Admin info

This page is just for the editors and authors of the Weekly Blog Club Summaries and promo posts.

Thank you very much for offering to help in the collation and promotion of posts.

The method that I have developed to try to be consistent and efficient is:

A) Identifiying the relevant posts

In the @WeeklyBlogClub Twitter account:

1. I go to Home, click on Search, select #WeeklyBlogClub in the drop-down box, click All just above the column of tweets so that they are in time order.
2. When I see a tweet with blog post in it as well our hashtag, I Favourite it so I can find it easily when either writing the promo post later or checking through at the end of the week that I have found everything.
3. Then I go to Connect and check through that because some announce their posts with an @ mention, and I Favourite any there (and I answer any comments/queries).

B) Write the promo post.

I use a ‘Press This’ widget in my toolbar, I click on that and it opens a new window to create a new WordPress post for Weekly Blog Club. It automatically puts in a post title and puts the title into the text body. I then clean off any extraneous bits eg name of blog or blogger and add the author’s name as a hyperlink to their Twitter page (especially as some submit posts on other people’s blogs). To save time, I usually copy the author’s name from the List of posts by week page. Most people have contributed before.

I tick the relevant Categories (general topic/s of post) and sometimes add Tags (specific things/topics mentioned). These get used in the category and tag clouds.

C) Tweet the promo post

1. I simply use the Tweet this button at the bottom of the promo post.
2. Include the author’s Twitter name, add a comment about the subject or content (if space), and Wk[number] + #WeeklyBlogClub – note some titles can be too long to add a comment. Lunchtime, late afternoon or early evening can be good times to tweet these posts during the week. People do seem to catch up on Twitter during lunchtime and when commuting.

D) Writing and promoting the Weekly Summary

1. Check that everyone has submitted their post for the week, and offer Squidgy Deadline (teatime) Squidgier (bedtime) on Thursday or Squidgiest (brunch on Friday).
2. Start a new post. Quickly review the content of the week’s post and decide on the Weekly Summary post’s title. I usually try to include an element from 2 or 3 posts, sometimes more. Try not to make it too long so it can be retweeted with hashtag and a comment, but try to make it intriguing.
3. Write the summary and save at regular intervals (but do not Publish until finished). Start with how many posts there were during the week. I try to group posts together by theme to get a flow. Add a general thanks to those who have written, read and Liked posts, and to those who have followed the blog. Add a general invite to contribute a post for the first time to Weekly Blog Club, with a link to the About page (easiest to copy and paste from a previous summary to get the coding right – and you will need to Trash a ‘Comment’ that is created automatically by referring to the About page).
4. Put your first name with full name as hyperlink to your Twitter page underneath (again, quickest to copy and paste from where used previously eg promo post or List of posts by week page).
5. Add the heading Summary of Week [number] posts  (I format as Heading 3 on this post). Copy the line of blog post title + author name from each promo post and paste under that heading.
6. Tick the relevant Categories – not forgetting the Weekly Blog Club Summary one, and add Tags if relevant.
7. Tweet it from @WeeklyBlogClub.

E) Also:

1. Remind of the week’s deadline at 2 or 3 day interval, 1 day before, hours before. Also remind of Squidgy Deadline if needed.
2. After completing the Weekly Summary, copy the list of posts, go into Pages, All Pages and elect Edit under List of posts by week. Type in the heading Summary of Week [number] posts, format as Heading 2. Paste the list of posts, highlight that list and then format as a numbered list. Then click Update to save and publish the changes.

That’s all there is to it 🙂 It might seem a bit long-winded but I have developed this way of doing it so that it is easy for people to add comments and Like posts where individual’s posts do not enable comments or liking; and to make it easier to promote each post and to collate all the posts at the end of the week.

I try to prepare the Weekly Summary on a Friday or Saturday, or by late morning on Sunday so that it is ready at least by the time people have finished reading the Sunday newspapers.

Janet

Janet E Davis.