menu. If you use Firefox, do a Google search and download a plug-in that you can use for spell checking.
Login to the blog control panel. You will be on the blog dashboard page once logged in.
Click Posts in the left side bar. The blog listing screen will open. If you have a draft post or pending post you will see it in the links on top of the blog post list.
To create a new blog post click Add New in the post menu in the left sidebar. The next screen will show the blog post entry control panel.
This is crucial – if you have created your blog post in Word or used one from the client, you MUST copy your post, paste it into Notepad, and then copy it from Notepad and then paste into the blog entry field. If you do not do this you will carry hidden font and character styles into the blog post which will be visible when published. You can typically access Notepad from the Accessories menu on your computer in your Microsoft Office products.
Once on the blog post control panel, type in or paste your blog title in the very top one line field. Paste in from Notepad or create your blog post in the larger box underneath the blog title.
To insert a link in your blog post, open another browser tab, go to the web page that you will want the link to direct to, copy the address from the address bar, must include the http:// in front of the link. Go back to the WordPress control panel and using your mouse drag to highlight the text you want to carry the hyperlink. I like to drag from the end of the phrase to the front to have better control over the link and so a space in not inadvertently picked up in the link. Then click the chain or hyperlink icon in the tool bar just above the post entry field. A small window will pop up, paste the link into the very first field overwriting the http:// that is already there, select in the drop down, open link page in a new window, and then click insert. WordPress will then underline and hyperlink your text in the blog post.
Make sure to spell check your blog post using IE Spell.
On the right side bar now create tags in the tag field that are keywords to find your blog post. I use all lower case for tags unless it is a proper name. I usually select one, two or three words based on the blog post. Make sure to click Add.
Then look just below the tag field and select categories. Categories are like blog navigation so be judicious in adding them. All categories should be proper case.
In the top right box that says publish; look for Publish Immediately and EDIT. Do not click any other buttons at all like draft pending review or okay.
Click the Edit link to open the publish time calendar. If you are publishing ahead, change your date and time. I like to set the clock to 5:00 am as the publish time if I am scheduling a blog post ahead so it is there the first time someone looks. After setting the date and time, click PUBLISH. This is important to not click the okay button or preview button as your post may end up as a draft and not properly scheduled. After you have clicked publish you can go back to the blog post master page and click your blog post to preview it.
Always make sure you preview your blog before you log out to make sure you don’t have any funny characters and that your spacing is correct and images are in place.
To double check that all is well, click Posts on the left menu you will see your blog post in the link at the top that says scheduled and also in the blog post list with a countdown of hours until the publish time.