How to Do Live Blogging in WordPress (Step-by-Step Guide)

As a long-time WordPress consultant, I am often asked – "What is the best way to do live blogging on my site?"

With live video streaming on the rise, websites need tools to provide real-time text and media coverage of trending events and news.

And the good news is, enabling live blogging functionality on your WordPress site is really simple.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore:

• The value of live blogging for engaging your audience
• Which WordPress plugins work best for live blogs in 2023
• Step-by-step instructions to set up live blogs
• Expert tips to maximize engagement during a live blog

Let‘s get started.

Why Your Website Needs Live Blogging Capabilities

Before we get into the implementation details, it‘s important to understand why live blogging needs to be in your content toolkit in 2023:

As the graph shows, websites conduct live blogs primarily for increased traffic, engagement and timeliness. Making it an essential tool, especially for publications in fast-moving niches like news, tech and business who need to respond to trends quickly.

In fact, a GlobalWebIndex survey found that 78% of consumers said they would spend more time on websites that publish live and up-to-date information.

And tools like Openlive make adding this stickiness factor on WordPress sites really seamless.

Now that the benefits are clear, let‘s go through the step-by-step implementation guide.

Choosing the Best Live Blogging Plugin

While there are many WordPress plugins that enable live blogging, through years of testing I have found two that check all boxes:

My recommendation for most users is to try Openlive first. Not only is it free, but its lightweight frontend ensures minimal impact site speed. Easy-to-follow configuration steps also make the learning curve gentle.

WP Live Blog offers more advanced customization for prolific live bloggers. But the subscription plans and resource requirements make Openlive the best free starting point.

Step 1 – Installing Openlive Plugin

Once you have signed into your WordPress site‘s dashboard:

1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New
2. Search for Openlive and click Install
3. When installation finishes, click Activate to enable the plugin

This will add a new Live Streaming menu in your side navigation bar. That‘s where you will manage all live blog related settings.

Step 2 – Configuring Your First Live Blog Post

Now we are ready to configure our first live blog. Follow these steps:

1. Click Live Streaming > Add New in your WordPress admin menu
2. On the post editor screen, add a title and featured image just like a regular blog post
3. Scroll down to reveal Openlive Metabox containing various options:
   • Enable Open for commenting to allow readers to comment on updates
   • Select post Author name
   • Choose relevant Categories and Tags
   • Set additional preferences like allowing Guest Authors
4. Click Publish. Don‘t worry, this won‘t immediately initiate a live session.

Your new live post now has a dedicated URL that remains constant throughout the event.

Repeat the process above to create additional live blogs. Each event can have its own distinct URL.

Step 3 – Going Live & Providing Real-Time Updates

Once your event starts, here‘s how to go live:

1. Edit your published live post
2. Scroll down and click the Actions > Go Live button in Openlive Metabox
3. You will switch to the Live Dashboard displaying the post content
4. Start providing text updates in the content area and click Update Post
5. Input updates directly in the WordPress editor while visitors see them in real-time!

That‘s all it takes to live blog an event on WordPress using Openlive.

Some key pointers:

✔️ Keep text updates short and frequent
✔️ Moderate comments and engage with readers
✔️ Embed relevant tweets, images and videos
✔️ Add @mentions for participating writers

Good luck with your first live blog! Let me know if you have any other questions.