I don’t know about you, but when I first started blogging with Tutor in Tinseltown, I thought that if you wrote great content, the readers would just magically appear!
Then, when I learned about SEO, social media promotion, Viral Content Bee, and all the possible places to promote my blog posts. I realized that I was in way over my head.
I knew I had to automate my blog… at least some of it!
Because I wanted to be active all over social media. On Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Viral Content Bee, (Hint: those are all the StephanieCristi profile links, be sure to check them out!) and everywhere my readers were hanging out.
I sought out tips on how to automate my blog.
After all, I knew it was too much to balance with:
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writing the actual content for the blog,
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my day job,
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tutoring,
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and going back to school.
So I joined Planoly and Boardbooster…
and then switched out Boardbooster for Tailwind.
While I absolutely love Planoly and Tailwind, however, (they ARE still on my Resources page, after all!) I needed more ways to automate my blog.
I needed IFTTT.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you purchase any of my recommended products at the bottom of the post, I will earn a small commission at no extra charge to you. Keep in mind though, that I only post affiliate links to products and services I personally love and use myself! Purchasing through my page ensures that I am able to keep writing useful content for all of you.
Table of Contents
What is IFTTT?
IFTTT stands for If This, Then That. IFTTT is a browser application (and phone app) built to integrate all the technology in your life! Everything from phones, laptops, and desktops to smart refrigerators, thermostats, social media sites, blogs, smartwatches, and so much more!
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How does IFTTT work?
Once you create an account with IFTTT you have to connect all the sites, accounts, and technology you want to integrate.
Since this post is meant to be blogging tips for new bloggers, the main accounts to connect are:
- WordPress (or whatever CMS you blog through)
- Tumblr
- Google calendar
Once these are connected, you’ll be able to make recipes with them.
So you start by choosing one of the accounts or services above for the this, or trigger.
Based on the service you chose, IFTTT will give you specific possible triggers you can choose. For example, if you click on Twitter, these are the possible triggers you can choose from:
Once you choose a trigger, it will ask you for a Then That, or the thing you want to be triggered.
So for example, you can create one that says:
If you upload a new public video to YouTube, Twitter will post a tweet with an image.
That way, you’re automatically promoting your latest YouTube video to your Twitter follows the moment it’s uploaded, without doing any extra work – cool huh?
My favorite IFTTT applets to automate my blog
IFTTT has some incredible automation recipes you can use throughout nearly every aspect of your life. But when it comes to blogging, there are a solid handful of recipes that have become my absolute favorites to automate my blog. Those are:
- Thanking someone when they follow me on Twitter (seems cheesy but people seem to really like it)
- Scheduling tweets (I have some prescheduled ones for affiliate products and holidays)
- WordPress to Tumblr
- WordPress to Reddit
- Syncing my new iG photos to a Pinterest board
- Tweet my iG photos as native photos on Twitter
TL;DR
When it comes to blogging, if you want to do social promotion successfully, chances are you’ll end up stretching yourself pretty thin unless you bite the bullet and automating your blog. You could even take it one step further and outsource your guest posting or even advertise on someone else’s blog!
I’ve already shared with you how I automate my blog, are you already automating your blog marketing?
What are your top favorite automation tools?
For more resources and blogging tips for new bloggers, be sure to sign up below for my membership resource library!
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StephanieCristi’s Top Recommended Blogging Products
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Courses to boost your blogging skills: Travel blogging, Blogging crash course (FREE)
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Draft and idea collection: Notion
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Plugins, themes and more (including RankMath): MyThemeShop
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Free marketing from your readers: Social Warfare
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Pinterest scheduling: Tailwind ($10 bonus for you if you use this link ? )
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Pinterest marketing: Tailwind Tribes ($15 bonus for you if you use this link ? )
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Instagram scheduling: Planoly
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Email marketing: Mailerlite
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Hosting: DreamHost
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Creating e-courses: Thinkific makes it easy to teach online
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The Daily Greatness Business Planner: Use my link and get 5% off all products your order!
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Editorial Calendar: Content Planner
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Social media growth: Milotree
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With all my love,
SC xo
Hi Stephanie,
I love IFTTT for a few recipes but you have motivated me into looking for a few more. You are right, there are things we can automate that make sense. I was like you doing this part time but now I’m full time with clients and I still don’t have spare time!
Thank you for the tips with IFTTT here. Have a great day and new month ahead!
Hi Lisa,
I wish I could do this full time! I love blogging and I’m excited because it will soon be better aligned with my day job thanks to a career change in my near future!
I’m glad you found this post helpful, good luck with your new recipes!
StephanieCristi
Funny I just started playing around with ifttt yesterday. I need to explore it some more!
Hi Elizabeth,
Funny timing, huh? IFTTT is one of my favorite tools – you just set it and forget it!
StephanieCristi