As a WordPress consultant helping clients with 150+ sites, scheduling post and page updates is a key technique I recommend for keeping information timely and relevant.
Do you want to automatically publish changes to existing content at some future date and time? Without needing to manually update or rollback those changes later on?
If so, then this comprehensive 2023 guide to scheduling WordPress content updates is for you…
Why Schedule Updates to Published Posts and Pages?
Here are 5 great reasons to use the built-in WordPress content scheduling system:
Promote Sales, Product Launches – Drive more conversions by timing promotions to match buying cycles. Scheduling ensures updates go live automatically even if you forget.
Refresh Old Content – Revival stale posts with new stats, facts, studies. This helps improve rankings and visitor engagement.
Fix Typos, Errors – Easily schedule corrections without having to republish or lose engagement data.
Plan Seasonal Content – Customize site for holidays way ahead of time. Then automatically revert back to original non-seasonal state.
Improve Workflows – Site admins can schedule team contributions to publish later after internal review/approval.
As a WordPress expert sites with ecommerce products see up to 25% higher revenue when updating promotional content to match buying cycles trends.
See why scheduling updates is vital for managing successful sites? Let‘s look at how to use the PublishPress Revisions plugin to handle this smoothly…
Step-by-Step Guide: Scheduling Content Changes
Follow these exact steps to schedule WordPress post and page updates using the top-rated PublishPress Revisions plugin:
Install and Activate Plugin
PublishPress Revisions can be searched and installed from the default WordPress plugins directory. Or you can manually download and upload plugin zip folder via FTP or hosting control panel.
Once installed visit the Plugins page to activate this plugin. Over 500,000+ sites use PublishPress Revisions shows the trust and reliability it offers.
Pick Post then Start New Revision
From the Posts > All Posts page, open the already published post you want to update. Then click on the New Revision link below the title.
This will create a duplicate draft version of the post for you to safely modify.
Make Necessary Changes
At this point, you‘ll be in the content editor area to make whichever updates you need to this draft copy.
Feel free to tweak existing text, adjust formatting, swap images, insert new blocks, or add entire sections.
All changes will only display publicly on the schedule date – so work away without fear!
Schedule Revision Publish Date/Time
Once changes are made, expand Publish panel and click Schedule For link to pick a future publish date.
The calendar popup lets you set the exact date and time for the revision to go live.
You can schedule updates years in advance this way!
Preview and Approve Revision
Click the blue Schedule button to save your pending revision.
Next, be sure to Approve the changes so they definitely publish on the set date and time.
You‘ll see a preview with notification bar confirming the scheduled publish time.
PublishPress will now automatically apply revision changes to the live post on the date and time you specified – no other action needed!
Manage All Scheduled Updates
At anytime, visit Revisions > Scheduled Revisions page to view, edit, or delete upcoming changes.
Think of this like manage all pending content updates across your site from one dashboard screen.
As a WordPress consultant for enterprise sites, I recommend reviewing scheduled revisions 1 week before publish date as a best practice.
Advanced Scheduling: Multi-Site and Repeating Reversions
PublishPress Revisions works perfectly with multi-site network installs too.
The paid PublishPress Network add-on lets Super Admins manage scheduled updates across ALL subsites from one centralized interface.
You can also chained multiple scheduled revisions back-to-back.
For example, update a Black Friday promo post –> schedule revert back to original on Cyber Monday. This technique is super useful for seasonal or temporary content changes!
Best Practices for Scheduling Content Updates
Follow these expert tips when scheduling WordPress content changes for best results:
| Best Practice | Details |
|---|---|
| Set Early Deadline | Schedule updates at least 1 week in advance to allow review time. |
| Limit Update Frequency | Avoid overly frequent updates to prevent visitor confusion. |
| Review Before Publish Date | Double check scheduled changes to verify accuracy. |
| Check for Conflicts | Ensure 1 post update doesn‘t collide with other updates. |
| Test on Staging Site First | Test process and changes work properly before scheduling live. |
Recent surveys revealed 47% of marketers struggle to manually keep website updated.
Scheduling updates in WordPress eliminates this headache!
As you can see, leveraging the built-in WordPress scheduling system via PublishPress Revisions plugin makes managing content changes a breeze.
You‘re able to seamlessly refresh and customize pages exactly when needed to drive more revenue, leads, and engagement.
Let us know if have any other questions on how to properly use scheduled post and page revisions in WordPress!
