Writers Block – the curse of blogging! Sometimes sitting down to log into your WordPress Site to create a blog post can feel like an overwhelming task.  The pressure to create a masterpiece and then the realization that this one is a doodle at best feels unmotivating.  Storing great ideas for later can help overcome the problems of poor content ideas and writer’s block.

Shortcut to Creating Great Posts – The “Press This”

Often, while surfing the internet, you may come across information you would like to represent in your blog, but don’t want to focus on blogging at the moment. The Press This bookmarklet, a tiny bookmark button for your browser tab, is an easy way to add content to your blog. For WordPress users, this handy shortcut helps you create posts immediately. Go to the Admin Dashboard/Settings/Writing and locate the small, gray Press This button”.  By dragging the little Press This button onto your browser’s bookmark, or tab area, you can use it whenever you see material you’d like to post. It will automatically sign into your blog and open the “New Post” window. But it does a lot more than that!

Grab Some Text from a Site

Just highlight the text that interests you and then click Press This from your browser bookmark or favorites tab.  The post will appear in a new window ready for editing with the highlighted text and a nice link to the original site.  (You may need to sign in to your WordPress Admin )

This is a great way to store interesting posts for later.  Just Press This the info you want and then rather than PUBLISH just save as DRAFT.  Edit it later when you are ready to complete.

Grab an Image from a Site

Having already hit Press This you are looking at a fresh blog post.  Select the picture frame from above the editing box and all the image options from the article will be available for adding to your post.  If you are not sure about image use and copyrights then Google “Fair Use and Copyright Issues” or other appropriate search terms for guidance on when it is acceptable to duplicate material. Tin Eye is a great resource for tracking images online including your own.  IStockPhoto (paid) and Unsplash (free) are good sources for high-level stock photos should you need them to illustrate your post.

Grab a Link

While on the site of interest just click Press This and you’ll get a post with a link only.  Publish in simple form or save as a draft for later.