This section of our guidance talks you through the step-by-step process of how to use WordPress and publish posts on our network.
What’s in this guide
- Getting started – how to log in and set up your profile
- Publishing posts: step 1 – add your post to Wordpres
- Publishing posts: step 2 – write your post, including:
–How to add text and an excerpt
–How to add images
–How to add pull quotes
–How to add topics and tags
–How to add an article reference
–How to embed videos - Publishing posts: step 3 – checking your post
- Publishing posts: step 4 – send the post for review
- Publishing posts: step 5 – make any edits and publish or schedule your post
Getting started – log in and edit your profile
When you’re first set up on our blog network, the first thing you’ll need to do is log in and set up your profile. The following two videos talk you through how to do this:
https://youtu.be/hdXkf81sv_k
https://youtu.be/vSiwPw61owk
Note that: You may need to edit your profile more than once if you write for more than one blog. For example, if you write for On Biology and On Health.
Publishing posts: step 1 – set up your post
When you know you have an author blog that is ready or one that you’ve written that needs to be checked, add it to WordPress:
- On the ‘Dashboard’ or under ‘Posts’ click ‘Add new”
- This will take you to the post editor where you can write your post or copy and paste it in.
Publishing posts: step 2 – write your post
When you start writing the post, set the status (just below the ‘Save’ button) to ‘In Progress’ before you save the post. The below sections take you through how to produce your blog post.
How to add text and an excerpt
*Please note, the video shows the heading formatted in Heading 2. Our blogs use Heading 3 in bold.
https://youtu.be/oxbodjKZDvg
How to add images
The below video shows you how to add images to your blog post. You can find advice about sourcing images in the blog post checklist section of the guidance.
https://youtu.be/d3qv_oLME-o
How to add pull quotes
Pull quotes can highlight important sections of your text and also break up the text to add visual variety. The below video shows you how to add them:
https://youtu.be/tDxm7v0O7Mc
How to add topics and tags
Topics and tags are really important to help people find your post. Remember to add the name of the journal as a tag if the blog about an article we’ve published. The below video shows you how to add them:
https://youtu.be/cXeZNXWusVA
How to add an article reference
The blogs now offer you the ability to add an article feature box at the end of the post, which is useful if you’re writing about a specific piece of research. Find out how to do this in the video below:
https://youtu.be/Cdm8cLsDRFw
How to embed videos
Embedding videos from YouTube couldn’t be easier. The find out how to do this in the video below:
https://youtu.be/ZTpTBs5sV54
Publishing posts: step 3 – checking your post
Before you send your blog post to be reviewed, you should check your post against the Editorial checklist on the right-hand side in the blog post editor and against our blog post checklist diagram. The key information and knowledge that our Editors use to check your post are:
So make sure you’re familiar with these.
The next section tell you more about how to send your post for review.
Publishing posts: step 4 – send your post for review
Once you’re happy that the post is ready, set the status (just below the ‘Save’ button) to ‘Ready for review’ and then Save the post. A notification will go to the Editors for that post. The video below shows you how to do this in more detail.
Note that: Our standard turnaround time is two-three days. If you need the post reviewed urgently, email blogging@biomedcentral.com to let them know.
If you are adding a guest post, then this is also the point at which you should send the guest’s profile information to the Blogs Manager. You can find details of what you need to send in the ‘Publishing guest posts‘ section.
https://youtu.be/LDxaJnCen-0
Publishing posts: step 5 – make edits and publish
Once the post is checked, if changes are needed the Editor will make comments in the Editorial Comments box and save the post as ‘Needs edits’. You’ll receive an email when this happens. Otherwise, if they are happy, then the post will be saved as ‘Approved’.
If the Editor asked for changes, make those edits and save the post as ‘Ready for review’ again.
Once the post is set to ‘Approved’, you can schedule or publish the post. (Or if it’s a guest post, the Editor will publish/schedule it for you.)
The video below describes this process in more detail:
https://youtu.be/2_ew9YMfFk8